Victoria
Partner Profile
My name is Victoria Knox and I work in Waitrose in Hersham. I’m Section Manager for food service and joined the Partnership in July 2008. I was at a bit of a crossroads in my career and looking for a new challenge, bit of a foodie and I enjoy quality produce.
Within the recruitment process it was made obvious to me that they were keen to take on people that have previous experience, or experience in other businesses, and use your skills within the Partnership.
I was Business Manager with McDonald's. I’d worked for McDonald's for 13 years and transferred up their trainee manager programme. I’d come to the stage I wanted to be at with them and wanted to move to a different business because I knew I had skills that were transferable: people skills, management skills, I’d also worked with fresh foods - I knew that would be a good transferable skill as well.
The Partnership really encourage a work, life balance and within your working week there are lots of different clubs and societies you can join. Recently I’ve been on a holiday to Egypt and I did my PADI open water diving course, which the Partnership is subsidising half of. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years and years and is a real big tick in the box. Achieving your personal goals with your working week satisfies you as a person and encourages you to go into work and really go for it - and to strive to achieve the goals.
The qualities you need to come and work in Waitrose are to be a team player, to be a people person, and to really get on well with those around you. Be open to challenge and to be very self motivated.
