My way into the SAP world

Your career has been marked by change. You started your career in Switzerland with student jobs like filling shelves, washing lettuce, and cleaning windshields. Today, you are the CEO of HR Campus, a Gold Partner of SAP. Did you plan your career?

Marek Dutkiewicz: No, I didn't. Since I immigrated from Poland, I couldn't start with an engineering job. When you come to a new country as a foreign student, you have to take the job that comes your way.

How did the transformation from Polish student to SAP HR specialist take place?

Dutkiewicz: I started out like everyone else. However, my strength from the very beginning was observing people. I was fascinated by what makes the Swiss tick, how they think and work. And I wanted to know how the Swiss economy works and why it is so strong.

I then learned from my observations. In the end, it was a mixture of what I took from home and my growing life experience.

You have founded several companies. Why have you had particular success with HR Campus?

Dutkiewicz: When you start a business, you need luck, partners and friends who help out. I owe the happy course of HR Campus to my good friends Werner Schenker and Hendrik Friesecke, they were co-founders of HR Campus.

We have had a good hand in selecting employees from the very beginning. Previously, I have been cheated a few times in business. Thank goodness that was never the case at HR Campus. And what you can't forget is the support of your own family. I owe a lot to my family.

Where did you first come into contact with SAP?

Dutkiewicz: At Maag Zahnräder, that was about twenty years ago. Maag was one of the first companies in Switzerland to opt for SAP, a company with 3,000 employees that focused on mechanical engineering. At that time, SAP was still written using the Assembler programming language.

What was your first impression of the SAP world?

Dutkiewicz: I was thrilled with SAP. Of course, it was the first standard program on the market. That means we didn't program individually. But what excited me the most was the F1 key.

This was actually a Help button, but when pressed, fantastic jokes appeared. I was looking forward to SAP's jokes while brushing my teeth in the morning.

How did you gain a foothold in the SAP field?

Dutkiewicz: At Maag Zahnräder, the acceptance of SAP was very high; we did a rollout throughout the company. It also became apparent on the market that SAP was the future. After that, Maag Zahnräder was sold.

I ended up at Nixdorf Computer and they invested several million in SAP at the time. The idea was that we would become the best SAP provider on the market in Europe.

What difficulties did you have as a newcomer?

Dutkiewicz: The greatest difficulty was the change from individual programming to standard programming. The user had to accept that the programming was no longer individually tailored for him, but that the software corresponded to a business standard. This triggered many discussions. My task was to teach people about this change in a good way.

How did you manage this transformation?

Dutkiewicz: We are now skipping 15 years. A long leap from the on-premise world to today's cloud technology. The IT world has been marked by change from the very beginning. I've been through all the transformations at SAP, from R/1, R/2, R/3, mySAP to today's cloud technology.

What always fascinated me about SAP was how they managed every transformation at the last moment and ultimately emerged as the winner on the market. I took this forward thinking with me from SAP and have always lived it at HR Campus.

How did you live this forward thinking in concrete terms?

Dutkiewicz: For the past eight years or so, we at HR Campus have been focusing particularly on young people. The young people have kept up with the innovation, but surprisingly, the old SAP guard has rebelled.

We had to decide on a path and therefore also part with some older employees who did not want to let go of old systems of thinking. That was one of the most difficult tasks in recent years.

Where do you get SAP talent? How do you recruit?

Dutkiewicz: There are various ways to do this. From our experience, university graduates are a good source. However, they are very rare in the HR sector in Switzerland, so we concentrate on about four universities.

However, we are also receiving more applications from clients who have worked with us on projects and dream of a nomadic life. Consultants are modern nomads.

What advice would you give to an applicant who wants to enter the SAP world?

Dutkiewicz: The most important thing is to be authentic. You have to remain true to yourself. An applicant must never pretend, if he does that and ends up having to work in a field that doesn't suit him at all, he will suffer a lot later on.

The job of the recruiter is to find out together with the applicant whether the job fits or not. It's better to cancel if it's not a good fit. Secondly, one should always remain relaxed.

If it helps, you can do fifty push-ups before the interview. But don't be tense, because you can tell. And thirdly, you should always be honest. You have to express what you dream about and what your own ideas are. That's what people are looking for today.

And in the SAP world? Is there anything you have to pay particular attention to as an applicant?

Dutkiewicz: There is no such difference. It doesn't matter whether you apply at Microsoft, Oracle or SAP. Companies are always looking for talent. They are looking for people who will change the world and drive it forward.

It's not important where you work, but what tasks you get and in which team you work. I don't see SAP as anything more than another world. But it is important that we create an environment in the SAP environment where people approach the day with enthusiasm.

The information technology industry is evolving at an incredible pace. Is it even possible to make a difference in such an innovative environment?

Dutkiewicz: It's no secret that the pace is rapid, especially here in the IT world. The pace comes from the speed of startups, they bring innovation. The big companies that have money buy startups and promote them.

So a small player does have great opportunities to make a difference and drive innovation in the information technology industry. When a startup like SuccessFactors and Concur is bought by a big company like SAP, transformation happens.

You have to take the freedom to speak your own mind and develop ideas. What you shouldn't do is bury your head in the sand.

Does HR Campus make a difference there?

Dutkiewicz: Yes. That is the secret of successful companies. Why is Silicon Valley so successful in the USA? Because people's opinions are sought after and their dreams are encouraged.

And we have to import this thinking into the European business world. It must be allowed to bring in new thoughts and ideas. This means that a very high degree of decision-making authority must be affirmed.

Young people also need to be given responsibility and competencies to make their own decisions. The consequence of this is, of course, that you have to stand behind this decision and reckon with the fact that one in ten decisions is made wrongly.

We function like a network. You don't ask your supervisor, but your colleagues, who usually know the answer better than the boss.

Why do people choose a company?

Dutkiewicz: People want to have fun. People have fun when they go hiking together, when they barbecue with friends, when they go to parties or do crazy things. Ideas are born on a beer mat or on a napkin in a restaurant, and you have to give people that platform.