About us

Tasks – What does your day-to-day work involve?

vPOOL’s management deals with all strategic matters in the company. The focus of our activities is maintaining our relationships with our employees, customers and partners. This is mainly done by our operationally active managing director, while our colleagues in strategic consulting are more active in the background and provide us with advice and support when questions or decisions arise.

The following tasks are some examples of our responsibilities:

• Setting business policy and company goals
• Preparing measures to grow the business
• Coordinating teams and business processes
• Communication with employees, customers and partners

In every part of our job, our most important task is to listen. We receive requests, requirements and suggestions, look into them, and do our very best – just like our colleagues – to make vPOOL even better.

Challenges – What challenges have you faced?

There are times when the aims of the company clash with the requests of individual employees. When this happens, we have to mediate and explain the context so that everyone ends up satisfied and can keep working effectively. The challenge is to satisfy all parties to the extent possible, to collect and prioritise essential information, and to learn from everyday experience.

vPOOL at its best – What do you like about your work and why do you like working at vPOOL?

We believe in the company and in our colleagues who put their hearts and souls into their work to accomplish amazing things.

It’s a privilege to be able to work with so many people every day and to have a broad spectrum of responsibilities that, although challenging, give you the opportunity to make things happen.

Tasks – What jobs are involved in your working day?

General Services:

As the name suggests, in the General Services department we deal with everything that doesn’t quite fall under one of the classical departments. Each of us has an individual area of responsibility, with tasks divided up into the areas listed below. Every person has their own core activities, though we support and fill in for one another in every area.

These are some of the tasks we deal with:

• Human Resources – Employee support, personnel management, payroll accounting and recruiting
• Marketing – Coordinating internal and external communication, planning for trade fairs and give-aways, market and industry analyses
• Quality Management – Ensuring QM-compliant work throughout the entire company, processing complaints and optimising processes
• Facilities – Technical and administrative organisation of building management
• Fleet Management – Managing the vehicle fleet
• Work Safety and Occupational Medicine – Supplying and advising staff on occupational medicine issues

Challenges – What challenges have you faced?

Well, as in any company, the operational side of things often (understandably) has priority, meaning that our projects and individually set goals sometimes end up coming second and we have to shift our priorities around. We take our role as internal service providers very seriously, meaning that our primary goal is to do our bit to ensure the company’s success, to support our colleagues as effectively as possible, and to work behind the scenes to ensure smooth processes.

vPOOL at its best – What do you like about your work and why do you like working at vPOOL?

The bottom line: We’re an excellent team that works together very constructively across all departments with a focus on results, a team that supports one another and takes care of business. We work independently in our specific areas and have significant decision-making authority, which means that we can accomplish a lot and our working day is very varied.

Contact details – What’s the best way to get in touch?

For any questions about applications, you can reach us at karriere@vpool.eu. For other areas such as marketing and facilities, please get in touch via info@vpool.eu.

Tasks – What jobs are involved in your working day?

Our department is the direct link to our customers and logistics suppliers. As the name suggests, our work consists of communicating with customers and entering orders on the one hand, and planning the logistics of the orders on the other. We do this by giving our best every day, trying to fulfil our customers’ requests to the extent possible, and expanding our services even further.

These are the tasks that make up our working day:

• Written and phone correspondence with customers and service providers
• Advising and supporting our customers in empty container management
• Planning and coordinating empty container deliveries and collections
• Monitoring and optimising the network

Our team’s work is split up into different focal areas. In general, certain colleagues are more responsible for customer service, while others focus more on handling the logistics of the day-to-day operations. Due to the increasing internationalisation of our business, we also serve our customers in several languages.

Challenges – What challenges have you faced?

For us, the challenge is keeping a general overview and getting it right in six key areas. This means collecting or delivering the right products, of the right quality and in the right quantities, at the right time, the right price, and right place.

To do this, our efforts are naturally directed towards using our network as effectively as possible and getting the best results for us and our partners. Doing all of this in our day-to-day work is not always easy: multiple phones are ringing, emails are coming in left and right, and everyone needs something from someone. But that’s also exactly what makes the job so exciting and, above all, challenging. It’s always an incredible feeling to see everything that you’ve accomplished at the end of your working day.

vPOOL at its best – What do you like about your work and why do you like working at vPOOL?

Because of the range of tasks we perform, our day-to-day work tends to be quite varied. No day can quite be planned, as there are always new challenges that can help us to grow. We also have a casual and friendly atmosphere within our team, which makes for a great working environment.

Contact details – What’s the best way to get in touch?

For questions about daily operations we can be reached at any time using the contact details provided for the individual contact person. Alternatively, we can be reached by email at transport@vpool.eu.

Tasks – What does your day-to-day work involve?

