Experience report - Sonia Garcia

My background / my job

Woman with blond hair, smiling, wearing necklace, white shirt and light blue blazer — Executive Assistant to CEO at thyssenkrupp rothe erde Spain S. A.

Since I was a child I have always liked to communicate with the people around me, so when the time came to select a professional career I didn’t hesitate to choose one that would allow me not only to meet people from my environment but also others from different countries and cultures.

For this reason, I studied economics in the field of "Tourist Business Management" at the University of Zaragoza, since tourism is a very important sector in my country.

Amongst other matters, my studies gave me the opportunity to learn English and German, which together with the French I had already mastered since I was a teenager, opened up a wide range of possibilities for me.

After a few years working for the tourism business, I applied for the position of CEO Executive Assistant offered by the company “Rothe Erde Ibérica, S.A.”, currently “thyssenkrupp rothe erde Spain”.

I have been doing this for 32 years now and I must say that every day I feel more and more proud to work for a German company with such a global reach as thyssenkrupp.

But my job is not only to manage the agenda of my company's CEO and his correspondence, but also the planning and execution of meetings, customer visits, participation in trade fairs as a visitor and exhibitor. Furthermore, since the beginning I have been responsible for the sales of thyssenkrupp rothe erde products on the Portuguese market and since 2021 also on the French market. This is really interesting for me because the contact with our customers enriches me every day.

My challenges

To keep learning and updating my knowledge in order to continue giving the best of myself to my company.
To continue working every day with the same efficiency, resolution and enthusiasm as when I first started.
To anticipate the needs of my direct boss and those of our customers without losing my smile.

My typical working day

The first thing I usually do when I get to the office is to check my agenda to see what events I have that day. Then I check my e-mails, both the company's general e-mails and my own. After that, I prioritize my work according to its importance.

Because of the broad spectrum of the work I do in my company, my days are all different and I love it, because it means there is no room for monotony.

Depending on the time of the day, I can be more focused on the implementation of quotations, orders or customer invoicing, while booking travel arrangements for company staff visits or translations for our marketing department at thyssenkrupp rothe erde Germany or supporting colleagues in the development of new projects.

Our slogan is „engineering. tomorrow. together.” Together means for me …

For me, "together" means working, enriching my work and the management of the company together with colleagues not only from my operating unit but from any operating unit within Group, which makes me feel part of a not only of a large company and but family.