"Milliken gives people a lot of opportunities, it’s a very supportive atmosphere"

Carine Van De Velde joined Milliken in 1985 and has worked with the company for 36 years.

After starting at Milliken Industrials, she found a welcome home at Milliken’s Chemical Division as a customer service representative based in Belgium.

Tell us a bit about your role at Milliken, what does it involve?
"As a customer service representative, the most important thing is that you are the first point of contact for your customer if they need information about their material or deliveries. It’s not only order input, but there is also a lot of communication concerning deliveries."

What are the main ways you can help Milliken customers?
"Almost every day I am the contact person between the customer and the shipping department, and, for example, now with Brexit, there are a lot of delays with deliveries to the UK with traffic jams and problems at customs. Helping customers to receive their material involves a lot of logistics and communication."

Do you cover a particular region?
"Previously customer service representatives had a region but that has changed and we now work on specific product lines. I take care of Liquitint and share that with another colleague, as the product line is very popular."

What does a typical day look like for you?
"In the morning we start with preparing the deliveries, the documents for shipping for that day’s customers, answer incoming emails, and we also keep in touch with each other over calls given that we are now working from home. Our weekly customer service meeting is very important because it allows us to discuss the challenges and issues that we need to solve to help our customers."

What is your favorite part of the job?
"I love entering orders! Every order is different because every customer is different, so you have to know which things you have to keep in mind for each customer."

What’s is your favorite Milliken memory?
"One of my best experiences was the opportunity to go to our head office in the United States, that was in ‘98 I believe. It was wonderful to see the offices themselves but even better to meet colleagues that I worked with remotely every day but had never met."

What’s special about Milliken? What do you like about the company?
"Milliken gives people a lot of opportunities. It’s a company that respects its associates and you can always go to somebody to get help or information if you have problems. It’s a very supportive atmosphere."

What’s one piece of advice you have for someone looking for a job or internship at Milliken?
"Just be yourself. Be honest. Milliken is an open and collaborative company."