Heather Perrott
Job Title
Supply Chain Co-ordinator
Company and location
Europe, Middle East and Africa, The Body Shop
Industry sector
Retail/hair and beauty
What does your job involve?
I deal with all The Body Shop’s stores and franchises in Germany and Austria – a hundred in total. This involves receiving and checking orders, handling enquiries, investigating problems etc.
How did you get into that area of work?
I was taken on a few years ago, when The Body Shop were desperate for someone who could speak German to deal with their sales order processing. That contract was only short-term but they wanted to keep me on. I did inventory management for a while then, about a year ago, the company started managing their European shops directly from the UK. They needed people who could deal with staff in their own language, so I moved into this job.
How did you gain your language skills?
I have a degree in German and Russian and a teaching qualification. I left teaching in the 1990s and did a Diploma in European Business Administration. This combined languages with secretarial, IT and management skills training.
How do you use your languages at work?
I couldn’t do my job without speaking German. A lot of my work is about problem-solving, especially when it comes to sorting out complex legal or financial issues with franchisees. No-one in our finance department speaks German so it’s really down to me. I have to be able to write quite detailed letters and e-mails. Equally, it’s sometimes easier to sort things out by picking up the phone. I have to visit the franchisees from time to time to discuss their accounts.
This is my dream job – it’s really varied and I love being able to use my language skills every day.
Any tips?
It’s important for your career to have a main skill as well as language skills. But you learn so much else through learning a language - it really enriches your life. Whenever I’m travelling abroad I end up using my languages. Most recently, it was speaking to German people on a ship in the Galapagos islands!