 | Kelvin Humphries
Graduate
"You're thrown in at the deep end."
I joined Robert McBride in September 2006 shortly after
graduating from The University of Manchester. Since then my career
has progressed quickly from Financial Assistant to Commercial
Accountant and now to Management Accountant.
For me working at McBride is about making sure you achieve
results in your day job whilst also being proactive about getting
involved in the wider projects that will contribute to the long
term success of the company.
The level of dedication needed to succeed can be quite demanding
at times, but it has given me lots of opportunities to develop and
has allowed me to take on more responsibility during the early
stages of my career.
In addition McBride have supported my study towards the CIMA
qualification and it is rewarding to know that the company is now
giving me the chance to demonstrate the skills that I have worked
hard to learn.
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 | James Lomax
National account Manager
"Hardwork and achievement is recognised and rewarded."
I have been with McBride for over six years in a variety of
roles from Marketing through to my current position as a National
Account Manager on a top 4 Retailer and I would be lying if I said
it had been an easy journey. Supplying some of the UK's biggest and
most demanding customers with their own products can be a real
challenge.
However, at the same time this brings with it great
opportunities not least the unparalleled access you get to the UK
Retailers as well as the opportunity to get involved in every
aspect of the business from Product Development through to Supply
Chain and Production activities.
Most importantly for me is the work ethic at McBride. Hard work
and achievement is recognised and rewarded allowing you to move
quickly up through the business. Despite being with McBride for
some time the fast paced environment, the opportunities for career
development and the challenges continue to excite me.
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 | Anna Mazur-Kaczmarek
Marketing Director CEE
"Challenging & exciting"
When joined McBride 4 years ago I was welcomed with words that
sounded like a sincere piece of advice: "you will need to swim
otherwise you will sink".
Looking back, I can say it wasn't an easy journey but at the
same time it has been both challenging and exciting.
I have 8 years experience in developing Private label products
in both the Household and Personal Care sectors.
I started my career with McBride as a Marketing Manager for the
Central and Eastern Europe business unit. I had an opportunity to
be based for the first year in the UK, where I worked very closely
with the UK marketing team.
For the last 3 years I have been based in Poland, responsible
for marketing of both Private label and McBride brands for the
region.
The most exciting with McBride is that every day is
different.
McBride is an open environment for passionate, competent,
ambitious, people who embrace the company values. Working with
people who are customer oriented & committed to deliver the
targets through teamwork, is what makes McBride so special from my
perspective.
From my first day till now, I still find the job challenging
& exciting, and would like to say that this is due to the teams
that I am working with and the career development opportunities
provided.
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 | Wojciech Mazurek
Operations Director, Strzelce Opolskie
"Where Customers and Values Matter"
McBride is about pursuing opportunities and facing challenges.
The Company stands for equal, open opportunities for career
development for all its employees, so everyone has a chance to grow
and to take up new challenges within the multinational
organisation.
The two years, I have so far experienced in McBride as the
Operations Director based in Strzelce Opolskie, Poland have been
about building and creating, working with passionate professionals
with clear vision and strong international flavour.
If you are looking for a demanding work place, striving to gain
cross functional experience with open and fair business relations
and you are ready to take decisions and responsibilities than this
may just be the place for you
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 | Babita Mistry
Category Marketing Executive
'Fast, challenging and never a quiet moment!'
I have been at McBride for four years and I cannot say where the
time has passed by. Having previously worked for some major branded
companies, nothing is quite like the pace and challenge I have
experienced here - there's always something new to research and
evaluate.
My role in Marketing is to maintain and grow one of our most
important categories within Personal Care. This involves working
with a variety of people across the business, from sales to
manufacturing, development to finance. Meeting our demanding
customers' needs is a key focus to all and my role provides me with
plenty of opportunity to present face-to-face with the major UK
retailers. Recently I have also taken over the responsibility of
managing trademarks and designs, bringing both variety to my
day-to-day work as well as increasing my personal learnings.
Developing a diverse range of skills is important to succeed in
this ever-changing environment. McBride is great in recognising and
nurturing these in people - and it is the people, business values
and hard-working culture that make it an exciting place to work
in.
