I went to my first Hilti interview out of sheer curiosity, nothing more! I was working at Michelin, and pretty happy there, to be honest, but was impressed by Hilti’s values and people and the way they spoke about the company. The more I got to know Hilti, the more I noticed how genuine the people were. They really took time to answer my many questions. I was especially keen on the fact that Hilti was still a family business, and that they managed everything from R&D to AMS with direct customer relationships. I got the feeling that, even though it was a big company, everyone could be an entrepreneur. Ten years on, I can look back and say I was right.
 
On my market reach project in Switzerland, for example, we were working like a start-up, taking risks, trying new things, making mistakes, trying again, changing our processes, switching our mindsets, all of it. Hilti is all about change management because it’s continuously innovating.
 
What I love about Hilti is that, even if you don’t qualify for a role on your CV or in what you’ve done before, they’ll trust you to do it anyway – and help you along the way.
 
My first role in sales is where I learned what it means to develop people. What a fantastic experience. Not always easy, but so interesting and rewarding.
After sales, I wanted to understand how the ‘engine room’ worked and was given the opportunity to discover the world of services. It’s also where I got to practice my languages and work with different cultures.

It gave me an urge to ‘open the window’ and see how other market organizations worked. I eventually got the chance to go abroad to Switzerland.

Two brilliant years later, I brought my Zurich experience back to sales management in Paris and shared my new knowledge. As ever, I arrived not knowing anyone in the MO, but immediately felt at home – the Hilti home – with colleagues who welcomed me like they knew me already.