Career Talk - Miriam Fall

In the Career Talk series, colleagues talk about their career moves at Swarovski. In this month's article Miriam Fall, Buyer, takes us through her career at Swarovski, spanning for over three years.

Name: Miriam Fall

My Old Position at Swarovski: Junior Buyer

My New Position at Swarovski: Buyer

Number of years at Swarovski: 3 years, 3 months

Country of residence: Poland

What did you do in your old position at Swarovski?

I started as a Junior Buyer, initially providing support for various purchasing categories, until finally assigned Packaging and Marketing. At that time, my work was mainly operational and consisted of processing purchase orders, following up on deliveries, onboarding new vendors, updating material data in the system etc. I enjoyed the environment of Swarovski HUB and the tasks assigned to me, but after some time I decided to pursue new challenges in another organization. Little did I know how special Swarovski was among other companies and after a year and a half I was back, with new responsibilities and opportunities.

What are you doing in your current position at Swarovski?

Currently I am a Buyer for Marketing Content category. However, I refer to myself as a sourcing buyer, because I also perform operational tasks to a certain extent, but a large part of my job is running sourcing activities. When I was introduced to the new role, I learnt how to handle the procurement part together with the sourcing manager. Now I can proudly say I act as an independent procurement lead on most of the projects that land on my desk.

If I had to briefly describe the purpose of my job, I would say it is to identify and select potential new service providers in response to business needs, negotiate contract conditions and eliminate risks, finally award the business, and finalize administrative tasks. In my role, it is crucial to maintain good relations with both – stakeholders and suppliers, as well as many different departments within the organization (e.g. Legal), so that processes can run smoothly.

How did this career move within Swarovski happen?

The career move happened when I returned to the company. I was assigned to the Marketing category and due to the transition of more strategic roles to Swarovski HUB in Gdansk, I was able to become part of the Source to Pay department (no longer Purchase to Pay) and develop there. I am looking forward to continuing growing within the organization.

What does career mean to you?

To me, career means development and growth. I believe everybody has a natural need to develop – either personally or professionally. Looking at my career path, I do recognize a significant upgrade – not only with regards to professional skills specific for my role that I have learnt through experience, but also soft skills I have developed, such as self- confidence, effective communication, responsibility (ownership), etc. I view career as an ongoing learning process to develop competencies.

The Career Talk series showcase people who have lived our Swarovski career philosophy by taking on a new opportunity to develop through one of the six Swarovski Career Moves.

Swarovski Career Move in Detail

Miriam's career story is a great example of a Boomerang career move:

• An employee who leaves Swarovski but then later returns to work for us again
• Adding new perspective and knowledge?
• Boosting career with new skills gained outside Swarovski
• Continuing to develop in familiar environment on return