Zak Kadunc Predovic from Slovenia, Logistics and Spare Parts Management Trainee in International Business Center
We are pleased to present to you the testimony of Zak, who came from Slovenia to become part of the Lenovo team. After completing his BA, he is currently studying Business Informatics at the School of Economics and Business of the University of Ljubljana. He first completed an internship in Logistics and Spare Parts Management and is now a full-time employee. In his free time, he loves to go to the gym, read books and chat with friends over a cup of coffee or a couple of beers. Let´s read more!
2. Why did you decide to take the Erasmus+ traineeship opportunity? And why did you choose Slovakia?
To be honest, I did not choose Slovakia, I chose an internship at Lenovo and it happened in Bratislava. And I agreed, because firstly it was Lenovo and secondly, I always wanted to go abroad. I didn’t want to participate in the Erasmus exchange program as a student, but I would regret it if I didn’t do the Erasmus internship.
3. What were your main responsibilities and tasks while you were on the traineeship?
I helped my colleagues and our clients and provided support to everyone who came to me. This means that I was mainly responsible for creating tracers/claims, updating in-flows and out-flows for colleagues countries and also mine in Power BI, creating labels and invoices, providing reverse documentation to our partners and customers, covering for colleagues when they were absent, etc. Moreover, I arranged two meetings on my own, it felt like a great responsibility.
4. Did you learn anything new in your field? Tell us a bit more about your acquired skills and competencies.
I learned how a logistics company worked from inside and from the customer's side. I would say that I have learned how to be pushier, that you need to spend a lot of reminders just to get a response, I have also learned how to deal with big data files, how to work in them, let alone, how to create reports out of them and how to be more proactive.
5. What was the most beneficial part of your work?
There are few of them:
1 - I am definitely improving my English.
2 - I would say that I met a lot of new people, this is just my area of people that I got to know better.
3 - In addition, this feeling of working at Lenovo (one of the largest successful IT companies) gave me inspiration and confidence as I was part of their team in a pleasant high-tech office environment, helping on a large project.
4 - It was also an advantage when our team leader gave me 100% responsibility for the grievance process, I was able to lead during meetings on this topic, and the 100% trust he had in me.
6. What would you say about Slovakia? Have you noticed any cultural differences between Slovakia and your country?
The most interesting thing in Slovakia is the number of lakes that I have seen here. I did not notice any fundamental cultural differences between Slovakia and Slovenia, we are very similar nations in everything.
7.How did Covid influence your life during the internship? Pros and cons?
Speaking of me, I am a very sociable and open person, so Covid caused a lot of trouble. I'm not one of those people who can surf the Internet, play video games all day. And when I came, everything was closed, at first I had to work at home, so I even woke up every day literally without energy and motivation. Many things did not work for me, since I had to create all access at home on the Internet. Of course, the most difficult thing because of the covid situation was the adaptation through teams. However, this situation brought me a positive result, I became stronger, and the hybrid system suited me perfectly.
8.Would you like to recommend anything to the newcomers?
Don’t worry about the work as much as I did in the beginning. Go for a beer as much as possible, have parties as many as possible, have as much fun as possible, make as many as friends as possible. Just enjoy the moment and the process.
9. How would you evaluate overall support received from our Placement Slovakia team?
Great. Nothing to complain about. Everything was in order. And I would recommend this program to other students.