Our first alumni presented in the second series of Alumni of Psychology is Carl Middelkoop. He received his bachelor degree in Psychology in 2014 and his master degree in Buisiness Administration in 2016. He currently works as a talent acquisition specialist at Sensata Technologies.
How long did it take to find your first job?
As soon as I was finished I had a job, the reason for this was that I was already searching while actually graduating. This really helped, so I took 1 month off in between graduation and my first job and had a nice holiday before I started.
What are your tasks and responsibilities?
I work at Sensata Technologies. My responsibility are all talent acquisition related tasks within Europe. Mainly focused on highly educated personal and managing internal stakeholders. This withholds for example discussing candidates, screening, interviewing, making offers and manage business expectations and cost calculations. Management of all the recruitment channels is one of the core aspects of my job.
What have you taken along your study which you now profit from?
One of the major benefits of my study was dealing with different cultures and working within diverse groups. Working for an international company is expecting highly flexible people with a lot of capabilities to work together with different people and cultures. I learned this a lot during my study.
What do you hope to achieve in your career?
My aim is to get a better grip on the business itself in order to grow within the organization with regards to HR. More strategic than operational and also more global responsibilities.
If you think about your study time, which memory comes up first?
The vibe on the UT was amazing. People work together, are open and the professors are approachable. I like the UT a lot because it’s a community on its own.
Which tips and tricks would you like to give to current students?
Make a thoughtful decision on what you want to study. What would you like to do in the future and what is the best roadmap to this dream. Of course, you must make sure to be open for changes, but always keep your goal in mind.
Carl wrote a masterthesis which focuses on the relation between innovative work behaviour and individual job performance of employees, as well as the influence of line management behaviour on this relation. This research provides conclusions and implications about how to deal with this and how these constructs are related to each other.
Any questions to Carl?
This alumni has given the opportunity to answer questions about his/her work. If you have a question you are invited to mail this questions to amygdala@utwente.nl. Our moderator will bring you in touch with the alumni, who will answer your questions. For direct career opportunities you are advised to get in touch with the Human Resources department of the employer.
Get in touch!
Do you know someone who has a nice job, has an inspiring career of otherwise is interesting to join the Humans of Psychology series? Please get them in touch with us. To be able to keep this series going more alumni are needed.
Published: September 2, 2019