Kralendijk- Sisters Milinda and Tamisha Spanner are both busy doing the internship for their MBO Administratie studies in Bonaire. One sister at the office of Linkels & Partners; the other one at the office of PCN Pension fund.

Both sisters are attending the same school and both -at the same time- had to do their internship. The school approached Linkels & Partners owner Harald Linkels with the request to place one of two sisters from St. Eustatius at Linkels & Partners.

Linkels & Partners only had place for one intern, which became Milinda. Linkels said he felt he had an impossible choice to make.

“Although we were happy with Milinda’s placement, I felt a bit bad about placing her but not Tamisha. They are both doing the exact same study, they both made an excellent impression during their interviews, and a good place to do your internship is very important”, said Linkels. A complicating factor was that, because of the Covid-crisis, there were not much internships available at the time.

Linkels said he then thought of a possible placement of Tamisha at the PCN pension fund. “I contacted Frederique van den Steen who is in charge of HR at PCN, and we discussed the possibility. After consultation with the office coordinator Monique, Tamisha was interviewed and subsequently placed at PCN.

Both offices have a strong link with St. Eustatius. Linkels & Partners is the administrative office for the BES-Reporter, and the organization from time to time provides training courses on St. Eustatius. PCN has affiliates, pensioners and an office on St. Eustatius.

Tasks

During the internship, the MBO interns have to complete various school-related tasks, and at the same time execute work tasks to show that they have certain administrative knowledge and skills.

“So far we have had various students from MBO Administratie and I am quite impressed with the level of this institution”, said Linkels. Many students finishing the MBO in Bonaire, continue to do continue their studies at a HBO in Holland.