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Name: Coenraad Coster
Program: Master's Program in Management
Start of education: 2013
Title: District Manager
Company: Lidl Sverige KB
At this moment I am working as District Manager at Lidl. As District Manager I am accountable for the kpi´s of the shops that are in my district. I started at Lidl as Management Trainee. The trainee program is quite a long process which starts with working in a supermarket. By working in all the different positions in the company you gain the knowledge needed as district manager. It is extremely interesting to see all the different positions. During this period I have been traveling a lot in Sweden, have seen many different shops and met many people.
My first job in Sweden was as project manager and business coach at the municipality of Storuman. I got this job after many applications. I experienced it as quite hard to get a job in Sweden as a foreigner. This job fitted really well to my wishes: Working with different companies in order to develop those companies. I worked on a daily basis with already existing companies in order to help them with achieving their goals in the future. Besides of that, I helped individuals with starting up companies. I got the possibility to get my Lean Six Sigma Black belt during my work in Storuman. Working with processes in a structured way made working with the different companies effective. The experiences that helped me getting the job at Lidl are mainly the ones I got during helping companies developing. Analysing problems and identify a way to solve those problems are helpful in every company. My experience from working with processes and analysing processes were another pro.
I chose the program Master of Management because of the variation in the different subjects and the possibility to choose your own subjects. It is great to be able to kind of design your own study by choosing courses that fit to your own wishes.
Business Administration.
My last job was really interesting and I was not really actively looking for other opportunities. But when a friend told me about this position I got interested and applied for it. The application process started with a trainee day where you had to do an interview, some tests and a case. I got invited for another interview after some weeks. After another week I got the news that they offered me the job.
If you are studying now at USBE I would advise you to be part of HHUS. Especially if you want to have a job in Sweden after your studies, this is a good way to get connections and to get some experience.