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DO IT THE DANISH WAY

Gautier Garin came to Aarhus University in 2009 to do the last semester of his master degree in international business and management. Little did he know he'd still be in Denmark four years later.

Gautier Garin came to Aarhus University in 2009 to do the last semester of his master degree in international business and management. Little did he know he'd still be in Denmark four years later.

One of the things, Gautier Garin (MSc, ’10) realized he lacked during the first part of the semester at Aarhus University in 2009, was a link to the working environment that exists in the Danish business world. 

Trust, responsibility and independence - Embracing the Danish working culture
With this in mind, the 23-year-old exchange student starting attending events where people shared their experiences with the labour market. He marveled at the extreme engagement and efficiency with which Danish employees went about doing their jobs. From that instant, he knew that he wanted to come back to look for work one day.

- I saw how employees were trusted and responsible for challenging tasks without having a boss behind them all the time. It’s very efficient, because people feel so responsible. In Latin countries, it’s the opposite way around. If you don’t control everything, and if you’re not looking over your employees’ shoulders all the time, no one will work. When the boss isn’t around, people will know it instantly and stop working, says Gautier Garin.

Right time, right place - Welcome to Trustpilot!
After his semester at Aarhus University, he went back to France and finished his thesis. But the new MSc graduate wasn’t finished travelling, and decided to start looking for jobs abroad. One day in 2010, while visiting his girlfriend in Denmark, he met Peter Holten Mühlmann, the CEO of a newly established Danish company, Trustpilot. He had just opened up to the markets in UK and Germany, and was now planning on conquering more of the European market.

- I told him that was just the kind of thing I was looking for, that I didn’t have any experience in the field, but  that I'd love to help him build up a French market.

And so, after three interviews, Gautier Garin got the job.

- Back then Trustpilot was a small setup, and there wasn’t much money. So I offered to work for free in the beginning, like an internship. Then, if it worked, we would figure it out. That’s how it started. It was neither expected nor planned, says Gautier Garin.

Great work life balance, and in English..
Today, three years on, he’s a Sales Development Manager for the thriving Danish company and is responsible for the French, Italian and Spanish market. He gets a pay check every month, and when Trustpilot opened their big office in Copenhagen, he was one of the first employees to move there. 

- I started to really like Denmark, when I moved to Copenhagen. Maybe it's because I don't feel so closely connected to the Danish culture, so Copenhagen fits me better, as it's much more international. I like the city: It's not big, but there are lots of things you can do here. Aarhus isn't like that. Though when you are a student, Aarhus is great because it's a student city, says Gautier Garin, who feels lucky to have found a job in Denmark, where he doesn’t need to be able to speak Danish. 

- And then there’s this amazing quality of life here. The salary is quite high. If the weather’s bad, I can go away every weekend, because I can afford it. If I'd worked in Paris, for instance, I’d still be able to afford it, but I wouldn’t have time to travel that often, because I would work every day from 8am to 7pm, he says. 

Will I stay or go? Language is key…
Even though Gautier Garin has grown fond of Denmark, he isn’t sure he’s finished exploring the world yet. So when asked if he’ll still be living here ten years from now – he’s not sure.

- If I do, I think I’ll start learning more than the basics of the Danish language. I wouldn’t want to live here longer term without the language, even though I don’t need it in my job, says Gautier Garin.

Read about other international alumni from AU, who chose to stay and live in Denmark: