Padova is a city located in northern Italy, just a 30-minute train ride away from Venice. It is one of the most elegant and dynamic cities in Italy. The center has excellent examples of medieval, renaissance and modern architecture, the atmosphere is unique and combines the unique blend of history and the charm of a student city. Located in the heart of the City is Pagination.com, at which Mila, 24-year-old from Germany is currently engaged in a 5-month traineeship, thanks to the Your first EURES job project.

Pagination.com is a cloud database publishing company, and offered a traineeship as an International Marketing Specialist. Although Mila studied languages, she has always been interested to have more of an insight into Marketing. For the employer, Mila had the perfect requirements as she is a German native speaker, and they were looking for someone to help them with their marketing strategy on the German market. They offered her a wide range of tasks that she could do during the traineeship including translation and marketing related tasks. 

Mila’s passion began early she told us “I always wanted to be able to speak a lot of languages and live abroad, so when I turned 18 I spent my first year abroad. I worked in Spain and started learning Spanish as well!” For Mila this opportunity set her career path as she was sure that she wanted to pursue a career in languages. Back in Germany she applied for an apprenticeship to become a multilingual administrative assistant for the English and Spanish language. But that wasn’t the end as Mila sought for even more new experiences and knowledge she said. “I decided to spend another year abroad but this time I wanted to go to an English-speaking country and really perfect my English.” 

Spending time abroad really helped find her career path but also grow as a person she added. Mila applied for a dual degree to become a state certified translator and interpreter as well as starting a Bachelor Degree in specialized translations. Having gained so much knowledge and experience abroad has really helped her pursue her dream. “The dual degree really gave me a lot of opportunities and the time I spent abroad was perfect for this career path. I got to further improve my English and Spanish as well as learn even more about the culture, language but also learn more about the political and social issues in each country.”

Mila was also looking to do a traineeship to gain more experience working in the marketing and translation industry before applying for a full-time job. In times of COVID-19 it was really hard to find a placement “companies were not looking for trainees, as a lot of industries were hit hard by the crisis. There were not a lot of offers on the market when I started looking by myself.”

YfEj helped Mila finally find a placement for her traineeship that perfectly combined her interests as well as her degree. “With the help of Your first EURES job I finally found a job offer that was appealing to me. I applied to work with Pagination.com right away.” After the first video interview Mila knew that this company was the one she wanted to do her traineeship with. “I was intrigued because working for them would mean that I don’t only get to translate but also get to work in marketing which is something that I have been interested in for years and could see myself doing in the future as well. YfEj also offered so many additional opportunities that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

“I am very grateful to have found a placement through YfEj as they have opened a lot of doors for me and even made it possible for me to start learning a 4th language.” Mila applied for Italian Language training through YfEj and was able to additionally start learning a new language which doesn’t just make it easier for her to live in a foreign country but also will help her career tremendously she says. “Before starting my traineeship me and my employer agreed that I would come to Italy a month early in order to do a 4-week Italian course so that I get a headstart on that.”

Working for Pagination, she added, was the right choice as she had the opportunity to work independently and grow not only professionally but also as a person. “In retrospect I can only recommend using Your first EURES job to everyone as it offers you so many additional opportunities that you would not get otherwise”. Mila also added that “after spending so much time abroad I can only recommend it to everyone. You will never forget the experiences you have made and will grow so much as a person. In times like this it’s great to have someone helping you find a work placement and also offering so many additional opportunities like YfEj does.”

I am very grateful to have found a placement through this TMS project as they have opened a lot of doors for me and even made it possible for me to start learning another language