Role
Operations Manager
Location
Europe
Year Started
2018

Questions & Answers

When did you join IMET?

In February 2018. Before coming here, I spent ten years working in logistics. I worked in the 4PL logistics service where you are the expert for your client and give them the full logistics service. I grew to be a logistics specialist from a start in basic shipments and then working through projects to a leadership function.

My last job was in Germany. I worked in the energy industry – oil, gas and wind – providing project logistics. This meant moving assets, mainly over-dimensional objects, throughout Europe.

What do you do here at IMET? What is your main responsibility?

I’m still learning about the industry, the company, the legislation that applies to us, our partners and our administration. But I’m steadily building up more interaction with our customers and suppliers.

What do you need to be good at to do your job well? What particular skills and knowledge do you have?

My skills include attention to detail, responsiveness and reliability. And good communication skills, which are important everywhere. I speak Czech, English, French, German, Italian, and a little bit of Dutch.

I have good people skills, I’m a good listener, and am confident asking questions. But I also let people speak and talk about the challenges they’re facing. It’s important to give people space and listen to them to help them find a solution.

I believe you have to be proactive and ask questions. I’m still finding out how things work here and need to understand more about what I’m expected to deliver, particularly in terms of the quality and content of reports, and the deadlines I have to meet. And I’m building my knowledge of superalloy and titanium materials.

What problems do you need to overcome as part of your work?

At the moment I’m still getting to know all the people involved in the business, how things work and all the processes.

How do you know when your work has gone well?

I have great support from the teams in Livingston and the Czech Republic; everyone has been so patient explaining things. I’m expected to deliver reports on certain days. So I asked lots of questions about what the reports are for and their limits and within two or three weeks I was ready to run them on my own. I’m meeting the deadlines and have had positive feedback.

What do you enjoy most about your job and working in this industry?

The openness, patience and support from Livingston and the guys here in Prague. From the human point of view, I’m getting more than I expected. We have a great team who are very experienced but also very helpful and supportive, which is kind of precious.

I’m finding the industry very interesting. I had an ambition to work with something in recycling or reverting material, so the combination of logistics, high-level business and revert material flow is a dream job for me.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

My great passion and main interest outside of work is beach volleyball! I also enjoy improving my language skills and practising yoga. Otherwise I like to socialise with friends and my family.