“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle” - Albert Einstein
The journey I have had so far within the ISS’s Management Trainee Program is nothing but miraculous. From the first 2 months of my journey, I've had the experience to directly learn about the business processes; including commercial processes, human resources management, and operational procedures. This process has helped me to get the understanding I needed in my transitional phase- from a college graduate to a full-time worker in a well-developed company. From then on, I was immediately assigned as an operator, a supervisor, and a site manager. I’ve gone through an ‘undercover mission’, so to speak, as a cleaner in one of the most famous hospitals in Jakarta for a whole week.
This assignment has made me appreciate the work of our company’s blue-collar workers even more than I did before. After that, I also learned about the daily operational tasks of our supervisors, which led me to further develop my organizational skills, whilst also encouraging me to be more proactive in public speaking as a way to lead our underlings; I couldn’t ask for a better place than the ones I got in my assignment, which took place in one of the biggest shopping malls in Indonesia.
Following a short break after learning to operate as a supervisor, I was then immediately assigned for the last 5 months as a site manager, respectively, in one of the biggest multi-service sites in the educational segment, and one of ISS’s newly deployed sites in the government sector. And what can I say- to explain that my journey was fun in those areas would be an understatement. As a manager, I learned not only a lot of administrative documents and procedures but also about implementing ideas & collaborating with our colleagues from different levels (even with our company’s board of directors). I was also blessed with the fact that they were all very supportive in implementing my ideas, and put their sense of belonging into everything that we’ve worked on together.
As a result, In my journey as a site manager, I am proud to say that I've implemented a green office program by placing 500+ stickers as a way to encourage our peacemakers & clients to reduce our energy consumption (which resulted in a 3% decrease of energy usage in 33 building complexes). I’ve also provided supporting documents for the re-tender process in the area itself. On top of that, I've also had the opportunity to implement my understanding of the newer SOPs and conduct my personal training material for peacemakers on the latter site. To be appreciated by our workers and also clients was the cherry on top of this journey. But wait. Is that all? No, siree. The ISS’s management trainee program also encourages us to be more proactive to exposure outside of our operational scope. For example, we MTs are also assigned to write down an article for our company’s bimonthly magazine. In another example, I was also blessed to be given the opportunity by one of our Operations Director, Pak Lolo, to conduct research for his presentation material at a national conference. Wonderful, isn’t it?
With all being said, I do realize that I couldn’t have done everything that I did without all the support of the people from the company itself, and so, I wanted to also thank my MT
colleagues for the journey so far, all the people from the People & Culture Department whom I reported to, my mentor and coach, Pak Lolo and Bu Novi, and my manager at every site I’ve been given an opportunity in.
Bu Elis, Pak Tohari, Pak Andi, and Pak Kristianto. None of this would have been possible without everyone involved. And now, let’s be cheerful for a lot of good things that await us ahead!