Many people work for more than one company during their career. Not so Walter Orthmann. The 100-year-old Brazilian has broken the record for longest service at one company, according to a Guinness World Records press release. Orthmann spent 84 years and 9 days with the same company, on January 6, when Guinness set the record.
Orthmann started working in January 1938 as an employee at the textile company Industrias Renaux S.A., now known as ReneauxView, according to the press release. He was 15 years old at the time and took the job to help his family, who were struggling with financial problems.
“In 1938, children were expected to work to help support the family,” he says in the press release. “As the eldest son of five, my mother took me to look for a job at the age of 14.
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Orthmann was later promoted to a sales position and eventually to a sales manager position.
He still goes to the office every day and last month celebrated his 100th birthday with family, friends and colleagues.
Working for the same company for 84 years: how do you keep it up?
After all these decades, he says his best career advice is to find a good employer and follow your passions. “When we do what we love, time passes quickly.”
With the recognition of Guinness World Records, Orthmann breaks his previous record for longest career with the same company. In 2018, he broke the record for having worked at ReneauxView for 80 years.
Reflecting on his life to date, Orthmann says he considers the record his “best achievement” despite “never aspiring to break a record.”
“I don’t make many plans and I don’t care much about tomorrow,” explains Orthmann. “All I care about is that tomorrow is another day where I wake up, get up, exercise and go to work; you have to be concerned with the present, not the past or the future. Here and now is what counts.”