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 | Marc Raes
Deputy MD for WCE Division
"Here, FMCG means Fast Moving Career Growth, the world is at
your feet" - Marc Raes, General Deputy MC for WCE
I joined McBride 19 years ago as a Credit Controller for WCE at
Estaimpuis. And since that day, I haven't looked back once: I
went from Credit Controller to Sales Administration Manager. I had
the opportunity to get solid training in TQM and became Quality
Coordinator for Europe. Then I became involved in acquisitions as
Strategic Planning Manager, and became responsible for IT and
Logistics. And all this in the space of 10 years.
The second part of my career I became HR director, would you
believe it, ànd Head of Purchasing for the Group. I've held the
helm of WCE as interim MD for while, and now I manage Finance for
WCE, I am deputy MD ànd I'm being trained as a professional coach
at the same time.
The variety of opportunities I have been given is unbelievable
and I have grabbed them with both hands. McBride is really an
organisation that isn't afraid to step outside the lines when it
comes to believing in talent and making it grow and work. As a
company, we work on the basis of concepts and principles, but are
not bogged down by rules and regulations. This means that you
should and can fill in the blanks yourself. Very rewarding……
I'm really looking forward to the next phase in my career.
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 | Lee Robinson
Logistics Manager
"Working at McBride means that two days are rarely the same -
even though sometimes you wished they were!" - Lee Robinson,
Logistics Manager, Bradford, England
I came to McBride from a multinational brander and thought
crossing over into the 'dark side' would be a piece of cake.
Nothing can quite prepare you for the pace and variety involved in
private label. It's often frustrating but nearly always
rewarding and the constant challenge is to continually improve to
ease the frustration and get even more reward for our efforts.
Sandwiched between a demanding set of customers and major
suppliers means that McBride can't afford to be over-resourced.
This provides a wealth of opportunity for personal
development. As a Management Accountant I came into the
business as a finance manager and through development in
a number of roles I now find myself in an
operational supply chain role at one of our
larger manufacturing sites - with accountability for
warehousing, production planning, materials scheduling as well
as looking after a team of over 70 colleagues. As
a member of the Site Management Team, I share the wider
responsibility involved in the leadership and welfare of
over 400 colleagues. Added to this I am helping to drive a
number of key business-wide projects to help us shape tomorrow
as well as delivering today. It's really no wonder two days are
never the same!
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 | Ian Tomlinson
General Manager
"You can't hide at McBride."
"I still can't get enough of it!" - Ian Tomlinson, General
Manager, Middleton, England
I joined McBride in February 1986 as a graduate trainee,
thinking 'This will be okay for 18 months of development....'
23 years later (and two working spells away from McBride) I am
still getting my development. McBride can be summed up as a
business that makes constant demands upon you, but in return
provides constant fulfilment... I still can't get enough of
it...!
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 | John Verhaeghe
Head of Strategic Sourcing
"No-one will stop you"
I joined McBride in 2002 as Operations Support Manager for
Western Continental Europe.
The pace with which I have been given new projects and
opportunities has always been high! I have been heavily involved in
plant improvement programmes and was able not only to feed the
decision making process, but also to implement my recommendations.
This resulted in being given the opportunity to become Production
Manager in the Netherlands and Plant Manager for the then newly
acquired Chemolux plant in Luxemburg.
At the beginning of 2009 I moved into Strategic Sourcing, a
newly set up domain within Group Purchasing. I was certainly not
given this opportunity on the basis of my (then non-existent)
purchasing knowledge.
For me, this really proves that McBride is one of the few employers
who develop their people on the basis of competences.
Because McBride is in itself not a finished product there is a
strong culture of continuous improvement, helped by a fast decision
making process. If you have a well argumented proposal, you can go
straight to the person in charge and get the necessary support for
implementation. It is the ideal place for those who like to take
responsibility
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 | Claire Whalley
National Account Manager
"There's a real team spirit."
Working at McBride is fast paced but at the same time very
rewarding. I do something different every single day.
My career progression has been structured and well supported, I
started as an Account Executive and I am now a National Account
Manager for a top 4 multiple, and I have a very clear view of my
future career here, again with support from my manager and
above. McBride is all about teamwork, hard work, continuous
improvement, supporting the retailers and developing our people for
the future. Finally there is always opportunity to move
around to different functions around the business - this can be
invaluable.
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