Marco Holzweißig is one of our customer service representatives. And he does it with full conviction. How he came to his job and what motivates him.
"The work that delights us becomes a pleasure": the quotation comes from a play by William Shakespeare. For some time now, Marco Holzweißig has used it as his profile slogan on LinkedIn. But not simply because it sounds rather good in that setting. That work and enjoyment don't rule each other out but go hand in hand was always his goal. It has strongly shaped his career path. And it shapes him to this day.
The 41-year-old is a customer service representative at quirion. With enthusiasm. Those who deal with him every day can feel it. "Every day is different, I love the variety, the contact with people," says Holzweißig. "Our digital wealth management is growing dynamically, and I have the feeling of being part of something that will move a great deal more."
Yet Holzweißig, born and raised in Pirmasens, originally had a completely different profession in mind. After finishing secondary school, he first spent a few years at the master craftsman school for tradespeople in Kaiserslautern, training to become a sculptor and stonemason. He had come to know the work through a friend. The creative side of this profession drew him in. Early on, he already didn't want just any old job simply to earn money.
From Pirmasens to Berlin
He enjoyed the training. But even during this time the trade in the region ran into an economic crisis. Competition from China pushed into the market. That changed the industry. For Holzweißig, that was reason enough to look around early for new perspectives. After a few brief stopovers, he found them in Berlin. First on the side of the service provider Arvato Systems for their client PayPal, later at the payment service provider itself.
He stayed there for a good nine years, in various roles. He enjoyed the work. Precisely because there was many a conflict to resolve and critical situations to master. "I like challenges like that," Holzweißig explains. Among other things, he helped prevent cases of fraud. And he helped customers when they had fallen for scams. Step by step he rose within the company, most recently looking after business clients.
One day, however, all the employees were unexpectedly asked to gather in the cafeteria. The news: the Berlin site would be closed. "That hit me pretty hard at first," Holzweißig recalls. He did quickly receive an offer for a new position. But in this case the work rarely brought him any enjoyment. "A lot of routine work, little contact with customers – I actually wanted something different."
And then on to quirion
So he was very curious when Manuela Brühs, an HR officer at Quirin Privatbank, contacted him via LinkedIn. They arranged to talk. "Right afterwards, I absolutely wanted the job at quirion," says Holzweißig. That was down to the tasks that awaited him. To the pleasant atmosphere of the conversation. And to the company's goals. "A wealth manager that forgoes product commissions and puts the interests of its clients front and center – that convinced me immediately," Holzweißig notes. "That also has to do with bad experiences my family once had with a commission-driven sales operation for financial products."
He has been part of the team since May 2023. Customer service at quirion is divided into a "First Level" and a "Second Level". "The 'First Level' is the first point of contact for inquiries that come in by phone or email," Holzweißig explains. "For my colleagues, I'm the point of contact from the 'Second Level'. We handle questions that can't be answered right away and that usually require other departments to be brought in internally, such as IT, wealth management or sales."
The range of topics is broad. "Recently there was a small bug on our website," Holzweißig gives as an example. Together with his colleagues from IT, he quickly found a solution to inform customers and fix the problem. Sometimes it's about specific questions on how returns are calculated, sometimes about help with changing a password. "The other day I helped a customer who is emigrating to Canada and who needed a few documents relating to his portfolio at short notice."
Photographer and football fan
The enjoyment of work is back. "My wife says that ever since I've been at quirion, I'm a completely different person again." But of course Holzweißig doesn't only have fun when he's working. He has long been interested in photography, for example. In the past he even worked professionally as a photographer on the side for a while, for an advertising agency and for a magazine, for which he photographed celebrities on the red carpet.
The photos on the wall in his office reveal another passion – namely, for 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He serves on the board of the club's Berlin fan club. When you ask him about it, he is keen to point out that he has been a fan since 1992. And not just since 1998, when FCK, freshly promoted from the second division, went straight on to become German champions. Of course, he stayed loyal to the club in difficult times too. Holzweißig simply doesn't shy away from challenges. Wherever he can, he'd rather help to master them.
