Kanthal employee benefits: Meet Louise

I’m kind of like a cat who always lands on its feet. In my biography I’ll have a chapter called “Whoever has the most jobs wins” because I’ve had so many jobs in a lot of countries. When Corona knocked out my previous workplace in the event industry, I heard that my neighbor’s husband was looking for people – at Kanthal. Other than having transported steel as a truck driver, I had no experience whatsoever from the steel industry. But I thought to myself: why not, let’s do it.

I’ve also worked with communication and I’m one of those who always seek information. I like reading about what is going on in the company on our intranet. One day I found a piece about a colleague who’d received a scholarship to go study in Germany. Another colleague told me about his language trip to Cape Town that was made possible through a Kanthal grant. So, I got interested and applied.

I work with a lot of foreign customers and wanted to dust off my French. I found a ship with a French crew that was about to cross the Atlantic and applied for funds to cover the costs. It sounded perfect, to practice French with a French only speaking crew in an exciting setting. But, it turned out that the trip would eat up the whole fund’s budget… Instead, I got a stipend to study French on land. There was a choice between Canada and France. I chose the latter because then I could combine my studies with learning how to surf.

Now I’m going to Biarritz on the Atlantic French coast. I’ll live with a French family, go to a French school and learn to surf between classes. When I was 13 years old, I stayed with a French family one summer – and it gives you so much. Being in a French environment, partake in family dinners, speak French, eat French… I’m really looking forward to this.

Kanthal offers us this opportunity to study during working hours. It’s part of my personal development at work. In one of my many jobs I worked with HR, and this benefit is clearly something that creates pride and loyalty.