Sales Manager for Belgium has plenty of store experience

A lot of hard work, positive results and a small portion of luck: this, according to Torben Nygaard Timmermann, is the formula for those who, like him, have ambitions on a management position in JYSK.

Torben Nygaard Timmermann has worked with customers since he got his first job in a large, Danish retail chain at aged 19. Today he is 32 and works at JYSK as Sales Manager for Belgium, where the first two stores are scheduled to open on 5 April 2017.

Much of the hard work needed to climb the career ladder, he says, was put in as Store Manager in the JYSK store in Viby in Denmark. This is also where, together with his colleagues, he has spent the past four years generating the positive results that have helped him secure a position as Sales Manager for Belgium. Along with a small portion of luck, which he received when Mikael Albæk Kristensen, Head of Expansion at JYSK, just happened to end up in Torben’s store on a store training program. 

“It has been a fantastic journey that I have taken with the JYSK store in Viby, which thanks to the great efforts of my team has become the largest in Aarhus. This is perhaps part of the reason why I have been given this chance to be involved in the opening in Belgium,” says Torben, who has also been on the District Manager Trainee course at JYSK.

IN NO DOUBT

Although Torben is used to being thrown to the lions in his working life, he was still a little surprised when, after two tough employment interviews, he was called by Mikael and offered the position as Sales Manager for Belgium. He is in no doubt however that it was the right thing for him to do to say yes.

“Of course I should give it a go. Nor was I in any doubt about wanting to prove that those of us who are used to talking with the customers can also make good decisions on a strategic level,” says Torben. 

He hopes that he can help open the door to other colleagues in JYSK stores who dream about making a similar leap. There are many examples of this at JYSK: for example, Mikael Albæk Kristensen started out as a trainee himself 21 years ago. 

COMMUNICATION IS IMPORTANT

Torben does not hide his big ambitions for both himself and for JYSK, and he is now fully focused on absorbing all the new knowledge from his colleagues in Sales & Expansion, who are helping Torben settle into his new position before he gets to work seriously in Belgium. Although his workplace is no longer based physically in a JYSK store, he will be taking all his experience with him into his new job.

“I possess a good insight into what consequences the decisions we take have out in the stores, and how they will be regarded and acted upon there. Which is why I place great importance on the communication with the stores. This is especially important when you are sitting in a head office in Denmark and working on stores in Belgium,” says Torben. 

Working with Torben as Sales & Marketing Assistant for Belgium is Talitha Wouters from the Dutch head office in Arnhem.