On the Sales & Purchasing team, we make sure that our customers are always well taken care of by our sales force as well as our office staff, and we also ensure the availability of load carriers for all branches of the business. Our Sales team provides customer service in all areas, from advising on logistics services to container purchases and complete empty container management solutions. On the Sales Support team, meanwhile, we serve our retail customers and support our sales teams from the office. Since these tasks tend to overlap considerably, we work together closely and can fill in for one another as needed.

Our main tasks are:

• Serving existing customers
• Acquiring new customers
• Sourcing reusable containers and accessories
• Preparing and sending offers
• Systematic order processing
• General sales coordination
• Leading and participating in projects

Challenges – What challenges have you faced?

Every customer is different, and nothing can be planned – our largest and most important challenge is therefore ensuring excellent service and the availability of our products through seasonal fluctuations and changing requirements. We try to take our customers’ requests into account and to adapt to special individual requirements.

vPOOL at its best – What do you like about your work and why do you like working at vPOOL?

What we find particularly positive is the diverse range of jobs in our working environment at vPOOL, and our ability to work independently. This makes it possible to speak directly with everyone involved, make decisions quickly, and ensure top-notch customer service. Working on our motivated, dedicated team and the cohesion between our colleagues are also wonderful aspects of the job.

Contact details – What’s the best way to get in touch?

Questions for the retail division can be sent to the email address anfrage.handel@vpool.eu; for all other enquiries, we can be reached at info@vpool.eu or by contacting your individual customer service representative.

What are your day-to-day responsibilities at vPOOL?

At vPOOL, Customer Service Support deals with the standard case management issues. We are the interface between the operational areas and the final processing by bookkeeping.  Everyone has their own customer base that they are responsible for taking care of. This means that you need to work quite independently, though communication within the team and with the adjacent departments plays a major role in ensuring excellent customer service. Our department is divided into two teams with different responsibilities. The Logistics team takes care of the standard processing of logistics orders. The poolbook team is responsible for processing and monitoring orders in our online portal, poolbook. Of course, there are overlaps between the two, meaning that careful work and effective coordination between team members is absolutely essential.

A brief summary of our tasks:

• Individual customer service
• Monthly account reconciliation
• Document requests at loading and unloading points
• Complaint processing
• Master data maintenance
• Implementation of new customers and processes

Which situations tend to be the most challenging?

We frequently have to take control of a situation and, sometimes, make snap decisions ourselves.  While doing this, we remain in close contact with our colleagues in different departments and rely on our combined experience and the ideas we come up with together. Processing missing and/or incorrect documentation can also be a significant challenge. Documents are reviewed for completeness and accuracy, but let’s just say that doesn’t always go as smoothly as we might wish it did. But, as we know, there’s a solution to every problem and we always manage to overcome these challenges.

vPOOL at its best – Why do you like going to work?

Even here in case management, we see varied and exciting issues come up. No day is like any other, meaning that our working days never get boring. In addition, vPOOL gives us an opportunity to keep growing and to advance. We work together well on our team, support one another, and can put ourselves in the other person’s shoes when difficulties come up.

How can you be contacted?

You can get in touch with us using the following email address: documents@vpool.eu.

What are your day-to-day responsibilities at vPOOL?

The Accounting Department documents every transaction at vPOOL. We have our eyes on all the debits, purchases, payments, etc., meaning we play a very important role in the business.

A brief summary of our tasks:

• Posting all transactions
• Reconciliation operations
• Monitoring incoming and outgoing payments
• Dunning processes

Which situations tend to be the most challenging?

Carrying out the company’s bookkeeping in a proper and, most importantly, timely manner is our department’s greatest challenge. We post transactions using the “just in time” principle, which means that we are always working against the clock to complete our monthly and annual financial statements because of tight deadlines, and we have to ensure that all entries are properly recorded by the submission deadline.

vPOOL at its best – Why do you like going to work?

Accounting isn’t all dry and tedious. Since we all have very different areas of responsibility, our day-to-day work is quite varied. We perform a variety of activities, from classic accounts receivable and accounts payable to tax accounting roles, which keeps us from ever getting bored. In addition, we get on really well together on our high-performing team, which makes working fun.

How can you be contacted?

For general questions on accounting-related issues, we can be reached by email at 
accounting@vpool.eu.

Tasks – What does your day-to-day work involve?

In Controlling, we are responsible for the planning, managing and monitoring of the company’s overall figures. We help our colleagues, the company management and the board of our business group to monitor important figures and to drive vPOOL’s growth. Our team members split their focus between the areas of Corporate Controlling and Sales Controlling. The main aim of Corporate Controlling is maintaining a holistic view of all business areas, while that of Sales Controlling is operational work and supporting the employees working on the core business. Naturally, these areas frequently come together, such that we work hand in hand and support one another.

Examples of our main tasks include:

• Calculating and analysing business indicators
• Preparing monthly and annual reporting
• Preparing the budget and target/actual analyses
• Preparing cost estimations for the Logistics and Leasing departments

Through our day-to-day duties on our systems, we are also involved in many projects and process optimisations that help make all of our work easier and keep vPOOL moving forward.

