Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Monika Vogt and I am from Switzerland. I have a background in Economics and Business Administration with a major in Human Resources Management, which I studied at the University of Applied Sciences in Olten, Switzerland. I have around 14 years of HR experience, of which I spent 10 years at Roche. Having joined Roche as a recruiter, I moved into an HR Business Partner role and later on worked as a talent scout. Since September 2015 I have been working as Head of PT (Pharma Global Technical Operations) Recruiting Basel & Kaiseraugst.

I have been working part time for family reasons and Roche has been very supportive, which I really appreciate. When not at work, I mostly spend time with my family. If I do have a moment to myself I enjoy reading short stories or novels.

In which Roche location are you currently working and what can you tell us about that location as a work environment?

I work in Basel. As I grew up only 30 km from here, it is the town I know best and of course I like it very much. The city may be small, but it has great cultural offerings, and from here you can easily travel to famous Swiss holiday destinations. There is a good public transport system - I commute by train and tram to the office. In terms of the work environment, Roche Basel seems huge and complex in the beginning, but still people seem to know each other and there are a lot of possibilities to get connected.

Why did you decide to join Roche?

Actually, this is my second time at Roche. I joined the company for the first time in 1994 and worked in a regional marketing team. Realizing that I would have more career options with a university degree, I decided to continue my education full time and left in 1995. I planned to come back after my studies, but there were no opportunities available, so I started my HR career at another company. When I got the chance to come back I was really excited, because I remembered the multicultural environment and the high level of professionalism which I like so much.

What is your current position at Roche?

Currently, I am leading a small team of recruiters. Together, we are supporting the Pharma Global Technical Operations organization in Basel & Kaiseraugst. A recruiter provides the client organization with appropriate talent to fill open positions; we search for, select and hire new employees. We collaborate very closely with the hiring managers and provide consulting on the right search strategy as well as on the assessment of the candidates.

What makes this such a great job?

Being a generalist by education, I became very passionate about recruiting in the early days of my HR career. I soon realized how important it is to find the right candidate for a position and for the company, or in other words: to “get it right from the beginning”! I truly believe that it makes a difference to have the best possible fit – both for the employee and the company. Besides the match in terms of the role and its requirements, I also think that the cultural fit is very important.

There are some very special moments when employees – even years after joining Roche –express their thanks to me for helping them to get where they are today. It is also rewarding to see how people I hired successfully develop and thrive internally. Besides that, I have always enjoyed the actual interviewing part. There is so much you can learn from the candidate’s experiences. Sometimes the conversations are really inspiring, and you actually go back to your desk with lots of new ideas or thoughts.

What kind of training can people get in your position to get them up to speed and to help them progress in their career?

Roche offers internal and tailor-made courses like the “Recruitment Academy” or “Interview Training”. There are many different career paths in HR. I have had the chance to work in four different HR roles since I joined, and I have learnt from and enjoyed all of them.

What would you advice job seekers who want to join us?

Please visit our careers web page careers.roche.ch and check out our current vacancies. There you also have the option to register in the talent pool. If you are invited to an interview, prepare well and use the material available on the website to get a good understanding of the organization. Reflect on what you really like doing and why this role sounds appealing to you. Think about concrete examples from your work experience which are relevant to the role you applied for. And never stop looking for opportunities within Roche.