RISING STARS MEET THE FUTURE


Chloe Bright, of Jewson, won the Maddie Rose National Rising Star Award at the BMJ Industry Awards 2023. Will McGill chatted to her about her role and aspirations.


What is your current role?


I am the senior sales advisor, which involves administrative work including memos, stock optimising in branch, and much more. I am also completing an internal course called Emerging Leaders. Next year, I will be starting an apprenticeship with Jewson.


How did you get into this industry? I came out of university and fell into the industry; it was during the Covid pandemic, and I saw a job opportunity at Jewson’s Littlehampton branch. Before joining the industry, I wasn’t even aware of the opportunities and what it had to offer – I am so glad I found it.


What does a typical day for you at work look like?


A typical day for me starts with me completing the PPI’s - or stock counts - doing some memos. On Tuesdays, I make up bags of sweets for customers and put together the in branch theatre. We have fun events like Snakes and Ladders, Sausage Roll Fridays and Treat Tuesdays every week. I then check the stock and put out overstock to maintain our high shop standards. This allows me to be ready at 7am to start my day and be ready to help serve customers.


Following that, I make some calls to customers in line with our sales plan.


What are your big challenges in this role? The biggest challenge I face in the role is my product knowledge. The construction industry is constantly innovating so there are always new products to learn about in order to educate our customers. While this is a challenge it’s also exciting. I’m always keen to develop my knowledge with on the job


afraid to ask for help or advice on anything that they have questions about. Where I work at the moment, someone is always on hand to support me.


training and I understand that everyone can improve. I carry this ethos in everything that I do in and out of work.


What do you think has been your biggest achievement in your role?


My biggest achievement to date was winning a BMJ Industry Award, in September this year. It was so important to me because it was something outside of Jewson, being recognised externally felt amazing - anyone could have read my story and voted for me which makes it all the more special.


What would you like to achieve next? I would like to move into an assistant branch manager role. After that, I would like to progress even further into becoming a branch manager. I want to follow in the footsteps of my mentor, James Buckle, and become a business unit director - I love learning and progression.


What advice would you give to someone new to this industry?


A piece of advice I would give to someone new to the industry, would be to never be


12


What would you say to someone who might be thinking about a career or getting a job in the merchant industry? That would be to just take a chance on it, we need ideas – young people are the future. We need more people at the counter or on the sales front, there are so many avenues within this business.


Roles such as stock optimisation, credit control, business controls, health and safety are all essential parts that make up our business and industry.


Never hesitate, there is lots of chance for progression and all you need to do is take a chance to throw yourself in at the deep end.


Why do you think young people, especially women, are hesitant to go into the industry?


I think women are put off by the industry because they perceive it as male dominated - which it sometimes can be, and this can be daunting.


Jewson is working hard to create a diverse, equal and supportive place to work We celebrate International Women’s Day with pride and our parent company, STARK Building Materials UK, is supportive of every member of staff no matter who we are. Jewson has the right company values and support in place for anyone. I’m proud to work for Jewson. BMJ


www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net December 2023


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