BFA
Why on the job training and apprenticeships are as important as University Degrees to Industry.
By John Saunders, CEO British Footwear Association I
suppose what set me on my path to footwear “success” - was my Dad, who incidentally worked for John White Footwear – he sent me 2 job
adverts from the “Shoe and Leather News” in 1979 The first a trainee Marketing role at Bally and secondly for an Area Sales Managers role at Start-rite Children’s. Both in Norwich, as it turned out.
Why I or my Dad thought I was cut out for either role is still a mystery but,
needless to say, I applied for both and was offered and accepted a role with Start-rite. Not as an Area manager, but as a graduate trainee.
At the age of 21 I was attracted by what seemed like a reasonable salary,
occasional access to a company car to allow me to travel back to my family home in Blackpool but most importantly as it turned out, a full 18 months training in every department of the company.
During training I worked in customer service, advertising, the leather
stores, in the design, pattern, costing and sample departments, shadowed all production stages through the factory, worked in packing, warehousing and returns and spent a very enjoyable 3 months training Russel and Bromley employees to fit children’s shoes.
12 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • JANUARY 2018 In the end I was rewarded with my own territory - the South west and
South-Wales selling Start-rite shoes in Clark’s backyard – challenging! A fully fledge Area Manager with my own V6 Ford Cortina Ghia an expense account – but with a solid understanding of the business – how the products were made, the culture of the company, how things were expected to be done and what was expected of me as a company representative – all of which helped me become a pretty good salesman/ sales manager. My initial training set me in good stead for a pretty successful 38 year career in sales and marketing.
Great you may say – thanks for the Saunders history lesson but where is this all going.
Well, I believe I received the best of both worlds – a university education - and as with most graduates the ability to think for myself and work on my own initiative, but importantly through the forward thinking of Start-rite an understanding of the key stages of shoemaking, the processes of business and the culture, craft, language and methodology that make the footwear industry so unique. The rest of my career you could put down to luck – blind ambition, being in the right place at the right time and grasping every opportunity that came along and taking the odd risk.
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