Operations Manager (retail)
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

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My name is George.

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I’m the operations manager at Westfield London, looking after guest services,

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car parks and reception.

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I am looking after the operation, which includes the guest services.

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We have three guest services desks in the centre.

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The car park operation –

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we have three car parks –

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and the reception team, where is the head office.

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On a daily basis, we have to deal with complaints,

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and we try to find the best solution – basically turn the situation

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around to have a positive experience for them.

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Skills and strengths –

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quick thinking, problem solving, and

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a good relationship with a team.

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I went to school in Greece.

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After school,

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I wanted to become a police officer, but I had a motorbike accident.

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And my family was really worried, and despite being my first choice,

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I went to my third choice, which was economics.

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I joined university and studied economics for four years

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and it was a great lesson for me,

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even if I didn’t

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follow this career. My family in Greece run a

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restaurant. From very little I was around helping out my family

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and then I did other jobs. Most of my roles I would say were about,

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hospitality – working in restaurants, bars

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and within the sector.

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So it’s really important to communicate with

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all the tourists that are coming, different

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cultures.

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So learning

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different languages like English, Spanish

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and French, really helped me settle in London.

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I’d say once I finished university –

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there were a lot of promises

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when I was at uni, “Oh, don’t worry,

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when you’re going to finish university we’re going to help you find a role,”

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according to what I had studied.

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However, this was never the case,

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and when I realised that in a business environment

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you are by yourself, and you have to be your own tutor,

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this is what helped me

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make the decision to come in the UK.

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So I arrived in the UK 13 years ago with the aim to stay for three months.

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However, I’ve been here for 13 years now and

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I have worked in restaurants, bars,

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and the opportunity for Westfield was given to me.

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I started as a Christmas temp and then I joined the guest services team,

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worked for two years on the floor.

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And then I was offered the supervisor position

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which within one month led to a managerial role.

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I was a team manager for guest services, and then my next role

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was the operations manager for guest services.

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And the latest one was being promoted to

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the operations manager for car parks, guest services and reception.

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My advice is to

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trust your instinct, accept the challenges and keep the relationships

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you keep throughout your career.