Working at Shell, within HR Mergers & Acquisitions
During my internship at RIAS in the summer of 2012, I studied Dutch cultural perceptions related to America’s Progressive Era in 1900. Truthfully, not an everyday subject for someone that decided shortly after his internship that he was not going to pursue an academic career. Still, aside from the amazing practical experiences I gained at RIAS, even this case study maintains some relevance today.
When at RIAS, I was finishing two bachelors: one in History and one in Philosophy. Not long thereafter, I realized that I wanted to work in business, preferably for a big multinational corporation allowing for international experience, which led me to do a Master in General Management and an exchange with a university in Hong Kong. Following two years of working as a Project Manager at various companies, I joined Shell as an HR Manager back in 2016. This is the company I’ve worked for ever since.
I have held various HR roles that saw me exposed to a plethora of different businesses, regions and countries. In my current role, I work as the HR lead on big Shell Acquisitions & Divestments – a challenging yet very exciting space. Shell has a large footprint in the U.S. and I work with American colleagues on a daily basis. Admittedly, the Progressive Era is not a go-to conversation topic, yet writing this piece made me reflect on the fact that traces of the typical ways of thinking the Dutch had about the Americans back then – and vice versa – can still be seen today. Whether it is only my RIAS internship or having studied History at large I don’t know, but I firmly believe that deeply appreciating cultural differences and understanding where they stem from, makes you an ever more effective leader in even the most corporate environment.
So there you have it. Even for someone that went on to do something completely different, RIAS has helped hone relevant skills and capabilities!
