Sadie Ratcliffe

Throughout my role at Sainsbury's, I have worked my way up from a checkout colleague to a Retail manager. It has been my responsibility to lead colleagues through their shifts, planning in breaks and explaining which area I would like them to work from for the day. As well as this, I have conducted job interviews, note taken for disciplinaries and handled deliveries - merchandising in the stock and gap scanning in order to investigate any unknown losses to the business. I am multi skilled in various different areas such as main bank tills, kiosk, self scan and shop floor and I am flexible in helping out in whichever department needs me. I work independently using my own initiative and have been trusted to handle cash and complete stock changes following a planogram. Before stepping up to management, I completed my level 2 retail apprenticeship alongside my colleague role in which I achieved a distinction grade. Upon completion, I was tasked to coach one of my other colleagues through their apprenticeship, taking time out of each week to support them with any learning or tasks that they had to complete.

As a planning manager, I geographically allocated the work to regional teams of locksmiths across the UK. The role also entailed the booking and planning of work, and communicating with outside agencies such as blue chip companies, the police, commercial customers, warrant officers and vulnerabilities within the general public. Not only this, but I was responsible for invoicing, the payments of wages, email and telephone interactions and the resolving of any problems that occurred on the day to day jobs.

During my role as a front desk receptionist, I took on vital responsibilities to ensure that all other departments were able to run as smoothly as possible. This involved me liaising with the Housekeeping, Maintenance and Restaurant team to guarantee that everything was in order and we were therefore able to achieve the highest level of guest satisfaction. I often ran the reception on my own for an extended period of time which means that I gained confidence in thinking for myself and working at a quick, yet thorough pace. As well as this, I checked guests in and out of the resort, handled multiple phone calls a day, printed invoices for corporate guests, handled security deposits, took payments both via cash and card, and was responsible for running the banking on a night. Any cash that was taken during the day had to be placed into the main safe, which shows that I am a trustworthy and honest person as I was trusted with this task on a regular basis. I would often be the first person in or last person out on an evening which means that I was also in charge of opening or closing up.

As a customer advisor, I worked through the busy Christmas period, where it was my responsibility to keep up with the high volume of customers. This therefore enabled me to gain more confidence in working under pressure in a professional setting and manner. As well as this, I underwent till training, where I was responsible for taking both cash and card payments and I ensured that stock levels were maintained and that shop displays were kept inviting and replenished. I also ensured that the collection process of Click and Collect orders ran smoothly for all customers who may have felt apprehensive shopping in store due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Throughout my time as a complaints handler, I developed strong skills in customer service and telephone and email communications which skyrocketed my overall personal confidence. I booked holidays to match the customers requirements and needs, which was inclusive of disabilities and individual circumstances. It was my responsibility to ensure that all customers were satisfied with their stay and I had to think quickly and effectively to solve any problems that they were facing. Not only this, but I would respond to customer complaints both via email and in a face to face setting, liaising with the head office department and agreeing upon a solution and or compensation. This allowed me to gain experience dealing with dissatisfied customers and gave me personal satisfaction when I could resolve this for the guest. I feel this position gave me a wealth of experience in a customer focused, fast paced environment. My commitment and dedication to the role saw me commute from York to Filey on a daily basis. I also worked additional hours to my contracted hours to assist in alternative departments who were struggling with staffing issues during the pandemic.