2015_01_09_CIE_beatriz_irurzun

postgraduate program Beatriz Irurzun, a graduate at Chemistry, has been doing an introductory course at business (PIE) at HIDRO RUBBER for more than two months. The former student of the School of Sciences tells us from the headquarters of the business, in Lesaka, how she is living the experience in this business that bets for the research.

How was your arrival at business?
When you start something new you always feel some nerves because of the uncertainty caused by the change and the lack of knowledge, so when I arrived at business for the first time I was a little nervous but eager to know the place and the work that I would play throughout this year.

How were your first days?
On the first day, María Olaiz, the Financial and HR Director, talked to me about the mission statement, vision and values of HIDRO RUBBER. Also, together with Maite Malaxetxebarria, the Director of department Technical, they showed me the facilities, organization, work and introduced me to my colleagues. The first week I became familiar with the tests performed at laboratory, the sample records, and I attended some meeting. All this helped me to situate myself, get to know my position and begin to develop my autonomy.

What are you contributing to HIDRO RUBBER and what is it contributing to you?
In the time I have been in this business I am contributing with my desire, my work and my vision as Chemistry because although HIDRO RUBBER belongs to the chemical sector, most of its workers are engineers.

On the other hand, in this business I am getting to know how to work in the industry, the times, the controls that have to be carried out on mixtures and finished product, how important customer orientation is and how to deal with technical problems that arise on a daily basis.

What is the best thing you take away from this internship teaching ?
I hope to take away from this internship an enriching experience that complements my training as Chemistry, and helps me to improve professionally. The knowledge I am acquiring, the different types of tests that are performed in an industrial laboratory and the way it works are some of the positive aspects that I would highlight the most from this experience.

How do you value this experience?
These internships are being very positive not only because of the training and the experience I am living but also because HIDRO RUBBER is giving me the opportunity to participate in an R & D project from the beginning and it is being very interesting. I am seeing how from business you can also do research and in fact, they are betting on it not only to remain competitive in the market but also as a way of learning.

On the other hand, another aspect that I would like to highlight at HIDRO RUBBER is the people policy it follows. We try to motivate and involve workers to get the best out of them by proposing, from the management, different activities that seek to encourage participation and that each employee feels an active part of the business. Any suggestion or proposal for improvement is listened to and taken into account.

Do you think your experience at HIDRO RUBBER will help you in your professional future?
I am sure that this experience is going to be very useful for my professional future since, in addition to the experiential learning, I am seeing from the inside how to work in a business Chemistry , how they are organized among the different Departments and how important it is to be creative, serious and rigorous to continue growing in the current and future market, and to meet the needs of the client.