Reitz Talent Factory
The Reitz Talent Factory highlights an extraordinary career journey: Annieke Radtke began as an Asian Studies graduate with a passion for languages and progressed through sales, marketing and product management to become Deputy Head of Customer Service.
你好吗？Como está? How are you? Annieke Radtke could confidently reply, “Very well, thank you!” in virtually any language. The Asian Studies graduate feels completely at home at Reitz. Her qualifications may be unusual for a manufacturing company, but that is precisely what makes them so valuable. Neither a traditional commercial specialist nor a technician, she is comfortable working across a wide range of disciplines and always keeps an eye on the bigger picture. After eleven years with the company, the Eschershausen native is a perfect example of the Reitz commitment to identifying talent, developing individual strengths and encouraging careers that extend beyond conventional departmental boundaries.
“There were two key factors behind my speculative application. The company needed to be based in the local area and have a connection to China or Asia.”. After returning to Germany from her final year of study in Beijing, Annieke Radtke faced a question familiar to many humanities graduates: What comes next? What kind of career can be built from a passion for languages, an open mind and sound judgement?The obvious choice of becoming an interpreter or translator had already proved to be the wrong path for her during an internship in China. As the number of suitable companies in the Weserbergland region was naturally limited, she was all the more delighted when a positive response arrived in the post: an invitation to an interview with Managing Director Ulrich Breder. Her application had landed on his desk, and the young applicant’s unconventional approach had sparked his curiosity.
An Opportunity Built on Mutual Respect
“When I entered the modern, light-filled Reitz building for the first time, I immediately felt that I was in the right place at the right time.” The welcome was open and appreciative. One sentence from the interview has stayed with her to this day: “Every object you can see in this room was manufactured with the help of a fan.”
Following a two-week internship, during which Annieke Radtke familiarised herself with the company, she began a one-year trainee programme. Her first assignment took her directly to Switzerland and the former Reitz subsidiary, now once again known as Stäfa Wirz. A student exchange in Brazil, university studies in Beijing and a traineeship in Bern: the stages of her career reveal a distinctly cosmopolitan outlook. Annieke is genuinely fascinated by foreign languages and cultures, yet she always returns to her home region with equal enthusiasm..
The Reitz Expert for Every Occasion
In practice, the approachable all-rounder’s flexibility soon proved highly valuable to the company. She initially supported the sales team, handled international enquiries, prepared quotations and communicated directly with customers. After completing her trainee programme, she spent two years working in sales, travelling several times to the United States, India and China. During this period, she gained an in-depth understanding of the entire Reitz product portfolio. In 2014, she moved to the Reitz Holding company, where she supported the management team with marketing and communication activities. Once again, this position offered her new and deeper insights into the company, its markets and its customers. In 2019, she was presented with a new challenge: Would she be interested in establishing a group-wide product management function that considered the entire lifecycle of the fan series and represented the customer’s perspective within the company? Annieke Radtke was immediately enthusiastic about the role, but on one condition: she wanted to receive comprehensive professional training. The Reitz management team agreed, and the aspiring product manager got to work. Alongside her day-to-day responsibilities, she completed a two-semester distance-learning programme to expand her expertise in product management.
A New Chapter Begins
Following one year of parental leave, the Asian Studies graduate picked up where she had left off – now with new experiences and a heightened awareness of just how valuable time is and how important it is to use it as meaningfully as possible. Today, the linguistically talented mother works as Deputy Head of Customer Service, focusing on strengthening the customer relationships that are vital to every successful business. To meet the needs of customers operating around the world, it is essential to truly understand both the people and their requirements. With experience as a sales manager, product manager and management assistant, Annieke is ideally equipped for this task – regardless of the language in which an enquiry reaches Höxter. Her exceptional career journey is a compelling example of the opportunities offered by the Reitz Talent Forge. When asked whether she has any advice for people considering a speculative application, she responds with her characteristic warmth and modesty: “Know your own strengths, identify two factors that really matter to you and then trust your instincts.”
Annieke Radtke’s story demonstrates what the Reitz Talent Factory stands for: recognising talent, developing individual strengths and making unconventional career paths possible.