Traineeship after studies in Voorburg, the Netherlands

Indrė Pažūsytė

After finishing my master studies I decided to take a challenge to find a company abroad for a traineeship.

My area of interest is construction project management and sustainable buildings, so my target was quite clear for what kind of company I wanted to be involved in.

The company I found was C2N B.V. in the Netherlands which focuses in sustainable construction and buildings. Main business directions are project management, Technical Due Diligence (TDD), and building’s certification according BREEAM building standard.

Office location is in the historical Dutch city Voorburg. All my colleagues in the office are fluent in English (like most of people in the Netherlands) and were very friendly and helpful. Almost all the company cars are electrical. With this in mind, I also tried to be more environmentally friendly so I decided to cycle to the office two to three times per week, even when transportation by train was easier accessible and more convenient.

During most of traineeship I have been studying the WELL Building Standard, which has been getting higher interest and demand in the Netherlands. After passing Safety for Operational Supervisors (VCA vol) exam, I could enter construction sites and later on complete TDD reports or reports due to BREEAM-NL checklist. Studying Prince2 principles provided deeper knowledge about project management processes.

After my traineeship I am sure to continue my career in the construction management field with a sustainability trend. In the future I plan to pass the WELL Accredited Professional (WELL AP) exam, keep studying Prince2 project management principles and apply it in upcoming projects. Now I can compare my work experience in Lithuania and in the Netherlands and I am happy that there are a lot of opportunities and possibilities in life, does not matter where I am – in the Netherlands or in my home country – Lithuania.