The Guinness World Record For The Longest Career At One Company Is 84 Years!!!!!
Wowwwwwwwwwww!!!
100-year-old, Walter Orthmann from Brazil has earned a Guinness World Record for the longest career at the same company. With the Guinness recognition, he is breaking his own previous record at the same company. In 2018, he was recognized for having worked 80 years at ReneauxView, a textile company.
Looking back on his life so far, he says he considers the record his “proudest achievement” despite “never having contemplated breaking a record.” The actual award is for the longest career in the same company which is currently 84 years and 9 days.
According to Guinness, he was born on April 19, 1922, in Brazil’s Santa Catarina state, an area that had a large German population. As a teenager, his family hit hard times financially so he began working at Industrias Renaux S.A, a weaving mill, which is now known as ReneauxView. “Back in 1938, kids were expected to work to help support the family,” he was quoted as saying, by Guinness. “As the oldest son of five, my mother took me to find job at the age of 14.”
Thanks to his proficiency in German, the young Orthmann got a job there as a shipping assistant. Soon after, he was promoted to a position in sales before becoming a sales manager.
“I was given the opportunity to work as a salesperson,” he said in a news release. “I traveled to São Paulo and in less than one week I filled the production with orders equivalent of three month[s] of work.”
In the 1950s, he started traveling across the country, establishing professional relationships with clients, building friendships and discovering new places. In his 84 years and 9 days of work, he has used nearly every commercial airline in the history of Brazilian aviation to travel for work.
Although he no longer goes on sales trips, he continues his duties as a sales manager in charge of coordinating a team of representatives.
In his career spanning decades, he has witnessed many changes — at home and abroad. That, he said, taught him that it was important to be adaptable.
Reflecting on his long stint at the same place, he said when people do what they enjoy, they don’t see the time go by.
His advice for young professionals is to work for good establishments, in areas where they feel motivated.
Fun Fact: In the eight decades he has been employed, he has collected pay in nine different currencies.
To Walter, having a job means a sense of “purpose, commitment and a routine,” according to the news release.
“I don’t do much planning, nor care much about tomorrow,” he said. “All I care about is that tomorrow will be another day in which I will wake up, get up, exercise and go to work.”
Orthmann celebrated his 100th birthday with co-workers and says the office is his favorite place. This world record, he says, is his proudest achievement.
“You need to get busy with the present, not the past or the future,” he told Guinness. “Here and now is what counts. So, let’s go to work!”
Walter has the right idea. Work keeps you busy. Work gives you goals. Work stimulates your mind. Work helps your memory and work is a form of socialization. Walter is “doing aging” right. It is one of the reasons he has lived to be a 100…
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Sources
Guinness World Records
Business Insider
Money Magazine
NPR
