Marco de Mik
Marco is 39 years old and works as a Senior consultant swine. He studied Veterinary Medicine in Utrecht and Animal Nutrition in Wageningen and is happy to tell us about his work at SFR.
Does your study fit in well with what you do now?
Yes, the combination of animal nutrition and animal health is almost a daily occurrence in my work.
Did you already know SFR before you started working here?
My first job was as a pig nutritionist for AgruniekRijnvallei. In that role, I already had contact with my current colleagues as a customer.
Why did you want to work at SFR?
At SFR, everything revolves around the application of knowledge of animal nutrition. On the one hand, we generate new knowledge through research, on the other hand, we work on solutions so that the knowledge can actually be applied. An example of this is a growth model or our raw materials matrix. At the same time, we also provide customer-specific consultancy and training to transfer the knowledge. SFR gives you a unique platform in this.
Is this your first job after graduating? If not, where did you work before SFR?
I started as a pig nutritionist at AgruniekRijnvallei and then ended up at SFR via Cargill.
“You work for the most innovative compound feed companies across half the world”
Can you tell me what you do on a normal working day?
That’s difficult, the days are very different. When I’m traveling, I start with a breakfast in the hotel and often report to the customer around 9 am. Then I give presentations to the customer during the day, we discuss feed compositions and we look for the best solution for a nutritional issue. After a day of consultancy, I then have dinner with the customer and finally I go back to the hotel.
On an office day I have 1 or 2 internal appointments or online consultancy with a customer, I answer customer questions by email and prepare a customer visit. On a home working day, I have the time to spend almost the entire day, in addition to some customer questions, on a single subject that I want to write an article about or I can work on an internal project.
What do you like about working at SFR?
I really enjoy sharing our knowledge and finding out with the customer how they can implement this under their circumstances. Brainstorming with customers about nutritional issues, that gives me energy… even if I don’t know the perfect answer. You work for the most innovative compound feed companies around the world, you provide consultancy and training to professionals and learn with every customer question you get.
How would you describe the working atmosphere at SFR?
SFR is a down-to-earth company with approachable colleagues and independence in carrying out the work.
Would you recommend working at SFR? And why?
SFR is not the ideal employer for everyone, so it depends on the person. From my perspective, SFR is recommended for down-to-earth, inquisitive people who like to brainstorm with customers and travel independently.
What are your ambitions within SFR?
Ambition for me is not in another title. I actually want to continue to grow on two points. Firstly, I want to understand better and better how nutrition affects the animal (growth, milk production, health, etc.). Secondly, I want to become better and better at transferring knowledge. Ultimately, I want to become an increasingly better discussion partner for colleagues and customers. If a customer has a nutritional issue, I would like to be the one who is called to take a step further together in the solution.
