Commercial Manager
Vestey Holdings

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I’m James.

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I work for Vestey Foods International as a commercial manager,

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based in Runcorn in Cheshire.

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As a commercial manager,

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I will buy product and sell product.

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Breaking that down, I will speak to my supplier.

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I will see what they might have available.

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Let’s take for example, frozen chicken drumsticks.

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I’ll buy a container of that – I will

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then look to find a market for that product.

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That market might be South Africa. On the sales side,

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I will speak to my customer in

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maybe South Africa or Ghana

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and try and work out what their demands might be

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and then try and find that product for them from the suppliers.

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And on top of that we have certain exhibitions we will attend –

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It might be

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Germany, it might be Dubai, it might be China –

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to basically exhibit our company

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and the products and services that we provide.

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The best part of my job is meeting people,

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talking to people.

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Each day is different

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and if I’m honest, I don’t think there’s really a bad part about it.

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There’s difficult parts.

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I do work away a lot, which is hard when you’ve got a young family,

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but they’ve grown up with it as well and understand

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it’s Dad’s job.

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School was great.

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I really enjoyed it.

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I enjoyed the social side of it.

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Academically, I wasn’t the strongest.

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I then progressed to A-levels because that was the right thing to do at the time

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but didn’t go to university.

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The A-levels I did were business studies, history and German.

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But looking back, I look back at school fondly.

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I wish I probably could have stayed there longer.

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Skills and strengths that are

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useful in my job would be

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certainly maths.

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Working out percentages and profit margins,

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cost prices, adding the freight, using different currencies.

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A language would help. Communication.

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English,

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being able to write obviously

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in a correct, professional way, which links in

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probably with business studies too.

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During my A-levels, I started to work for McDonald’s.

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and I loved my time at McDonald’s. It was great.

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The teamwork, the camaraderie, the training you get is fantastic.

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I decided to leave there though

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and then worked at Burtons menswear.

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I worked for a nightclub as a bar manager and a cleaner. I started

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working as a sales

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rep for a local poultry producer.

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Stayed there two years,

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got approached by a different company

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to go and work for them as a frozen meat and poultry trader,

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and was there ten years before I joined Vestey.

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It’s okay to change your mind.

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Just ask the advice of somebody.

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Just speak to somebody that is in a role

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that might interest you or

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ask what are the possibilities, what the requirements to do this job

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or where could it lead?