Challenges – What challenges have you faced?

Because of the highly dynamic environment in which we work and its ever-changing requirements, we always have to be able to react quickly and flexibly to new requirements and to reorganise ourselves accordingly.

vPOOL at its best – What do you like about your work and why do you like working at vPOOL?

For us, the exciting work and the challenges that come with it are very positive aspects. This area also allows us to work independently as well as to contribute to the company’s success through teamwork. Naturally, the excellent company culture and many friendly colleagues play their part in motivating us as well.

Contact details – What’s the best way to get in touch?

For questions about our department, you can reach us at the central email address info@vpool.eu.

Tasks – What does your day-to-day work involve?

Here in the IT department, we are an internal service provider responsible for providing a complete IT infrastructure to support efficient, modern and seamless working at vPOOL. At vPOOL, IT is divided into the areas of IT Operations and IT Projects. IT Projects, as the name suggests, deals with our ongoing projects in IT, which include continuous improvements to our ERP system and the document-management system, as well as support for our online platform poolbook. The IT Operations area is responsible for providing the infrastructure and the technical implementation of requirements.

In this context, we perform the following duties:

• Support and optimisation of the entire IT landscape
• Driving the digitisation of the entire value chain
• Project planning and implementation
• Implementation of hardware- and software-side optimisations and modifications
• Managing external service providers

As such, we are the first point of contact for our colleagues in the event of any developments and optimisations to the system, or in cases of questions or problems.

Challenges – What challenges have you faced?

We face challenges on a daily basis. The requirements of the users (that is, our colleagues) change regularly due to the dynamic working environment, and we naturally strive to implement optimisations as quickly as possible after testing. Our aim is to increase the efficiency of our colleagues while also offering our customers the highest possible level of service. We are also involved in large projects that are very important for the company, which are a significant responsibility. Finally, we also tend to be Jacks of all trades, following the motto, “If it’s electric, then we'll take care of it.”

vPOOL at its best – What do you like about your work and why do you like working at vPOOL?

The points mentioned above demonstrate the considerable variety in our working day – it definitely doesn’t get boring! Short chains of command mean that we can be highly flexible and react quickly to changes. This allows us to make our colleagues’ work easier through our day-to-day efforts. We’re happy when we can play our part in their success. Plus, we get to do it all with a great team. What more could you want?

Contact details – What’s the best way to get in touch?

For all IT-related questions, external contacts can reach us using our personal accounts if they know them. Otherwise, please feel free to use the central email address, info@vpool.eu.

Tasks – What does your day-to-day work involve?

As apprentices at vPOOL, we can learn the trades of office management or forwarding and logistics services. The training takes place over a standard three-year period, during which time, our experiences in both the company and trade school provide us with an outstanding foundation for working life. At vPOOL, we spend time in a wide variety of departments during our training, from customer service to case management and bookkeeping. Our focus changes depending on our progress and the occupation for which we’re being trained. In each department, we start out with training from experienced employees and then, little by little, we can start taking on our own tasks. This provides us with a great foundation for professional life, and we’re happy to be able to help out.

We support our colleagues as best we can, and take on specific duties depending on our area, which can include:

• Contacting customers and service providers by phone
• Accepting orders
• Entering orders into the system and preliminary planning
• Reconciling empty container accounts
• Helping out with the monthly statements
• Processing and reviewing invoices
• Properly filing documents in the document management system

Along with our operational activities, our daily duties also include taking on project-related and other supporting roles. But there are other tasks that are part of an apprentice’s life: every week, we take turns working at vPOOL’s apprentice service. Some examples of this service include regular purchases to ensure that everyone in the company has access to good coffee and other treats, and taking care of other incidental activities in the organisation.

Challenges – What challenges have you faced?

One major challenge during training is figuring out how to balance school and work. After a day at work, sometimes your motivation to study hard at school is strong, sometimes less so. But there are also stressful and less stressful times here, and lots of opportunities to reconcile the two areas.

Changing departments is also something that always involves new challenges, for example with the very different systems or international contacts you have to constantly adapt to. But these changes are also what teach us new things and allow us to gain a lot of different perspectives during our training.

vPOOL at its best – What do you like about your work and why do you like working at vPOOL?

Switching from one department to another and the diverse tasks mean that our working days always have variety. And once we’ve been properly trained, we can also work independently – for example, we might take care of individual customers ourselves. Aside from that, there’s a really good, collegial atmosphere at vPOOL, and we’re always welcomed with open arms. Last but not least, there’s the good job prospects, of course: apprentices who make a good impression during their apprenticeship have a good chance of becoming a permanent member of the vPOOL team afterwards.

Contact details – What’s the best way to get in touch?

Since we are continuously working in different areas, it's best to contact us at our personal email addresses. For general enquiries, you can also use the central vPOOL email address, info@vpool.eu.