Alexander Ford
Keynsham
Summary
10 years of experience within a Retail environment have helped to shape the individual that I am today. I am well versed in and capable of providing an excellent quality of customer service whilst being mindful of tasks that need to be completed effectively and within tight time windows, using prioritisation skills to do so. I have operated within roles that required me to work as a customer facing individual, often as the first point of contact and problem solver, utilizing and becoming familiar with various systems and IT programs to assist with this. A majority of these years were spent in leadership positions where I became proficient in being able to draw the best out of those around me through my ability to communicate clearly and provide encouragement.
Overview
10
10
years of professional experience
2
2
years of post-secondary education
Work history
Team Leader
Waitrose & Partners
Keynsham, Bath and North East Somerset
01.2022 - 06.2026
- My role as Team Leader is one which I have returned to after the secondment mentioned below ended. I resumed my role in my previous section with a greater knowledge of the branch and business, helping me to see the bigger picture and allowing me to direct my team in a way that assists other areas of the business and not just our own.
- This has been a period of significant change after a management restructure removed a level of leadership from the business, pushing increased task load and additional responsibilities into my role, resulting in the need to clearly prioritise various tasks through effective planning of my time. The increase in responsibility has been the biggest challenge as I needed to make more decisions and delegate tasks using my own initiative, often without the support of a direct manager.
- Due to reduced resources and staffing, I put a heavy focus on driving the team to achieve our goals, both independent and shared, acting flexibly in my problem solving and prioritisation of tasks.
Deliver Service Ambassador
Waitrose & Partners
Keynsham, Bath and North East Somerset
06.2021 - 01.2022
- I took a secondment within another team to see another side of the business and widen my experience in a role primarily focused on organising and monitoring the store’s e-commerce team to ensure that all delivery orders were fulfilled to a high standard.
- A large responsibility of this role was acting as the single point of contact for e-commerce customers within the branch. Being the customer’s point of contact with the store taught me a lot about how to present myself during crucial first impressions, as I was the person looked to for resolving any issues these customers may have had and needed to give these individuals confidence in my ability to problem solve over the course of a phone call. Often the volume of calls that I would deal with on any given day could reach up to 40+, leading to prioritising and working efficiently to balance these calls with other tasks.
- Another aspect of this role was the continuous upkeep of standards within the e-commerce team, performing regular checks on products being sent out to customers, and using a high attention to detail to ensure that those sent out were of a good quality, within the business's date code policies and once ‘shopped’ were stored in suitable conditions prior to distribution to customers.
- This role was fast-paced and uniquely stressful as I had taken up the position not too long after COVID-19 restrictions began to ease, and as there were still a significant portion of our customer base still isolating at home, it was imperative that they should receive their shopping to the high standards they expected as these customers often had no other options available to them. To add to the initial challenges presented to me, the team I was leading was one that I had only known in passing before my appointment as Deliver Service Ambassador, putting me in a position where I needed to build a strong working relationship with these individuals quickly, especially as Christmas was a key event during my time in the role, and a consistent level of teamwork is vital when faced with such an busy period.
- This role served as an excellent opportunity to see things from a different team's perspective and helped me to refine my skills around communication both from a customer facing standpoint but also with new colleagues, and allowed me to experience a completely different side of the same business.
Team Leader
Waitrose & Partners
Keynsham, Bath and North East Somerset
05.2018 - 06.2021
- Comfortable and knowledgeable in my role, I pushed myself to develop my skills further, dedicating my time to a Team Leader course. I completed it within six months to get the promotion I was aiming for.
- Leading the team was a new challenge, needed to drive and support the team to improve overall results of my section, pushing productivity to meet KPI's.
- I was involved heavily in leadership conversations, conversing regularly with both my immediate managers and those higher up to ensure that I established clear lines of communication regarding important information.
- Planned for upcoming retail events, balancing overtime budget vs the resource needed to succeed in these events.
- Faced difficult conversations with members of the team around productivity and behaviour, communicating in effective ways to help reach an understanding.
Shop Floor Assistant
Waitrose & Partners
Keynsham, Bath and North East Somerset
05.2016 - 05.2018
- It was in this initial role that I began to learn key customer service skills such as time management, communication and teamwork all while training to provide a consistent high level of service and maintain standards.
Education
Engineering and ICT
Wellsway Sixth Form
Keynsham, Bath and North East Somerset 09.2016 - 09.2018
Skills
- Customer service, skilled in assisting all types of customer and de-escalating situations if necessary in order to consistently provide high level of service
- Time management, always aware of deadlines, task timeframes and the need to complete such tasks in both timely and effective manners
- Comfortable with decision making and using my own initiative, having gained this experience in various Team Leader positions
- Flexible, willing to try new ways of working and eager to pick up new skills
- Well versed in knowledge and application of technology to meet various needs in planning and communication
- Works well in team settings, enjoys learning from shared experiences and applying that knowledge to own tasks
Timeline
Team Leader
Waitrose & Partners
01.2022 - 06.2026
Deliver Service Ambassador
Waitrose & Partners
06.2021 - 01.2022
Team Leader
Waitrose & Partners
05.2018 - 06.2021
Engineering and ICT
Wellsway Sixth Form
09.2016 - 09.2018
Shop Floor Assistant
Waitrose & Partners
05.2016 - 05.2018