Linear career paths are now the exception rather than the rule and are already seen as a discontinued model. Career choices today are not just made once at the beginning of a working life, but are dynamically adapted to changing conditions and the inclinations, skills and life phases of the employee.
No one could know this better than our interview partner of the month, Myriam Hofer. The graduate business economist FH with a focus on RW/controlling and marketing discovered her current functional area, HR, via detours after several stations. However, she still benefits from her flair for numbers and target groups today as HR Business Partner at the Merz Pharma (Switzerland) AG, where it has been active since 2015. Today, Merz's global business is focused on medical aesthetics and neurotoxin therapy, supported by a number of successful regional brands in both prescription medicine and consumer health and beauty.
As a human resources specialist with many years of experience in higher administration and in the pharmaceutical industry, Myriam Hofer knows not only from personal experience how important it is to leave well-trodden paths and to tread new paths with courage. With her controlling and accounting knowledge, she has the ability to recognize development potential in a company. For example, Myriam Hofer has the vision to abolish the motivation letter as a relic of the past. Numbers are very important to her, but she does not need softwares and algorithms to recognize the truthfulness of her counterpart.
"Where do people's needs lie?" The question posed in his day by the company's founder Friedrich Merz in product development also guides Myriam Hofer's actions. Learn more about her career, her vision for the future of HR and her personal definition of success in this month's interview. Fewer barriers, more authenticity and genuine encounters - that's what she wishes for herself and all job seekers.
Ms. Hofer, if you had taken a different path when you were younger, what would you have become?
"To be honest, HR never corresponded to my career aspirations. My first employer and place of training was KV Basel. Other stations were the Youth Prosecutor's Office Basel-Stadt and Radio Basilisk. Even during my later business administration studies at the FHNW, I did not choose HR as my major, but rather accounting/controlling and marketing. I was convinced, and still am, that you can neither run a company successfully nor do successful marketing without knowing the numbers. My HR career then started 18 years ago at Roche in HR Marketing - perhaps also because of the Numbers."
What is your favorite way to start your day?
"The first hour of the day belongs to me alone. I am (unfortunately) one of those people who already organize the day mentally when I get up. Most of the time, my thoughts are already in meetings or I have the most important "to do's" in my head before I even know what I want to wear today. After that first hour of rest, I'm ready for the day, for breakfast with my family, for business, and for anything unexpected."
What does success mean to you personally?
"I am successful as soon as the result satisfies me. I am much more concerned with the question of "how" I am successful and "what" makes me successful. Success means effort and often taking uncomfortable paths, making the right decisions, taking responsibility and, above all, actively working on them. Being courageous, making mistakes sometimes and learning from them as well as not being discouraged by setbacks."
What would you work for free for a week?
"I would want to take a different approach to recruiting with as many HR and line managers as possible. As a first measure, we would want to abolish the "letter of motivation" forever. Then we would boldly turn the classic job advertisement on its head, and last but not least, we would talk about the job interview with the goal of renaming it a "get-to-know-you interview" and assuming our roles accordingly. And we inform our interview partners in good time that we in HR are trained to read faces - sometimes more than we would like."
What was the best professional advice you ever received?
"Go to HR, that's where you belong."
We would like to express our sincere thanks to Ms. Hofer for her contribution to this article. This interview was conducted in writing.
Editor: Neslihan Steiner
Batterman Consulting Basel AG
Executive Search,
Byfangweg 1a, CH-4051 Basel
T +41 58 680 55 55
basel@batterman.ch
