From sales to project management

After the Christmas holiday I was to start on a 3 months project in Reporting and controlling in the Northern European hub in Manchester. Before moving up to Manchester I had only talked with two team members for about 30 minutes so the project was still to be clearly defined. Furthermore, with a background in sales I knew that project management was going to be more of a challenge. The project turned out to be about internal branding and report usage and within a couple of weeks I had a good understanding of the project as well as of the role that the controlling and reporting department plays in Northern Europe. I was welcomed into the team right away and soon after my starting date the first FIFA night was arranged, which impressed me a lot given that they knew I was only going to be a part of the team for three months. A new life in a new city and with new colleagues was off to an amazing start.

Milan Calling

I arrived on Thursday the 12th of October and I have already had the chance to explore a bit of the city and some of the restaurants. I must say that the local kitchen here has a lot to offer. It is definitely different from the English kitchen. I will be here for about 3 months, so there will be plenty of time to enjoy the city and Italy!

Finishing up – reflection

My rotations have brought me from sales in Central London, over sales controlling and logistics in Manchester to digital marketing in Milan and what a journey it has been! Furthermore, the program brought me to Liectenstein for the Outperformer Summit, to Lausanne for courses at IMD Business School and to Bosnia to build houses for the less fortunate affected by the conflict in the early 90s. I cannot think of any other program (or any other company for that matter) that invests this amount of ressources and efforts into the single individual. I even got interviewed to a big Danish newspaper but given that it is in Danish I will not bother you with posting.

I have learned about Hilti, the different functions of the company and how we focus on people in everything we do – and yet I have only just scratched the surface. On a more personal level I have learned about project management, gained skills in presentation, situational leadership and much more and experienced how it is to work in diverse teams.

Most importantly I have build up a network that is not only professional but even consisting oif what I consider as friends.

Now life after the program has started. I am now a Strategic Marketing Team Leader in Prague which I am excited to tell you much more about soon