I first started with Coles in 1989 and joined Officeworks in 1994 at the very first store in Richmond. I was a recruit for the second store which was set to open in Ringwood. My first position was in furniture.

Once out at Ringwood, I continued to move through departments in the store, and went from part time to full time, before moving to the newly opened Fitzroy store as the stationery coordinator.

My next step was to Sydney, to help open the first store in New South Wales, located in Five Dock. This led to an offer to stay in Sydney in my first management role as receiving manager. Roles as customer service manager then merchandise manage followed, before it was time to return to Melbourne. This was around 1998, which was the year Officeworks started building its first website.

I returned to the Fitzroy store briefly as a merchandise manager, before returning to the Richmond store, and was given the opportunity to manage the refurb of the new Richmond store. I then took up my first store manager appointment at the first Melbourne CBD store in Elizabeth St. Following this, I worked as a store manager at the Frankston, Ferntree Gully and Highett stores. It was the breadth of opportunity and experience in – what was at that time – a young business, that made these years constantly interesting and always evolving.

In 2004, I moved to the support office working in human resources, looking after a portfolio that included policy and procedure, reward and recognition, onboarding and induction, as well as looking after content on the intranet. In 2007 Wesfarmers took over, and almost overnight I found myself moved from HR to IT. My first role was to manage multiple iterations of intranet upgrades, and it was a great learning opportunity and a way to explore a new world of technology, terminology and functionality.

In 2012, still working in IT, I progressed onto the service desk and into a provisioning manager role, which meant learning and becoming accredited in ITIL (IT service management).

My most recent roles have seen me land in the project space, initially as a business analyst, and currently as a delivery manager. I really enjoy the innovation opportunities of these roles. Currently I’m working as an IT project manager on range of business initiatives.

I feel that a huge draw card for working at Officeworks is the opportunity to be involved in new initiatives, as change is always on the radar as the business strives for better ways to deliver.