From Finland to Manchester

I started at Hilti in August 2015 as an Account Manager and I was responsible for developing customer relationships in the construction industry. No two days were alike and although I had no previous experience of the industry, I learned quickly thanks to my manager and colleagues. My best memories are when I could help customers to improve their business operations in ways that they themselves hadn’t been able to envisage. Now that is really rewarding!

The opportunity to have an international career was one of the main reasons I wanted to work at Hilti. I’ve studied abroad and after graduating I wanted to work in an international company. Subsequently, Hilti's recruitment process really made an impact on me and I got the impression that the company really valued me as a potential employee.

Hilti has given me a platform from which to succeed and believes strongly in the development of individuals. My first manager was a good example of this: From my very first day at work, he made it clear to me that he wanted to help me reach my potential. I’m very grateful to him for this. Currently I’m working in Manchester, in the Learning and Development division. Our head office for Northern Europe is located here in the UK and my team is responsible for developing and implementing training courses for staff visiting from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, across the UK and Ireland. The best thing about my job are the people, as it’s fulfilling to help others develop and learn new skills. I’m proud to be part of an organisation which invests a lot in continuing the training of staff.

In my experience, working in the UK does not differ much from working in Finland. Instead of Thursday being Pea Soup day, Friday is known as Fish 'n’ Chips Friday. My work environment is very international, and even though the work is physically located in the UK, the people around me come from all over the world – it’s very diverse. I really enjoy working abroad so I have no plans to return to Finland in the foreseeable future! 

I started working in Hilti's customer service team in 2011 and spent a few months there before moving to support the operations side. My work has been very varied and I’ve worked with various processes and systems, such as pricing, customer registrations and the CRM system used by the Hilti sales teams. I don't mind too much where I work, so I was immediately interested when an attractive position came up in Manchester.

It’s easy to move abroad to work with Hilti, especially if you have a clear idea of what your objectives are, work to achieve this goal and show that you are able to perform well. Currently, my job title is Regional Process Expert for Fleet Management, which means I’m responsible for making sure that Hilti Tool Service processes run smoothly on a regional level, and I act as a go-between for the national organisations and the global organisation.

It’s nice to work at the Manchester head office as the work culture is similar to that in Finland, for instance, innovation is encouraged. One difference is of course the size of the organisation, and because there are so many people, not everyone here knows each other like they do in Finland. At the moment, I’m very happy with my work and I really like it here. But we’ll have to see, I might return to Hilti Finland in the future – who knows!

I started working at Hilti through a summer finance internship in 2015, and after the summer I continued to work part time as a Finance Trainee alongside my studies. In early 2016, I started working in the role of Credit & Collection Specialist and I was responsible for credit control and collection as well as developing associated processes. Alongside my role as C&C Specialist, I have worked on several projects in Finland, such as the implementation of the Lean concept in an office environment and sales, and as a Local Test Manager for the commissioning of the SAP system.

I’ve always wanted to work abroad and gain experience of working in an international environment. One of the main reasons I wanted to work at Hilti was because it’s an international organisation and offers worldwide career opportunities.

It was very easy to move abroad to work in Hilti because the company encourages an international career and helps you choose the correct career path for you. In December 2017, my manager mentioned the possibility of me moving to the finance department at our Northern Europe head office to learn about the department and the opportunities offered there. Consequently, I took up the role of Performance Controller in August 2018.

In my current position, I support business operations by preparing analyses and calculations, for instance, on the sales performance for our Northern Europe Region. I work in close cooperation with Hilti's internal stakeholder groups (sales, marketing, finance) and I participate in various global and local projects aimed at developing operations. Every day is different, but the best thing about my job is working with a variety of people.

Working in Manchester is not all that different from working at the office in Finland. The main difference is the size of the office and the international nature of it. Our Manchester office employs almost 10 times as many people and nationalities - In my own team of 10 people there are 8 different nationalities. One thing is for certain though, Finnish humour seems to go down just as well here as it does in Finland.

Now I’m very happy in my role as Performance Controller and I like living in Manchester, but in terms of future plans and opportunities, I’m keeping the door open. You never know where the future will take you and this is precisely what is best about Hilti!

Now from Finland to Ireland...

I started working at Hilti in the capital region store in autumn 2014. Initially, my intention was to look for a job placement in this area, but then I was offered an opportunity to go to my home town, Lahti, and I spent the next year as the manager in charge of operations there. After working in-store, I became an Account Manager in the diamond coring team. As a diamond coring specialist, I oversaw diamond drilling, cutting and demolition, contracting customers in the Helsinki region for just over two years.

Working abroad has never been a big dream of mine, but neither have I actively avoided it. When the opportunity arose, I didn't need to think about it for long. The actual interview process was surprisingly uncomplicated, easy even, but this was probably due to the Hilti network, which had carried out thorough enquiries beforehand. This ensured that a suitable position was found for me!

I’m currently working as a product manager in charge of electrical equipment and accessories at Hilti in Ireland. My work involves being responsible for the pricing, marketing, launch and product development of products within my product portfolio in collaboration with the global team.

There are lots of similarities between Ireland and Finland and even though the Irish organisation is very small, it is international. Irish people are more open and talkative compared with Finnish people, however the same culture of believing that personal, professional and company growth all go hand-in-hand can be found in all of Hilti's national organisations.

I haven't yet made any grand future plans and I’m moving forward one job assignment at a time and will see where the journey takes me. I’m not in a hurry to return to Finland yet, but I’m sure that I will return home at some stage!

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