Interview with Nadine (39), commercial clerk in the Group Accounting SS
Nadine completed her training with us – before we eventually had to go our separate ways for a while. Now that we found each other again it still feels as much at home as it did back then.
What exactly does your job involve? And how did you end up in this field?
In accounts payable, I am mainly responsible for invoice entry, incoming mail, invoice cancellations, creating creditors, maintaining company name changes, all those sorts of things. Maths was always my favourite subject at school, so the decision to train as a commercial clerk was an easy one. Once I had completed my training, I could have also gone into purchasing, but accounting simply appealed to me more.
How did your career path continue after your training with us?
I then worked at Alpine Energie for another five years before the transition from Alpine to EQOS took place, bringing with it structural changes. As I was on parental leave at the time, I took this as an opportunity to start my own daycare business. I did this for seven years before I felt the desire to get out of my own four walls again. Quite by chance, I ended up in nursing, but I wanted to return to the office, so I eventually went back to EQOS and came full circle.
How did you come to reapply with your old employer of all places?
I thought to myself, “Why not?” I felt very comfortable there at the time and the restructuring was a difficult period for the company, but it was nothing personal. So I didn’t have any bad experiences. On the contrary: Even back then, the company was very socially minded and enabled me to balance family and career.
What is it like to return to your old job after such a long break? Were there any inhibitions? And is there much that has changed for you in the meantime?
Yes, I definitely had some inhibitions. After all, I had been doing something completely different for years. But that quickly went away because I am fortunate to always have colleagues at my side who helped me with advice and support when I had questions. Have there been any changes? Yes and no. There are still some faces I recognise from before, and the premises have remained the same. But some departments have also moved to new and different locations. In addition, my department now offers the option of mobile working, which was not an option back then. That’s a huge advantage for me. My tasks are still the same, although they are now much more digital and involve less paper. Overall, I was able to get back into the swing of things quickly.
“My environment helped me to quickly feel at home again.”
Is there a core skill that is particularly important in your job? And have you developed new qualities over the past few years that are now helping you?
Important for accounting: You definitely need to be able to work with consistent concentration. Because, for hours on end, all you see are numbers, numbers, numbers, which can make it difficult and confusing over the course of the day. With the number of invoices I have to deal with, diligence is certainly very important, as is a certain talent for organisation. The latter in particular has proven its worth time and again in recent years, even in stressful situations: Good organisation is half the battle, whether in family life or at work. I’m sure my time as a nanny has made me more stress-resistant; I don’t lose my cool so easily. And I’ve become more unwavering. That certainly doesn’t hurt either.
What advice would you give your past self if you could?
Back then, when the company was struggling, things weren’t going well in general. But looking back, it all turned out quite well for me – I was able to spend years at home with the children and ended up back here again after all. But perhaps I would have encouraged myself to return to the office sooner. Because if I had known that I would settle back into my job so nicely and that it would go so well, I would certainly have taken that step earlier. Then I wouldn’t have had any reservations because I had been out of the job for years and didn’t know if anyone would still want me.
Do you have any wishes for the future?
I am happy with the way things are. We have a good team with a nice supervisor, and the work is easy because I am allowed to be flexible. Family and job are easy to balance and that is immensely important to me. But I am also really excited to see what my future at EQOS will bring!
Finally, a quick question that we like to ask our colleagues at the moment. The Q in EQOS stands for quality – what is your Q in your everyday work?
Oh, that’s easy! My personal Q stands for flexibility, the great team, the good relationships between us and the fact that we always interact at eye level.