In this profile series, meet the people working behind the scenes to make sure your energy is available when you need it, and learn what motivates them to keep their country moving.
Endratno Sembiring – Sales Advisor
Many workers strive for a more dynamic career, one in which they also spend less time commuting and more time with family.
For Endratno Sembiring, achieving these goals led him to join ExxonMobil Indonesia Lubricants.
“I was drawn to sales as it was more energetic. When I was an engineer, the job was a lot more reactive and you had wait for the work to come to you,” he said.
“It was like being a doctor, waiting for people to come to us whenever there was trouble. But not in sales; in sales you have to be proactive and aggressive in your job, constantly finding creative ways to win.”
Endratno, known to his friends as Endra, started his career as a mechanical engineer and spent a number of years working for engineering firms throughout Indonesia.
However, he soon grew bored of those roles, and it wasn’t until he was working as a field engineer supporting a sales team that he found his true passion: sales.
Family commitments also drove Endra to make the shift from engineering to sales.
For five years, Endra was commuting between the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan while his family remained in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, on the island of Java.
Before joining ExxonMobil, Endra tried to relocate to Jakarta to be with his family, but that didn’t work for his previous employers. So rather than continue to commute between the islands, Endra chose to resign and join ExxonMobil Indonesia, which brought him back to his family.
His combination of a passion for sales and knowledge in mechanical engineering led him to the sales position.
This position requires him to deal with sales of Mobil Delvac for trucks, buses and cars with diesel engines, as well as heavy duty equipment.
He is grateful that his education and experience in engineering gives him an edge as he is able to accelerate his service to clients without having to wait for additional technical support.
“My experience and expertise helped me a lot not only in achieving my target, but also in providing creative and innovative solutions to distributors and end users,” he said.
Now that he spends less time commuting, Endra has time to give back to his community.
He teaches maths and other basic subjects to elementary school students at a nearby mosque, providing extra lessons for students preparing themselves for exams.
