Recipe for personal development

"You have to gather all your courage and make your dreams come true right away. Life is too short to wait for tomorrow." These words from an elderly lady in the hospital changed the life of community service worker Dominic Kinel: "I thought about this sentence for a long time. Then it was clear to me: I want to make a career!"

The words of the elderly lady still echo in him today - and drive him on. In the meantime, the 36-year-old has realized his dreams (so far) of a professional career. With a lot of hard work and remarkable energy: After completing his civilian service, he first returned to the kitchen at HDI in Hanover, where he started his professional life after completing his training. Soon he was in charge of the cold kitchen. "My boss always believed in me and gave me super support along the way," Dominic Kinel reports. He took many continuing education courses to learn new things and broaden his horizons, he says. This was his start into lifelong learning - an indispensable ingredient of his recipe.

In every profession, there are prerequisites for climbing the career ladder. As a chef, this is either the examination to become a master chef or the Fachwirt in the hospitality industry. Dominic Kinel opted for the business and management knowledge and studied at night school for the Fachwirt in the hospitality industry. "During that time, events rolled over: Our first child was born, my wife fell ill with rheumatism, which is why she was temporarily dependent on a wheelchair," Dominic Kinel recounts. "That's when I began to feel what stress can mean for an individual." To master this, strong nerves, structure and discipline were needed - important ingredients in Dominic Kinel's career recipe. After 17 months, he had completed his specialist training, which opened up many new opportunities for him.

"From then on, I knew what I could do," Dominic Kinel sums up proudly. He felt an urge not to stand still now. He wanted to keep going, to continue his education and to advance professionally. You could say: From that moment on, there were no more personal barriers.

With this new self-confidence and the business basics from the Fachwirt in his pocket, Dominic Kinel enrolled three years ago for the evening course "Bachelor Business Administration" with a specialization in Digital Transformation. "I didn't realize at the time that I would be turning my back on the kitchen," he says. For him, it was primarily about creating more opportunities for career advancement. "Only as my studies progressed did it become clear that I wanted to help shape the future of the company," Dominic Kinel reports vividly. His research on the topics of new work, the new world of work and digitization also contributed to this development, he says.

The family man's thirst for knowledge led him to an unusually long internship within the HDI Group. The company released him from his actual job for a full year instead of the usual 14 days to try something different within the Group. "During that time, I learned about the practice of agile working and was able to try it out for myself," Dominic Kinel reports looking back. He says he owes the long job shadowing primarily to those in the Group who give interested people and talents from outside the field a chance. This is a forward-looking approach in view of the shortage of skilled workers.

Today, Dominic Kinel is a Scrum Master, is expected to complete his bachelor's degree in the summer with a thesis on New Work, and was promoted to "Agile Team Coordinator" at HDI Global SE in January. A new position in the HDI Group, with which the company meets the new roles of the agile working world. Dominic Kinel is now working on the topic for which he is on fire. Having barely started there, he is looking forward to his next challenges: "I would like to become a mentor. For anyone who wants to get to the right place. Maybe I'll also write a book about my personal entrepreneurship." Visions and goals - Dominic Kinel will keep the most important ingredients for his unusual career.