English
EspañolMr. Mario Gatto, founder of Synthesis Arredamenti Srl and great woodworking expert, talks to us today about his company and above all about his experience in welcoming European trainees.
• What does your company do?
Our company deals with the production of tailor-made furniture, mainly in wood but not only, made from the design or the request of the customer up to the assembly. It is therefore not a mass production but a strongly customized one.
• What are your strengths?
Our greatest strength is definitely flexibility: every project is something new and entirely „stitched“ on the customer’s desire.
• What kind of costumers do you have?
Our clientele is generally medium-high range. We work directly or indirectly with the final customer who can be a private individual but also a large global brand.
• How long have you been welcoming trainees? In which areas? From which country have you welcomed so far? Would you possibly be available to welcome trainees in other areas?
We have been welcoming trainees for more than 10 years in production and technical office. So far, we have had interns from Germany, Holland, Denmark and Belgium. Given that we work a lot with foreign costumers, it would be useful to host a European trainee even in the administration area, why not?
• What are the tasks assigned to them? What can a trainee learn from you?
Trainees are always flanked by one or two tutors who completely follow the production and they can therefore support them in the various processes. Here they can learn the concept of flexibility and get in touch with our extensive know-how, which we willingly make available. Moreover, the work is never repetitive: they have the opportunity to handle different materials and follow many projects.
• How do you organize the placement and the „follow-up“ of the trainee?
The placement is very simple: the trainee is introduced to his supervisor, who explains the project he will be dealing with. He is never left alone and from time to time he is given further explanations. Working hours are usually adapted to those of public transport used to reach the company. Usually the trainees stay here for lunch, as we have a dedicated room where they can eat and relax with other colleagues.
• How many employees do you have? How do they react to the trainees?
Now we have 23 employees. Good relationships have always been built up between employees and trainees, in fact we are still in contact with some of them.
• How do you get on with trainees from Europe?
We have noticed that the trainees employed in production are generally very prepared, moreover countries like Germany, Holland and Denmark are very advanced in this sector.
• Does your staff speak English? Do you think it is possible to organize traineeships only in English at your company?
Although not all employees in production speak fluent English, we have never had particular difficulties in communicating. I think it is possible to organize traineeships in English only, because this is the working language we actually use.
• Tell us something funny that happened to you!
A couple of nice episodes come to my mind. First of all, it makes me smile to see the trainees who sunbathe during the lunch break: probably in the countries they come from, it is not usual to have such a beautiful weather! Then, another nice episode dates back to this summer: one of my employees, who had tutored a Danish trainee, went to see her in Copenhagen with his family. This shows that we are all open to new experiences and mutual exchanges!
Interviewer: Federica Perazzolo
10/12/2018
