“When things are challenging I always see it as an opportunity to dive deeper, improve my skills and gain experience,” he says.
The opportunity to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps
Jackie’s education and early career saw him attend college in China and the US and take on a one-year internship at an American firm producing paper and fibre drums for chemicals before entering the world of industrial packaging with his first full-time job in 2009.
Paper and printing run in the family, explains Jackie: “My grandfather ran a small printing business, and part of me always wanted to follow in his footsteps in some way. I was happy in my job but when I had the opportunity to join Metsä Board as a sales manager in 2017 I was excited about the chance to explore new challenges, so I decided to take the leap.”
New challenges mean new opportunities to improve
As Technical Service and Sales Support Manager, Jackie’s work involves a wide variety of tasks, all of which he views as a way to build experience and learn new skills. “On a typical day I’m doing things like arranging paper samples for trials and testing at customer sites and following up on the results of those tests. I love building close relationships with our customers and helping them to resolve issues,” he explains.
“I’m able to be out in the field a lot, which I enjoy, gathering samples for product comparisons, attending industry events and participating in customer meetings and quality-claim negotiations.
Sometimes these negotiations can be challenging, but these are the situations where I learn the most and can develop my communication skills.
Sharing is caring
For Jackie, his Metsä Board colleagues are like a second family, where everyone supports each other and shares their knowledge and experiences for the good of others: “I really appreciate the open, transparent company culture and the harmonious atmosphere in our office. We have quite a big team on site with colleagues from all the Metsä Group companies in one place.
We’re professional but the atmosphere is informal; there’s a great feeling of being one team without a rigid hierarchy – regardless of your role and seniority you can always ask questions and rely on support from your colleagues. Everyone is happy to help each other out.
Jackie has benefited from Metsä Board’s flexible approach to job rotation, where employees are encouraged to take the opportunity to work in different departments to build experience: “I was lucky enough to have the chance to move from sales to technical service and sales support. Who knows, in the future there may be an opportunity to take what I have learned back to a new role in sales, but for now I am very happy and looking forward to continuing my learning journey with Metsä Board – maybe even until I retire!”