What counts a lot in the job market is professional experience. But how can you have this experience if until the person graduates it rarely happens? There are exceptions. Leonardo Yun Ho Lee, a student at the Faculty of Food Engineering (FEA) at Unicamp, had a rare opportunity, a few days ago, to be selected to participate in the CEO for a Day program, run by Odgers Berndtson in partnership with Grupo Estado and PDA International.
Leonardo went through a selection process in which 56 candidates were evaluated using a behavioral profile test. Twenty-five were approved for the interview phase, reaching 16 who actually participated in the program, in which another 16 university students were designated to be CEOs for a day in other companies.
It was up to the Unicamp student to accompany the day of the president of MAN Latin America, economist Roberto Cortes, in the capital of São Paulo. This company is managed by Volkswagen, operates in the agribusiness sector, has 3,5 thousand employees in Latin America, two factories, annual production capacity of 80 thousand vehicles, revenue of 1 billion euros and 7,3% of global revenue is 13,7 billion euros . It is one of the largest truck manufacturers in the world.
Young man's day It started at 7:30 am at the company's headquarters, when he met the Human Resources (HR) supervisor, who explained what Cortes' day would be like and what his participation would be. Leonardo went up to the top floor of the building to meet the president, who had already been in a meeting with his advisors since 8 am. On this floor of the MAN building were the directors' rooms, the board meeting room and the Courts room. He was introduced to the meeting room. Aattended part of that meeting, which dealt with the details of the president's agenda. “He helped me become more comfortable in an environment of high-ranking figures. He made sure I sat next to him.", said Leonardo.
It was one meeting after another: of the area, of the board, of the council, including during lunch. “We exchange professional and personal experiences with the president,” he says. When the meetings had confidential matters, he was advised by Lineu Takeyama, vice-president of MAN in the HR area”, he states. After lunch, Cortes took him to a photo shoot for the magazine Istoé Rural Money.
From conversations with the president, the student absorbed many lessons about the corporate world and career, the result of Cortes' years of experience with MAN and Volkswagen. Leonardo's "workday" ended at 18:30 pm. Cortes was still working when they said goodbye.
After going through this experience, Leonardo believes that every young person who wants to be successful as a leader should go through this type of initiative, as this is the objective of the CEO for a Day program: to seek out future leaders. “It is through a rich experience as a CEO's 'shadow' that the potential of each person is vigorously awakened”, he points out.
At Unicamp, Leonardo greatly appreciates the institution's entrepreneurial spirit and, therefore, has sought to integrate into academic life. In his first two years, he participated in FEA athletics. In the second year, he was its financial director. In the third, he did six months of scientific initiation at the Institute of Food Technology (Ital). His study addressed the heat treatment of organic vinegar using ohmic heating, guided by researcher Jorge Minoru Hashimoto.
He was elected student representative of the FEA Congregation and HR manager of the Internship Committee (Comestag), a student group that facilitates the search for internships during graduation.
In his fourth year, the student went on exchange to the United States through the Science without Borders program at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. He is part of Gepea (Group of Studies and Projects in Food Engineering), FEA's junior company, a junior food consultancy. He is currently an intern in the sales area at MasterSense, an ingredients and aromas distributor. “This internship has taught me a lot about the corporate environment and sales dynamics”, he explains.
Leonardo says he is very interested in the area of Management. “Cortes is a clear example of leadership to be followed. He always greeted everyone by name, attended to everyone, despite the rush, and gave his full attention to those who needed his guidance,” he reports. “I thank Unicamp for helping me to this day, as I know that this opportunity would not be possible without the help of all my friends, teachers, colleagues, and also my family: father, mother and brother, who graduated in medicine at this University.”
