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Experience Newways

Four questions to Nikki Scheffer about her experiences at Newways, the in-house training company of the Tourism Management bachelor's programme.

Last academic year, Nikki Scheffer did her fourth-year minor at Newways, the in-house training company of the Tourism Management bachelor's programme.

Many BUas employees know the Newways Traveldesk very well. It is through this Traveldesk that you can arrange travels and accommodation in two ticks when going abroad for BUas. And Newways has more to offer. Students doing a minor at Newways also organise field trips, congresses and events, such as the BUas Congresstival, the Industry Day, the IGAD Showcase of Games, and Reiswerk Travel Challenge. In this way, they will learn to run a business!

How did Nikki experience her time at NewWays? She tells it on the basis of four questions.

We all take a different approach, and work from a different perspective or background. That’s what we experience in business practice here. There is no better way to prepare for a job!

Nikki Scheffer about Newways

Pleasure of the day

‘The finest moment of the day for me is the moment that I have finished my ‘to do’ list. And when I have drawn up a list of what I am going to do the next day. I love to plan and organise things; that’s why I have chosen this minor. Planning things is important because this work is very diverse and every day is different. Apart from the daily Traveldesk duties, such as booking flights and accommodation, I am facing many other challenges. In my opinion, the nicest thing to do is organising field trips and events and maintaining the contacts involved in the process. Internally, I deal with Sibelicious and the BUas-wide Events department a lot. Externally, I maintain contacts with companies, and with lecturers of our partner institutes about, for example a field trip programme. These contacts can be very valuable, for example when you are seeking a good graduation assignment.’

Struggle

‘What is actually bothering me? Erm … last-minute changes perhaps…? It is of course part of the job, but it can be a nuisance every now and then. One moment you have just finished the job, and then again, it should be changed. Fortunately, we only book flexible and refundable arrangements, so we almost always manage to find a solution. For that matter, it is useful to be able to re-think rather quickly. Eventually, you will have to solve things yourself. This causes you to become very creative in thinking up different approaches.’

Eye-opener

‘I cannot think of a real eye-opener now. Working at Newways has not changed my idea of this trade, I’d think. What I do have now is a better picture of what the trade entails. It may sound strange, but I have a totally different work experience here from the one I had during my work placement. At the time, I really felt I was a student on work placement who was working and could do some odd jobs. I myself am responsible for an assignment or a project, and that really means from A to Z. That is what you learn a lot from. Okay, perhaps a small eye-opener here. Lecturers are often just as bad as students; we sometimes have to wait quite a while for them to react. Please add a wink 😉 here.’

What about skills

‘The value added for me is in this own responsibility that you are given here. Furthermore, you evidently learn to work with various systems required in this trade such as Amadeus (a worldwide booking system, Ed.). And because we work with many different students here, including internationals, we mostly learn quite a lot from each other. We are all different, we all take a different approach, and work from a different perspective or background. That’s what we learned in the PPD module (Personal and Professional Development, Ed.), and we experience it in business practice here. There is no better way to prepare for a job!’