How you can take opportunities and give them at Specsavers

'Now I've got 40 staff and want to give them the opportunities I had.'

I started at Specsavers about 20 years ago. I was supposed to go to university but wanted to take a year out first and save a bit of money. I was working at Specsavers with no clear goal of what I wanted from this job, because it was just a job used to help me save up. But one thing led to another and I ended up staying at Specsavers and never going to university.

I went from dispenser to dispensing optician and then eventually store manager. This led me to doing Pathway, which is an introduction to becoming a director. Once I passed that, I was officially a partner. Since then I’ve continued to do more, becoming a Level 5 coach through Specsavers, and now about to start my journey into audiology as well.

Showing people a different side to Specsavers

One of the main reasons I want to share my story is because I want to show people what’s available at Specsavers. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to approach life. But whatever you want – whether an apprenticeship, post-university job or a complete career change – you can find the opportunities at Specsavers. You can join our lab team or the retail side of things, optometry or audiology, or even work towards becoming a partner like I did.

It doesn’t matter whether you know exactly what you want to do or you’re in the process of figuring it out for yourself, you can join Specsavers and take advantage of the opportunities; add another string to your bow. You can keep gaining skills and progressing forward, in a career you may not have even thought of. People will come into our stores and see all these different colleagues, but not realise the individual journeys they made to get to where they are. The journey that they were able to take right here. 

Life as a partner and life on the team 

I always find myself feeling really fortunate to be in the position I’m in as a partner. I love my team and I’m always mindful of ways to make their lives easier, because they’ve helped make my life easier too. I’ve worked here for 20 years so there’s been a lot of ups and downs, but the best part for me is how close I am to the friends I’ve made here, who just so happen to be my team.

As a partner, I make sure everyone gets as much support as possible because I know how important it is. I don’t want to be authoritarian and I want to be able to recognise the little details that can affect culture and morale in a big way. We’re incredibly open here and are prepared to have the difficult conversations, but when we feedback to one another, we’re always finding ways to make each other better. I’ve put in a lot of hard work to get to where I am, but seeing people reach their potential on my team makes it all worth it.