Gold for DHL Freight: The "Foreign Exchange Program for Young Talents” wins the Stevie® Award in the Human Resources category. With this program, we promote international exchange among our young employees and enable them to gather global experience, develop their skills, and gain new perspectives by working at one of the many DHL Freight locations in Europe.
Exchange Program for Intercultural Skills
The Stevie® Awards are a prestigious business prize for companies worldwide. Once a year, outstanding business ideas are honored in a variety of categories. We are excited to be among the award winners in 2023.
The exchange program gives trainees and students in a dual curriculum program the opportunity to work in one of the European branches of DHL Freight or DHL Global Forwarding for a certain period of time. Accommodation, travel costs, and preparatory training are covered by the Danzas Study Foundation, with our partner ICUnet assisting upon arrival and with lodging. Mentors supervise the young talents on site. An operational plan is drawn up at the beginning.
The exchange program is a joint initiative of DHL Global Forwarding and DHL Freight and is the responsibility of Mr. Dönges.
I entered the competition without any expectations. Winning gold in the end is a great tribute to our work. What’s special about it is that the jury comes from the private sector and has awarded a prize to an HR project – naturally, I’m very pleased that this initiative has received such international recognition.
Uwe Dönges, Training Manager Freight Germany
For the young talents, the exchange program is an opportunity to acquire and develop soft skills of increasing interest: intercultural competence, independence, and high adaptability. In return, DHL Freight benefits from the further development of its employees and actively promotes cross-border cooperation between the individual locations.
Promoting New Perspectives as a Top Employer
The exchange program is currently offered in eight countries: Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Ireland. Other countries are to follow in the coming years. So far, 18 young talents have participated in the exchange program and reported very positively and enthusiastically about their experiences.
As part of my work in the Sustainability Department, I had the privilege of supporting a project on sustainable fuels (‘Skicka Grönt’). [...] After my final presentation to an international audience, for which I received really good feedback, I was incredibly proud.
Elisabeth Poppe, Internal Sales DHL Freight and participant at DHL Freight Sweden in Stockholm
As a top employer, DHL Freight is always looking for new ways to inspire young talent as well as senior positions in logistics, to promote exchange, and to open up new perspectives. This year, we are particularly honored that our “Foreign Exchange Program for Young Talents” was recognized with a Stevie® Award.
