Start date: November 2003
Location: Manchester
“I started at Soreen in 2006 as a 16 year-old schoolboy, working on Saturday mornings in the hygiene department where I cleaned machines. Later, I went part time, working in the slice room and undertaking quality checks on the production line.
When I was 18, I joined as a full time employee, working shifts on the production line and then I progressed to be a section leader. In 2013 I moved to being a mixer, where we mix all the raw ingredients together. While I was doing this role, I was occasionally asked to stand in for the Deputy Front Line Manager which was really useful experience for me. I was subsequently approached to apply for this job full time and I ended up doing this Deputy role for a couple of years.
Then, 18 months ago, I applied for the Front Line Manager’s job and was lucky enough to get it. I am now in charge on a daily basis of the day-to-day running of the bakery. There is a total of 60 people across the teams on the production line, with around 20 people on a shift at any one time. So, part of my role is to ensure that the right people are on the right shift. The factory is pretty much a 24/7 operation – the only day we are shut is on a Saturday.
To help me with my managerial responsibilities, I am enrolled on a 15-month Institute of Learning & Management course that will give me a Level 3 management qualification at the end of it. This means that once a month I go off-site to attend workshops and about 20% of the course is self-study which I do in my own time.
I really appreciate that Samworth Brothers is investing a lot of time in me. If you show you are interested in learning and willing to progress, you will be given the chance. I started off as a Saturday boy cleaning machines and now I am in charge of a team of 60.”