Working at HuizingHarvest Projects

Jack Fokker tells

“For me, working at HuizingHarvest Projects means learning a lot as a mechanic on various machines and gaining international work experience. I have been part of the team since April 2022. A very enjoyable time, through which I learned a lot project-wise. Besides learning a lot about agrotechnology, I also developed myself commercially. Partly because of this I have found my dream job and, earlier than intended, I am unfortunately leaving the HuizingHarvest Projects team.”

Tell me, what projects have you worked on in the past year?

“I have worked on very different projects in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Italy and France. Our work is enormously diverse and for many different brands. For example, I have rebuilt transmissions, been on the road with a new harvester, worked on a variety of rework projects and been on tour with a colleague to give training on a baler to dealers in Germany. The most enjoyable project was the roadshow of a tractor brand through the Netherlands and Belgium. I had expressed from the beginning that I would like to become a sales representative and this was a great opportunity to gain commercial work experience.”

“I worked on very different projects in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Italy and France. Our work was enormously diverse and for many different brands.”

Can you tell a little more about the tractor roadshow?

“During the roadshow, you go around the different dealers with the latest machines of the brand. You are responsible from A to Z for the organization and execution. For each location, we made a plan of action about the set-up on site. You receive visitors, tell them about the machines and the GPS, and of course there is the possibility to make a demo ride. What I especially learned during the roadshow is how to tell a story from a dealer’s point of view. Something I didn’t expect was that the type of visitor varies greatly by location. For example, visitors in Belgium are reluctant to go on a demo ride, where in the Netherlands they drive right away. During the roadshow, I was out with an importer representative and visited the dealers.”

You also trained in Germany, what was that like?

For me, giving training was new. During the roadshow I stood in front of people a lot, but giving training is really different. For this project, I first spent four days training myself on the machine in the factory. The following week I had a week of intensive German language training together with a colleague at our location in Emmen. Finally, as an exercise, I first gave the training to my own colleagues. Then we were able to go on a tour of the dealers in Germany. The first time I thought, what did I get myself into? But fortunately the second training went a lot better. You make more and more of your own story and then it goes a lot better. A very nice project, which also contributed to the development of my commercial skills.

Despite these nice experiences, you are going to leave HuizingHarvest. What are you going to do?

Yes unexpectedly (but thanks to the above experiences) a new challenge has come my way. I will become a national representative with a new employer. For me it is a great opportunity to work as a representative, but I will really miss the team. They really thought along with me at HuizingHarvest. From the beginning they knew about my interest in commercial projects, and they really looked at which projects suited my interests. Working abroad was completely new to me. Therefore, I did not have to go abroad for very long, I was often home for the weekend. That was very nice for me. If I were to work longer at HuizingHarvest, I would like to work for 3 months for the office in Australia.

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What would you say to anyone considering going on an adventure with HuizingHarvest?

“If you want to learn a lot from different machines and brands and be part of an enthusiastic, sociable team, I can definitely recommend working at HuizingHarvest. They really think along with you about what you want to learn and how you want to develop further. It is a good intermediate step to grow in the agricultural sector and a great opportunity to gain international work experience. The atmosphere in the team is very good and I will certainly miss the fun with colleagues. If you want to grow in the (international) agricultural sector, this is the right place!”