Chieljan Pierik: “I would recommend everybody to do an internship via MDBC Student Intern Program here in Malaysia!”

Chieljan studied MSc Supply Chain Management and he started his master thesis at Besi Apac in Kuala Lumpur, February 2013. The Malaysian Dutch Business Council (partner of Career Office) helped him to get the internship.

Chieljan Pierik

What motivates you to combine your thesis with an internship abroad?

My name is Chieljan Pierik. But since it seems very difficult for Asians to pronounce my first name, most local people call me “CJ”.  I am currently doing the master Supply Chain Management at the University of Groningen. For the last part of my master I have to write my thesis at a company. I saw this as a perfect opportunity to go abroad for a few months and to gain some work experience in foreign companies. After attending an information session of the Career Office about the possibilities to do an internship in Malaysia via the MDBC Student Intern Program, I did not need much time to decide to sign up for the program.

What do you do during your internship in Kuala Lumpur?

I am currently writing my thesis at the company Besi Apac in Kuala Lumpur. Besi is a leading supplier of semiconductor assembly equipment for the global semiconductor and electronics industries.  The total staff of Besi consists of approximately 1,600 employees and the headquarters is located in Duiven (The Netherlands). Since Besi is a Dutch company, many suppliers are located in Europe. Because all the goods from the European suppliers have to be transported to Kuala Lumpur, the current transportation costs are quite high. The goal of my thesis is to minimize the transportation costs of the suppliers in Europe by making use of consolidation.

Is the internship experience interesting and instructive?

I really like to do my internship here at Besi Apac. It is a very interesting company and the employees are very friendly and helpful. A few colleagues bring me every day to another restaurant where we go for a lunch, so I already experienced many different kind of food. What I also like is the freedom that they give me at the company. They give me the time and space to do the assignment in the way I think is the best. Due to this way of working, I learn from my own mistakes and that is, in my opinion, the best and fastest way to gain work experiences. The most interesting part are the meetings with the external (logistic) parties. It is very instructive to experience how those meetings here in Malaysia go and to learn how to lead and run the meetings in a proper way.

Although I am staying only three and a half months here in Malaysia, I did already quite some trips. Singapore, Thailand, Melaka and Penang are just some examples of trips I already made last months. For the coming weeks are trips to Cameron Highlands, Pangkor and Perhantian Island planned. The night life in Kuala Lumpur is also very nice. So for the weekends that I don’t make a trip, I don’t have to be bored at all.