I started working for Enterprise Rent-A-Car at the Eastbourne branch in southeast England as an employee referral; a good friend of mine was working for the company and suggested I joined as I was out of work after a year away travelling.
After 18 months in the branch I wanted to try something new but ideally stay with the company. My manager at the time mentioned to me the opportunity of working in the billing team at our European head office in Surrey. I joined the team in 2002 and worked my way up to team leader over the next 18 months. I really found that my hard work and good results were being acknowledged, and also got the chance to work alongside the most senior employees in Europe which was a fantastic experience.
Shortly afterwards, the role of Vehicle Repair Coordinator was advertised. My manager had already suggested that I could have a big impact working in one of the group departments. This seemed like the perfect opportunity with plenty of scope to be promoted and develop a relatively new department. Despite not having much vehicle repair experience they were prepared to take a chance on me because I was willing to learn and had a strong work ethic. After a year I was promoted to supervisor and in just over 2 years I moved the department up into second place, an achievement I’m still proud of to this day.
I then moved to a bigger group with more branches – North England was a successful group and had a strong vehicle repair history. This was a fresh challenge as unlike before huge improvements could not be made to a group that was already in first place. The challenge was to continue the good work done by my predecessor. I am pleased to say this was a challenge I was able to rise to, winning two exceptional achievement awards in the process.
In August 2008 I was promoted to Vehicle Repair Manager having built up my experience and success on the way. This promotion also meant I would be managing a team for the first time in 5 years. Now in my fifth year in the role, the team has developed well and the department is in a strong position.
My story so far has been a brilliant experience and Enterprise has been true to their word in rewarding me for hard work, good results and the flexibility I have showed over the past 12 years. I feel lucky to work for an organisation that has such strong values, growth and opportunities for its employees.
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