About my coach

My coach’s name is Cédric Simonet.

I’ve appreciated him since the first contact we had by phone. I felt I was talking with someone impassioned for his job. During the first contact we had personally, I heard something very meaningful from Cédric:

“At Alcan, each of us sets his professional objectives. In the mean time, each professional defines his own personal aim: mine is to finish working at 6:00 p.m. In order to reach this goal, I start working at 7:00 a.m. I like working early in the morning. This way I have time to enjoy my family in the evening. Here at ALCAN we seek equilibrium between professional and personal life.”

I think this philosophy needs to be praised. A neat family life is the key to be durably successful as a professional, and that is what Alcan is looking for.

Cédric is 32 years old; he was born in a town called Saint Germain en Laye, close to Paris. He is an earth scientist who did his graduation in Geology, his master in petrology and for his thesis, he studied ruby stones. After a first job as an archeologist in Nantes, France, Cédric moved to Kenya to work in mines of gold and precious stones. He worked there for 7 years.

Since December 2003, Cédric is a geologist in the Sogerem, a mining company which is part of the Alcan group. You, reader, should be curious about it. But so soon I’ll share with you all that I learned and observed there during my Alcan day.

Geologists are mentioned as rock hunters. My coach has a real geologist heart, he is a rock hunter. But, more than that, he is a manager, a polyvalent professional. It allows him to help his co-workers in their activities when they need him.

He has a very great skill: pedagogy. He is able to explain very didactically even the most complex subject. I could confirm the importance of this skill during a meeting I’ve participated with Cédric and suppliers. Often, suppliers don’t know the activities of the company and it’s necessary to describe it in a synthetic way to allow them to adapt and personalize their offer.

Communication skilled, rigorous, hard worker, organized, methodical, responsible, engaged, team player are the qualities of a good manager, and Cédric has them.

Cédric’s interview

How did you get to know ALCAN?

I did not know Alcan. I was hired just a couple of months before Pechiney was bought by Alcan. But I knew Pechiney as a flagship of French industry.

Which was the process you got hired by ALCAN?

I got to know that SOGEREM was looking for a geologist through the network. I contacted SOGEREM's General Manager and a couple of days later we met in Albi. The job was perfect for me. After meeting SOGEREM's other managers in Tarn, Pechiney's mining engineer in Gardanne, and the HR manager in Paris, we came to the conclusion that I was fit for the job and the next monday, I was at work.

When you arrived in ALCAN, which kind of training did you have (for example, in quality, security, etc)?

ALCAN's motto is "EHS first". (EHS= Environment Health Safety). SOGEREM and ALCAN have a very strong commitment towards a safe and environment friendly business. Some of the first training I received included VHS (Visites Hiérarchiques de Sécurité - some sort of short and educative safety audits), fire extinguisher use, first aid.

His hobbies

Cédric is very sportive; he loves sailing and archery. At 17 years old, he was teaching sailing. Hence, his favorite place is somewhere not too far from some water!

Ornithology and photography are his two other passions. And I’m sure he enjoyed both so much when he was in Kenya. Actually, I have the contribution of a professional photographer in my blog. And he really impressed me sending photos of a Caterpillar shovel and some corroded objects because corrosion is a subject in material science I really appreciated when I studied it and Caterpillar ‘toys’ are my favorites!

Such wonderful photos… Enjoy it as well:

   

My coach likes traveling, he traveled around in Europe: Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, Slovakia and in Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia. He speaks French, English and Swahili. His most recent trip was to Montreal in Canada.

He still wants to visit many countries but the next ones will be:

- Iceland for the ice and fire mix
- North African countries for the desert
- Ethiopia for its history
- Australia

His treasure: his family

His beautiful wife - Joséphine is from Kenya, she's so sweet and smiling; she's a marvelous cooker!

His so clever boy - Erwann, he's about 5 years old, he likes surfing the internet, he's always building some cars and planes; he has an engineer's soul!

He doesn’t have a pet. Last live animal he had at home was a moray eel. It ate all its fellow inmates in the fish tank. He just took it back to the lagoon... Too costly...

His professional advice

“If you do what you like, you can’t be wrong”

What’s a special person I’ve met!