Fabiola came to Knivesandtools in May 2021, when she started working as a Country Marketeer. It was her first job after her studies, and she chose to get a job abroad! What's the story?
‘I’m from the region of Puglia in Italy, where I got my bachelor's degree in Translation & Interpreting at university. After I graduated, I was ready to get some work experience, preferably abroad. When a friend who already worked at Knivesandtools told me about the company, I immediately got in touch. I had never been to the Netherlands before, but it seemed like a fun challenge.’ Fabiola arrived at the perfect time. We were about to launch Knivesandtools.it, our Italian online shop. There was more than enough work to do.
‘For the new website, thousands of pages had to be translated. A massive task! At the time, no topic pages had been translated yet, hardly any products, no newsletters: it was a blank canvas. In less than a year, we managed to get it done with a small team.’ Thus, in her first job after her studies, Fabiola proved to be a valuable asset. Once the Italian website was up and running, there was room to take up other work. She now helps out in several other teams. ‘After translating the Italian website, I started helping other teams. For example, I help with some big SEO projects, I help our SEA team with online ads for Italy and recently I started supporting the Retention team. Meanwhile, I also do customer service for our Italian customers. This is also what I appreciate about Knivesandtools: if you show that you want to learn, there are opportunities outside your team to broaden your horizons.’
Things are running smoothly for Fabiola at Knivesandtools. Although it took some getting used to when she first came to the Netherlands. After all, there are quite a few cultural differences. ‘Living in the Netherlands is really different from living in Italy. The Dutch are very direct, to the point of being blunt. At the same time, I also appreciate that I can just walk up to the CEO to discuss things that are bothering me. You get every opportunity to practise your Dutch language skills, but if you’re having a hard time with it, everyone is happy to switch to English. This makes it much easier to give it a shot.’
