I've been employed in business for over 10 years and continue to build on my experience year on year. I moved to Canada to improve my prospects in the area of management and found opportunity and success in the retail sector there with Mark's, having been promoted from Assistant Store Manager to Store General Manager within 6 months of joining the company. Having delivered in this role I was subsequently promoted to managing a store with higher throughput. This involved managing a staff of up to 22 Customer Service and Merchandising associates. I returned to Ireland in July 2015 and continued my career in Retail Management with Smyths Toys Superstore in the role of Duty Manager, managing a team of 30+ staff in a variety of retail disciplines. Having spent 9 months in this role I was afforded the opportunity to take on a new role with Lidl GB. Initially taken on as a Trainee Area Manager in May 2016, I progressed to Area Manager for stores located in the Wiltshire region in November 2016. I subsequently relocated to the Peterborough region in June 2020 and was given the opportunity to spend 18 months diversifying my skill set. Initially, I assisted with the launch of the new Lidl Regional Distribution Centre in this location and was subsequently tasked with the recruitment and management of the warehouse team. I returned to my Area Manager role in September 2021 with responsibility for the West Norfolk area. In July 2022 I returned home to Ireland and am very happy to have been able to continue my Lidl career as a Sales Operations Manager with Lidl Ireland. I believe that the ability to manage and lead a group of people is a very difficult skill to learn if one has no natural inclination to do so. I am a keen sportsman and try to take some of what I learned from this background and apply it to my everyday working life. Hard work, leading by example, displaying self discipline and integrity are behaviours I bring to work on a daily basis. They are the traits which I believe are foremost in leading to long term success in a managerial role. 'People don't follow titles, they follow courage'.