Assel 40-year anniversary celebration #5

Today please meet Tomasz, our Key Program Manager who loves cacti ?? and everything related to them. Before working in Assel he had his own business but, as he admitted, only in Assel he started doing what he loves.??

????For how long have you been working at Assel?

I started working in Assel in May 2006. Before I got hired I sent a CV and motivation letter to the company. When they invited me to the interview I first spoke to the HR manager and Mrs. Helena Prolejko. The next recruitment step was an interview with CEO Jaros?aw Prolejko and with the Production Manager. I remember that the process took about 1,5 hours and they said that I was hired. I started the next day.

????Do you remember your first day at work?

Due to the fact that I got hired from day to day, I didn’t have the workspace well organized. The most stressful fact was that I needed to replace someone who would be gone in 3 days so I had not much time to learn everything.

????What is the best memory you have with Assel?

The beginning was the best. I was fully optimistic about the job because I finally did what I wanted. Before Assel I run my own business but that wasn’t it. Here I work with electronics and this is what I really like!

What’s also great, I met my wife here! We started working here at a similar time (she started working 2 months before me). We sat in the same office and one day I decided to ask her if she want to go on a coffee with me. That was the coffee that changed my life!

????What was the hardest / most difficult thing at the beginning of work in Assel?

For me, the most difficult was breaking the English language barrier. I didn’t know English well these days and it was really stressful for me because I wasn’t sure if I understand and speak correctly.

????Do you have any success at work that you consider the biggest?

Two times we had a really big order from our Customers. It was for 3k and 5k of their product. It was a hard time in the component market, we had a lack of material, and everybody was nervous but as a result, we did it. The Customer was pleased and grateful and I was so proud of myself and the team then.

????What skills does your job require?

Maintaining relationships with employees and Customers. It is very important, especially good relations with coworkers because sometimes I have to ask them to do something ASAP and I have to make sure they will do it. I really have to organize my schedule well and think in the future, for example about materials that aren’t even in the forecast.

????What are the biggest challenges in your work?

I think identifying all significant issues affecting Customer satisfaction, identifying potential problems, and then solving them to meet customer needs are the biggest challenges.

????Which part of your job do you like best?

Big shipping's realization and Customer satisfaction are the best part of my job.

????Do you have any hobbies?

Cacti! I like to travel to Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru to look at cacti. I went there for the first time in 2005, and so far I have been there 10 times. As a child, I had a collecting mania and that's how my passion for cacti began. I had them on the windowsill, the first one I got from my friends. When I was in high school I once went to Rumia because they had a cacti shop there and then I fell in love with cacti for good. I was about 20 years old then. There I met other cactus growers with whom I went to Argentina and Bolivia for the first time. Next year I’m going to go to Argentina with my family. My other hobby is numismatics and collecting stamps with cactus.

• What did you study? Why did you choose this field?

I studied electronics. I was an exact mind, after primary school I didn't know what to do next, I chose a technical school because after that I have a profession. I decided that working with electronics is cool, then I went to the same studies because I liked what I do. I was shocked when I finished my studies because I didn't think I would succeed (because of my lack of aspirations). But studying was one of the best periods of my life.

????Is there something you want to wish yourself and Assel?

For Assel I wish stable development, sensible Customers and that work brings more satisfaction than nerves. My wish for myself is to raise my children to be good people.