Duygu Urun Cinar is the newest product compliance and safety engineer at the VEMEA (Vermeer Europe, Middle East and Africa) office. In Goes, the Netherlands, our team oversees the sales, support and distribution of a wide variety of Vermeer construction, infrastructure and landscape equipment.
Two years ago, Duygu was working at a military defense company in Turkey as a senior industrial designer. There, she worked on designs of self-protection systems and subsystems for aircraft, tanks, ships, soldiers’ workstations, equipment and more.
Yet, as Duygu‘s teammates started leaving her previous company for work in the Netherlands, she felt it was time for a change. She applied for some positions in the Netherlands but didn't find a good fit there, so she stopped looking. Time passed. Then, she found Vermeer.
"I'm an industrial designer by trade, so I didn't do a lot specifically with safety and compliance in my old job," shared Urun Cinar. "When Brenda called and asked to do an interview, I thought she called me wrongly."
However, Duygu found that her energy clicked very well in the interview, and while she could learn the ins and outs of product compliance and safety, she knew that the cultural fit was the most important.
"The people here are happy, in my ex-company, the people were not happy," said Urun Cinar. "[Here,] they are smiling, helping each other, they are saying 'hi' and 'good morning.' I feel very comfortable asking questions of everyone."
At first, Duygu thought the cheery attitudes of her new teammates were because of their different cultural backgrounds. In Turkey, it's traditional for people to stay in one job their entire career. She thought perhaps that was why her old coworkers were not as happy. Yet when she found that both her Dutch and American co-workers were equally happy and helpful, she realized it was just the Vermeer culture.
"It's very important, who works with you," stated Urun Cinar.
After a few weeks of virtual training, Duygu is starting to get pulled into different projects. She works closely with team members in Pella, acting as a bridge of information for VEMEA. While it was hard to transition to a new job during COVID-19, she's enjoying her new career at Vermeer.