• Young people get to know the company’s history and career prospects
• It’s not wrong not knowing something but not having a desire to learn, advised Tsvyatko Danekov from the Center for Innovation in Building Technologies

Trainees from member companies of the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria visited the headquarters of Siemens Bulgaria. The visit was part of the young.LEADERS.talk series within the Council’s National Internship Initiative. Their purpose is to enable young people to meet their role models – from political leaders and top managers of leading companies to young professionals and entrepreneurs – and draw lessons from their personal stories.

“I also started my career as a trainee. The traineeship is not only a springboard for a future career but also a way to find out what you want to do in the future. ” This stated Rumyana Parusheva, Head of Communications at Siemens Bulgaria, in her address to the visiting trainees. She briefly presented the 140-year history of the company in Bulgaria. Young people also had the opportunity to see a short movie about the founder of Siemens AG Werner von Siemens.

Rumen Stoimenov, Head of the fastest growing unit of Siemens Bulgaria – Center for Innovation in Building Technologies, spoke about his career path in the company. He presented the activities of the Center, which has implemented so far over 4500 projects of Siemens in the field of building technologies in dozens of countries on several continents. “This sphere is fast-growing and there are no people who are fully-prepared for it. So we have to find them and train them. That is why the trainees are important – as an opportunity to acquire the employees we need”, Stoimenov said. He added that the Center has been actively working to attract young professionals, including by establishing a laboratory of building technologies at the Technical University of Sofia. He then demonstrated to interns what a building automation system is and how it is managed.

Tsvyatko Danekov, who started his career as a trainee at Siemens Bulgaria, explained that the traineeship at Siemens allowed him to find out what he wants to do in the future. Currently, he is an engineer in the company. “Go for internships and get something from each of them. Do not be afraid to ask. It’s not wrong not knowing something but not having a desire to learn“, he advised young people.

The events of the Council within the framework of the National Internship Initiative will continue with meetings with prominent managers of Bulgarian and foreign companies and visits to member companies.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria has been organizing the National Internship Initiative “Stay in Bulgaria”. The program is oriented towards the youngest professionals and will enable them once again to prove their qualities and skills, to get involved into the real business and to find opportunities for development along with suitable environment and a stimulus for their professional realization in Bulgaria.The initiative is under the patronage of Mrs. Eva Maydell, MEP.

In 2018 the Council of Women in Business in Bulgaria launched its Young.LEADERS.talk series which takes place within the Council’s National Internship Initiative. Its purpose is to enable young people to meet their role models – political leaders, managers and young professionals who started their own careers as interns, as well as to visit some of the largest companies in Bulgaria.  In this way young people have the opportunity to get familiar with the business world and to learn how companies are organized and how they operate.