Mario Rogotzki

With Azelis growing and expanding at a steady pace, career opportunities within the company come by often and in many different ways. This story takes us to the snowy mountains of Switzerland, where Mario Rogotzki now holds the position of Back Office Manager. This 25-year-old loves traveling and snowboarding (how convenient when living in the Alpes!) and has already made quite a career journey within the company.

After finishing school, Mario started his traineeship at Azelis Deutschland Kosmetik GmbH, which put him in contact with a range of different departments. After this traineeship, he had the opportunity to relocate to Switzerland and help the local team’s merger and transition to a new ERP system; which opened the doors to his current position as Back Office Manager.

How has life led you to Azelis and your current function?

Right after school, I did a traineeship at Azelis Deutschland Kosmetik GmbH, which gave me quite an insight of all different departments in the company: I started out in the sales department for a couple of months, after which I had the chance to work in sampling, where I had to process customer’s sample orders from start to finish. Later on, I had a taste of working in the finance department and a couple of weeks helping out in the warehouse. As a final step, I started supporting the Personal Care purchase team for quite some time. A true immersion into all the aspects of the company! In June 2018, I was offered the opportunity to go to Switzerland and assist the local team, formerly George Walther AG, in their merger into Azelis Switzerland, including their transition to the new ERP system. At first, this job was meant to be temporary, but in the end, I was offered a full-time position as Back Office Manager and I am happy to stay in Switzerland after all.

What were the biggest changes for you, moving from a purchasing function all the way to your current back-office function?

Before, my responsibilities lied in a smaller and specific field of expertise; now I am in charge of a back-office team of five people, and I need to have a good general comprehension of almost all internal transactions and processes. This can be rather daunting or demanding sometimes, but it is very interesting at the same time. You learn to see things from multiple perspectives. The experience that I built during my traineeship in Germany proved to be a great advantage, as I already used the ERP system in different departments and thus was already acquainted with the system’s different functions.

Nevertheless, I believe the hardest part was leaving Germany and starting a new life in an unfamiliar country. It took some time to find a flat and get to know Switzerland, its people and their habits; but in the end, it worked out quite well! Also, the close contact with my colleagues, both in Switzerland and in Germany, is very motivating to keep going and dive deeper into the matters and topics of the day.

How do you feel now after doing this role for 7 months?

Looking back, I am really glad I decided to go for this change and move to Switzerland. I have really nice colleagues and I learned so much this year about chemical distribution and back-office processes. Every month brings new tasks and challenges, which makes the job varied and versatile.

Now that you have been given this opportunity in your professional career, how do you feel about the Talent Mobility Program that Azelis offers?

I’d recommend to everyone who is presented with this opportunity to take it with both hands. Doing various types of jobs, meeting new people with different perspectives and learning about other cultures can only enrich you as a person. You’ll never regret it!