0:00:03 I'm Phil D’Souza and I'm a Merchandising Manager. My job is to understand and develop the customer journey throughout our cinemas so when they enter our sites, they know exactly where they need to go, why to buy a ticket, where to buy food. That they can clearly see all the film marketing and understand what new film’s are coming out soon and just make the journey through our cinemas as easy and as natural as possible.
00:00:32 I was not the most focused of people so I was always the last person to get my homework done, for example. I suppose I just want to be sort of not too tied down to the constraints of everyday life. I just want to sort of be my own person if that’s possible when you’re a teenager. But yeah, always ever mindful of my parents’ desire for me to be...to be a success as possible which I was sort of but not as good as I could’ve been.
00:01:04 Went to university and needed to earn some money so I ended up working part time in a DIY store in my home town and university for me didn’t really work out. I went and did a course that I didn’t necessarily, I realised later, I didn’t necessarily want to do, it wasn’t really where I wanted to go. So when I then finished after two years, I just extended the number of hours that I was working and I just carried on in the same company. Just ended up with a permanent position and then started moving around different stores.
00:01:36 I was fortunate enough to gain a couple of promotions. I became a department manager or a team leader or an assistant manager. But then as I realised that there was the potential to move up and may be get my own store, that didn’t necessarily feel that exciting to me.
00:01:50 But one thing I did enjoy was working with the products, working with the layouts, working with the formats and I’d no real experience but I think because I could talk about what the customer saw, I think that sort of inspired the manager who was interviewing me to say well he knows the products, he know the business but actually, you know, I think he has a little bit more than that and I got the position and I became a visual merchandiser. Work in head office role, working with a group of products, owning how they looked, how the customer saw them and working in a very sort of wide role and I could instantly see the fruits of my labour in 300 stores around the country at once.
00:02:36 I suppose at the point when you realise the regret, yes, you know, there’s, I wish I’d revised more for my A levels, I wish I’d actually gone on a course that I really wanted to do. But actually, it’s only useful, it's only important at that point and then after that, it stops being important because you go onto the next thing and take the opportunities as they come and you’re happy to do them then regret doesn’t matter because ultimately, you will end up where your skills and your abilities and your energy will take you.
00:03:10 In terms of specific career or specific sort of ambitions, I’ve always been non-specific. When I was sort of 16, you get asked what jobs you want to do. Your parents always sent you off an idea but you don’t because you don’t necessarily know what it all means so, and I’ve always tried to suck it and see sort of thing. You know, I enjoy visual merchandising, I enjoy working with products, I enjoy working with customers. I enjoy working with stores and I like to see what comes out of it.
00:03:41 So I’ve now joined a new industry. I’ve got a lot to learn. Be here a good few years. But all I want to do is enjoy what I'm doing ultimately so yeah, in terms of, you know, if I have no specific career ambition except to just really enjoy what I do and it allows me to enjoy my life.
ENDS
Phil D’Souza
Phil D’Souza
I'm Phil D’Souza and I'm a Merchandising Manager. My job is to understand and develop the customer journey throughout our cinemas so when they enter our sites, they know exactly where they need to go, why to buy a ticket, where to buy food. That they can clearly see all the film marketing and understand what new film’s are coming out soon and just make the journey through our cinemas as easy and as natural as possible.
I was not the most focused of people so I was always the last person to get my homework done, for example. I suppose I just want to be sort of not too tied down to the constraints of everyday life. I just want to sort of be my own person if that’s possible when you’re a teenager. But yeah, always ever mindful of my parents’ desire for me to be...to be a success as possible which I was sort of but not as good as I could’ve been.
Went to university and needed to earn some money so I ended up working part time in a DIY store in my home town and university for me didn’t really work out. I went and did a course that I didn’t necessarily, I realised later, I didn’t necessarily want to do, it wasn’t really where I wanted to go. So when I then finished after two years, I just extended the number of hours that I was working and I just carried on in the same company. Just ended up with a permanent position and then started moving around different stores.
I was fortunate enough to gain a couple of promotions. I became a department manager or a team leader or an assistant manager. But then as I realised that there was the potential to move up and may be get my own store, that didn’t necessarily feel that exciting to me.
But one thing I did enjoy was working with the products, working with the layouts, working with the formats and I’d no real experience but I think because I could talk about what the customer saw, I think that sort of inspired the manager who was interviewing me to say well he knows the products, he know the business but actually, you know, I think he has a little bit more than that and I got the position and I became a visual merchandiser. Work in head office role, working with a group of products, owning how they looked, how the customer saw them and working in a very sort of wide role and I could instantly see the fruits of my labour in 300 stores around the country at once.
I suppose at the point when you realise the regret, yes, you know, there’s, I wish I’d revised more for my A levels, I wish I’d actually gone on a course that I really wanted to do. But actually, it’s only useful, it's only important at that point and then after that, it stops being important because you go onto the next thing and take the opportunities as they come and you’re happy to do them then regret doesn’t matter because ultimately, you will end up where your skills and your abilities and your energy will take you.
In terms of specific career or specific sort of ambitions, I’ve always been non-specific. When I was sort of 16, you get asked what jobs you want to do. Your parents always sent you off an idea but you don’t because you don’t necessarily know what it all means so, and I’ve always tried to suck it and see sort of thing. You know, I enjoy visual merchandising, I enjoy working with products, I enjoy working with customers. I enjoy working with stores and I like to see what comes out of it.
So I’ve now joined a new industry. I’ve got a lot to learn. Be here a good few years. But all I want to do is enjoy what I'm doing ultimately so yeah, in terms of, you know, if I have no specific career ambition except to just really enjoy what I do and it allows me to enjoy my life.
ENDS
Phil D'Souza is a Merchandising Manager for Vue Cinemas. "My job is to understand and develop the customer journey throughout our cinemas so when they enter our sites, they know exactly where they need to go, where to buy a ticket, where to buy food." After abandoning his degree course he worked his way up in the DIY retail sector, then moved to Vue to do a similar job.
External links
Sector Skills Council for the Creative and Cultural Industries
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