One day you’re in a class room, the next you’re completing an internship with a view of the runway for KLM private and business jets. Too good to be true? Not for Tio student Fabiënne! She got her career off to a flying start after scoring an internship in the finance department at KLM this summer. “It’s so cool to be able to complete an internship at such a large and international company!”
Business student Fabiënne spent the summer in the Financial Accounting Services department at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines at Schiphol-Oost. In the Quality Assurance team, she worked alongside financial experts on data, analysis, and reports.
Analysing data and creating reports
“My job mainly involved preparing and updating daily, weekly, and monthly reports for various departments at KLM and Air France,” Fabiënne explains. “I got the data from systems like SAP and SAPCO and then analysed it. I also attended meetings and updated dashboards that were presented in management meetings.”
Plenty of challenges
“My work was very varied as I worked with different data and reports every day,” Fabiënne adds with enthusiasm. “No day was the same and it was at times challenging. I was involved in lots of processes and was always allowed to have my say in certain decisions. I had quite a bit of responsibility which made it really fun.”
Nothing ventured, nothing gained
Fabiënne had always been interested in the aviation industry, but never expected to get to see inside a company as large and dynamic as KLM. “But I just thought nothing ventured, nothing gained. I sent my cover letter to KLM and got a positive response right away. It was so cool. I really learned a lot from this internship. And not just about financial matters and data. The international environment was also beneficial for improving my English skills, for example.”
Gained so much experience in just one year
Fabiënne is now in her second year studying Business Management at Tio Rotterdam. “I was really interested in the economics side of things and working with numbers and data. I was attracted to this programme right away, plus the personal teaching experience at Tio appealed to me. I absolutely love it. In just one year, I’ve been able to build up a huge amount of practical experience, not only at KLM, but also through various different projects. And last but not least, it’s super fun at Tio. It’s small so everyone knows almost everyone else on campus.”
Ready for take-off
And finally, what are Fabiënne’s goals for the future? “Aviation is a really fun and dynamic world, but I’d like to keep my options open. I’d really like to use my other internships to find out what I’d like to do. Fortunately I’ve still got some time. But working in the finance department of a huge company like KLM has definitely given me a taste for more!”