A trainee recalls her experiences at Munich Re - Sabine Gosch

Division AAA — Asia, Australia, Africa. Specifically: Middle East, Northern Africa. Born in Tübingen in 1974. Joined Munich Re in December 2000.

Wheat, oil, jewels, uncut diamonds: these are but a few of the goods one deals with in the marine sector. I had the good fortune to spend my very first training period at Munich Re in precisely this division. Marine insurance not only covers all kinds of transportation risks but it also involves the insurance of the vessels themselves and thus of all liabilities incurred by shipowners, carriers, in storage, etc., etc., etc! Confused? So was I. But thanks to the support of my colleagues, who have almost always taken plenty of time to answer my numerous questions, I was able to familiarise myself with this field very quickly. Marine insurance and reinsurance call for a great deal of experience, which in turn takes quite a while to acquire. Fortunately, Munich Re gives its trainees all the time they need.

Celebrating a successful new structure

Half a year after I joined Munich Re, the company restructured itself from ground up — incidentally the first real restructurisation of its kind to occur at Munich Re — and I was able to experience and collaborate in a division's reorganisation. It was very exciting. And to top it all off in the end, or rather as a reward for the first big step, the whole staff was invited to a big party at the Munich trade fair grounds, featuring the live performance of "Kool and the Gang".

Via the USA, France and Lebanon to Munich Re

Looking back, the path I followed before joining Munich Re was admittedly a bit unusual. I studied economics, specialising in North America, and minored in American studies and political science. After completing my basic course, I decided it was time to get away from it all for a while. I left for the USA, where I attended college and a course in American studies. Back in Tübingen, I quickly realised that I would soon feel the need to go abroad again. A new course of studies combining business administration with the IECS Strasbourg caught my fancy, so I took off for another one-and-a-half years, this time with France as my destination.

My internships also involved working with foreign countries: I collaborated in creating a logistics chain to Brazil and in preparing candidates for their foreign assignments. The absolute climax, however, was my internship in Beirut where the work routine, compared to my internships in Germany, posed a real challenge. Even towards the end of my stay there, the correspondence I drafted was invariably returned with remarks such as "far too direct and impolite", "what happened to the friendly salutation". And yet I always tried to do my very best... The time spent in Beirut was an invaluable experience in a fascinating country with a long-standing culture and history, and wonderful people!

That is also what drew my attention to Munich Re for the first time. I was sitting at home thinking about the great time I had spent in Lebanon when I came across a graduate magazine including a report by a trainee at Munich Re about his assignment to Dubai. I decided that I wanted to go there, too! But first I had to find out what Munich Re was.

An insurance company? It had better be the right one!

During my interview, Human Resources quickly dispelled the negative associations that the word insurance had evoked in me until then. And the position available was actually located in the area I had been dreaming of - the Middle East. My decision therefore came easily.

Ageing vessels from Iran and visitors from Syria

After 16 months of training I have now been assigned a field of responsibility and countries of my own. My work continues to be challenging and tasks are never routine. Fortunately, I learn something new every day. Yesterday, for instance, I had to assess an Iranian fleet consisting entirely of ageing vessels. Today we are all getting together to plan potential business developments in the next two years. And tomorrow I will have to make arrangements for clients visiting from Syria, which means that I will have to find out more about the business relationship we have had so far, since when it has existed, how it is performing, what details need to be borne in mind, etc. There is never a dull moment.

Europe and Australia: A trainee on the go

The internationality that I sought is always there and not only involves speaking on the phone: just four weeks after I started my traineeship, I was given the opportunity to travel to London. Then, last autumn, I spent a week at our subsidiary there. Another integral part of the trainee programme is a four-week stay at one of Munich Re's international Business Units - in my case Sydney. In short: every day a high level of concentration is needed to understand both the nature and meaning of what our clients are trying to say (after all, it is rather embarrassing to ask for the fourth time: "Would you mind spelling that again?")