Meet Jesper: Freedom under responsibility
You are out on the roads, but we work as crazy. It is important to get everything right in the job, everything from request to business.
Jesper Hjerpe is a happy "Gothenburger" who has worked as Account Manager for Hydro since 2014. Previously, Jesper has worked in roles as a sales technician where it was about processing and purchasing and thus has extensive experience of areas of use and technical details regarding aluminum profiles. Now he is part of the sales team for the south and is stationed in Gothenburg where he can work with both small and large businesses, in a position where he thinks there is a lot of freedom under responsibility.
With his background in processing and technical sales, Jesper is more used to being out on site in workshops and being a part of the more practical. But in his current role, this has changed and there are others within the company who take care of these parts while Jesper handles customer contact within various companies. Something he thinks is the biggest difference between his previous roles and his current position as Account Manager.
- Then it was more processing and that type of preparation. There was more contact with the workshops. It's not as much hands-on now, much more development work itself. Now it's the technology gang that does that bit. But it is an extremely varied job, working with everything really from really big to a little smaller customers and lots of different industries. It is somewhere where you come back when you think about what you are really working on. You get to see so many different things and even if it is almost exclusively profiles, it is different types of things that are important for different customers. Some customers send a drawing of exactly what they want while others have no idea what they want.
Jesper is basically an engineer and has previously worked for a design and development department. He sees himself as a very technical person and thinks that business with processing is very interesting. Since working life started, there have been a few different jobs and when the offer came to work for Hydro, he took it.
- Yes, aluminum is interesting, has always thought so. You got the construction manuals already when I was studying as an engineer. So I thought it was interesting even then. Then it became a little aluminum… and then it became a lot of aluminum.
In terms of his qualities as a salesman, Jesper is, just like in private life, a positive and happy person. His technical competence is there from both education and experience, and he thinks that knowledge is not only limited to him but is found throughout the company. That competence and knowledge is a strength for both him and others within the company.
- I always try to keep a happy and positive attitude, you have to have fun. Then we are good at profiles and the technical competence in the company is a strength. The piece of technology is an important part, at least in Sweden, so it is a strength. No matter what the role is called, it is a technical sale, not just "I will have 4 bags of screws", it is so much more. You work as a salesman, but every business becomes like a small project.
When Jesper is not working and doing business, he likes to spend time out in nature. It can be skiing, both length and downhill, with the family or being out in the woods outside Gothenburg with his dog Abbe.
- I try to stay in the forest a lot and it is the dog, for the most part, that accompanies me out into the forest. Then there will be some skiing with the family. The kitchen is a calming environment for me - I love to cook.
Jesper's 3 fast on aluminum
- You can use it for so much. You can use it as a construction metal, it does not have to be nice but at the same time it is the same material you can use to highlight a product. I think the diversification into different products is very fun. You get to work with everything from design products to raw materials.
- To be able to bring in many different functions. You can use aluminum in a good way to get more features than you can get in many other materials. It's fun to show customers what you can get or simplify for them.
- Recyclability.
Have a chat with Jesper:
Jesper Hjerpe
Account Manager Sweden South
076-108 64 22
jesper.hjerpe@hydro.com