At Monjasa the staff development is very important, and the company places a lot of effort for their new employees,  in learning and improving through development activities in line with Monjasa Academy agenda.

Before joining Monjasa all applicants of the MOST (Monjasa Oil & Shipping Trainee) programme need to upload their CV and a short video through the company’s website. After the application deadline, the HR and Management of Monjasa selects a number of candidates to invite for a recruitment event at one of their offices.

This time the event took place in Monjasa’s office in Cyprus on Tuesday 10th May.

At the recruitment event, twelve candidates participated in different exercises and challenges to see if they have the right Monjasa DNA the organisation is looking for.

The Monjasa Oil & Shipping Trainees (MOST), become part of a global two-year programme that offers valuable insights into how Monjasa fuel global trade. The trainees gain further shipping knowledge through the Danish Shipping Education with the Danish Shipping Academy in Denmark and Monjasa Academy takes them through plenty of internal training as well.

The Cyprus event started with a welcome note from Christina Dyrvig the Senior HR Business Partner from the Danish office and followed by an introduction of the Monjasa Group from Theodoros Mitsingas, General Manager of the Cyprus office and other member of the company covering details of the MOST programme and what to expect as a trainee and then of course as a trader at Monjasa.

After 10 minutes break the event continued with an exercise splitting the candidates in 3 teams playing the role of the traders and each team was appointed three Monjasa representatives, one of which adopted the role of a customer, while the other two were observers of the process. The game covered all aspects of an entire bunker trading cycle with managing bunker sales, negotiating, fixing and closing the deal, follow up with the customer to ensure payments are paid in full as well as complaints handling. The game duration was about an hour and at the end there was a winning team who were rewarded with a prize. The game was exciting and challenging for the young candidates, in an area of the office designed to give the trading and shipping element to it, so the atmosphere reminded a lot what you see in oil trading and shipping department(s).

The event was completed with a cocktail reception on the roof terrace of the modern and state of the art offices of Monjasa in Limassol. The rooftop garden offers an uninterrupted 360 degrees view of Limassol including the city’s anchorage area. During this part of the event, Monjasa and the candidates got to know each other better, ask informal questions, express interest and network over some canapes and drinks.

After the event, Monjasa holds an evaluation meeting with the Monjasa representatives at the event, to decide which candidates will be invited for a subsequent interview and select the best out of the candidates for the trainee programme.

The successful candidate who is selected from the 12 will be part of global rotations (2×2 months) across the Monjasa offices such as Singapore, Dubai, Denmark, Cyprus or Panama, which will give to the trainee a unique understanding of different business contexts and cultures.

The adventure is kicked off in Denmark with a mix of school, teambuilding activities and internal education. The trainee will also be part of Monjasa’s extensive onboarding programme, where he or she will be introduced to all aspects of the business and meet many of new colleagues.

The trainee immediately contributes to the performance of the team. During the two-year period, his knowledge of the business areas will gradually develop. The rotation period includes thorough knowledge of the global set-up and the trainee will build global relations with colleagues as well as business partners.

While working at Monjasa, the trainee will also gain further knowledge within oil & shipping as well as to be enrolled in a formal two-year education as part of the Commercial Shipping Programme with the Danish Shipping Academy as well as enrolled in a selection of courses within trading, bunkering, shipping, innovation and development of business opportunities.