Niek - MSc Environmental Sciences - intern at McCain Foods

For the last part of my MSc Environmental Sciences, the internship, I was looking for a company that is driven to take on sustainability challenges. Last year, I attended the Talk & Toast with McCain Foods organized by Student Career Services (SCS), to become familiar with the company. By attending the Talk & Toast, I met employees to gain a better understanding about the company and its values. This was very helpful in deciding whether I could fit into the company or not, and which internship opportunities were available. During the event, I got very enthusiastic about the company and decided to apply for an internship abroad with McCain’s. SCS helped me out with reviewing my CV, and after a selection day of McCain, I was selected to move to New Brunswick, Canada! Since the start of my internship in January this year, I worked on the development of potato quality models derived from a multitude of data inputs. Already from the first week, I started to realize the scale of the operation, and the potential impacts my contributions could have. McCain has proven to be a very transparent and non-hierarchical company, in which I felt valued from the start.

My recommendation for students looking for an internship is to go to networking events like Talk & Toast. In this way, you can get to know the company in a quite easy and informal way.