Egle Kupryte

I was a part of the payments team, where I was primarily responsible for supporting customers at the checkouts. My role included operating the tills, assisting customers with packing their bags, and offering additional help such as carrying bags to their cars when needed. I focused on creating a positive and personalised experience for every customer I interacted with, often engaging in meaningful and friendly conversations to make their visit more enjoyable. A customer approached my manager to share their positive experience with me at the checkouts saying they were “really impressed with [my] customer service and friendly personal manner, describing [me] as an asset to Waitrose”. I made it my priority to stay efficient so that customers had an easy shopping experience, whilst also showing genuine care when they want to engage in conversation.

I spent a week at Whitworths’ finance team, where I shadowed accountants, and even spent time with the company’s financial director who invited me to senior staff meetings so I was exposed to all of the intricacies when it comes to managing the finances within a business. I spent hours observing the use of spreadsheets and trying to understand the purpose of each one; in each case I would have an attempt at completing the typical work which each day entails such as updating cash balances, completing analysis on labour standards and productivity, credit reconciliation, and completing June’s month end report. I was even trusted to be left alone to finish updating the cash balances after someone from the team left to do another task. I was able to use my knowledge derived from observations and continuously asking questions to successfully complete what was asked of me.

After conducting an English Literature lesson to a year 8 class in my school, I was overwhelmed by a sense of joy knowing that I could enlighten curious minds. This led to my decision to create a tutoring profile on Superprof and offer lessons for English. I was approached by a GCSE student at the time who was experiencing struggles in school when it came to English. I did not expect to tutor somebody in such a similar stage in their education as me, however I saw how much they wanted to achieve passes in both Literature and Language and I made it my mission to help them. Each week I would meet with him for an hour and I gave him a set agenda for each week. After a lot of hard work and inspiring words, I was pleased with the message from his parents that he passed his English GCSEs. I thrived in a role where I could share my enthusiasm on the topic and translate the difficult concepts into a comprehensive and pleasant lesson. I uplifted his spirit, and saw a surge in motivation as I made the light at the end of the tunnel brighter.