At Sertego we believe that the most important asset we have is human capital. The people that form our team, from the engineers to technicians and operators, work always under the premise of excellence. Out commitment to their success and professional development is reflected in our Human Resources policies.
December 2018, web copywriter
At Sertego we believe in people’s potential, and that is why we are committed to the projection and development of our employees’ professional skills. For us, training and continuous leaning are key to offer the best quality in the provision of our services. That is why we have a training pro-gram in which we offer professional development opportunities. Our goal is that they know all the key elements of the activity to then advance towards positions of greater responsibility in our treatment plants. In each case, we set an objective and we guide them through the whole pro-cess to, finally, evaluate it. What follows are two successful cases of internal promotion. On one hand, Manuel Antolino’s case, Head of Production and Maintenance at the oil regeneration plant in Fuenlabrada; on the other, Gloria Gómez Fernández’s case, an engineer who has been working at the Marpol treatment plant in Valencia since May.
Manuel, what were your beginnings at Sertego like?
I’m a technical engineer specialized in mechanics. I started at the used mineral oil regeneration plant of Sertego in Cartagena in 2011, where I began working as a field operator.
What activities have you carried out? What have you learnt from each of the jobs you have been doing?
I started as an operator at the used mineral oil regeneration plan in Cartagena, where I spent two years, until 2013. This allowed me to establish an initial contact with the petrochemical industry sector. I acquired knowledge about the operation of the plant in my field, the management of chemical products, loading and unloading of cisterns and handling of dynamic and static plant equipment. Subsequently, I was offered the opportunity to join the mineral oil regeneration plant in Alfaro (La Rioja). I worked there as a Process Panel Controller / Shift Manager until 2015. During this stage I was able to go deeper into everything related to the process of regeneration of used oils and the process management from the point of view of the panel controller. I acquired control skills. From 2015 until now I have been working as Production and Maintenance Manager at the Sertego regeneration plant in Fuenlabrada, where great progress has been made in qualitative terms in relation to the knowledge of the functioning of Sertego’s structure, technical knowledge about teams, maintenance, purchases and the daily control of the plant’s operability.
What would you highlight most about this process? Tell us what you value the most.
I have had the opportunity to work with excellent people, from who I have learned a lot and ob-tained great professional lessons. Another thing I value is having started from the bottom, as this gives you a solid and specific technical base about the functioning and needs of the plant, and allows you to improve their organization and the security conditions, as well as the workers com-fort.
Before beginning the program, did you set any goals? What expectations did you have?
Honestly, I didn’t set any goals. What I really wanted to do was to work, acquire new experience and knowledge and reinforce what I already knew. Since the first interview, Sertego offered me job projection within the group. Their proposal was to begin as an operator to, step by step, ac-quire experience and assume roles with more responsibility according to my abilities.
In what way did you begin to assume more responsibility? What is your greatest success?
I started as shift manager at the Alfaro plant, which meant that during my shift I was responsable for the operation of the plant. Also, the field operator was under my responsibility.
My greatest professional success was moving on to the Sertego plant in Fuenlabrada, as pro-duction and maintenance manager.
How did you feel? Was it exciting?
At the beginning I felt pressure and responsibility to meet expectations and not fail the people who had trusted in me. Obviously, someone trusting me to assume roles with more responsibility is very stimulating, as it means you are doing a good job.
How would you describe all this learning process?
As an enriching process, both personally and professionally. I would repeat it without a doubt.
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Gloria began to work for the Marpol treatment plant recently in Valencia. She has highlighted the importance of starting from the bottom at a company. She has told us its not easy to find a com-pany that bets on the worker from the beginning and is willing to train them.
Gloria, why did you choose the Valencia Marpol treatment plant?
When I finished my studies at the Valencia University I started to look for a job in the area. I did various interviews, and even began to work at other companies. Sertego contacted me to do an interview and I really liked what they offered me, both the topic (waste treatment, recycling…) and the actual learning program.
What goals have you set?
To learn and train myself as much as possible from every single worker at the company and of how a chemical plant works as a whole, from the physical labour at the plant to the whole mana-gement of the company.
What roles would you like to assume at the plant?
I would like to have a role with responsibility, such as director of exploitation.
How do you see yourself in one years time?
With the knowledge necessary to acquire responsibilities in a company and, of course, learning constantly.
What is the most stimulating thing about this program?
Being able to learn “from scratch”. Nowadays, companies look for young people with a lot of ex-perience, offering at the same time jobs that are not in line with the level of training that they have.
I like working at a chemical plant. I studied chemistry and always wanted to work in something related with science and the environment
What would you say is the reason for the small number of women working on this type of plant?
It must be because of the type of sector, the majority of which is male by tradition. We could say that waste management is not one of the most attractive sectors. As an opposite example, we could mention the agri-food sector, which is much more appealing. However, it’s a trend which is changing with time, each time the amount of woman in positions of responsibility is higher, and it’s only a matter of time before we reach this sector.
