What things are going well? Where could something do with an improvement? And what is the best-case scenario? Christin from our Erfurt logistics center has been asking herself questions like these for a decade now. Christin has lost count of the number of ideas, processes and circumstances she has analyzed and assessed. The key skill needed for such a role is clear: a sixth sense for what works and what doesn’t. Christin has that sixth sense. When she began at Zalando as a trainee in 2013, she had just finished her master’s degree in material flows and logistics at Erfurt University of Applied Sciences. She soon rose through the ranks to head up our Quality Team, where she worked hard to build the team up, gathering plenty of experience in the process. Then one day, Christin realized she needed a change.
“As department head, you need to know where your own weaknesses lie, and not just discover the potential of others,” she says. “I found that leading a team wasn’t one of my strengths, but I did feel like I knew every single process.” She wanted to become a process manager, and received the backing of her supervisor to make the switch. Since the end of 2022, Christin has been investing all of her energy and experience in optimizing and documenting work processes as process manager. She enjoys working at a desk, writing process instructions, so-called SOPs, and studying the theory, but she also likes to get out on the shop floor and put her ideas into practice. “If you feel the need for advancement, just get in touch with someone and speak openly about it,” she adds as a word of advice to her colleagues. At Zalando, we place a lot of emphasis on internal development. “Find out what your strengths and weaknesses are. There are many different pathways you could take with us.”
If you want to learn more about the work and development opportunities at Zalando Logistics, you can find more information here.
