GOLDEN ARCHES, GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES
It’s not just a job or a business, it’s a calling, many say.
As Mcdonald’s seek to add to their nationwide staff numbers of over 10,000 people, three show how the company has shaped their lives. Dave Howse says he got more of a university education at Mcdonald’s than he did at university.
Howse is now Managing Director of Mcdonald’s New Zealand and their 170-plus outlets and is a vivid illustration of the opportunities that can spring from even a humble job at Mcdonald’s.
He remembers his first task: cutting tomatoes – and says there are three broad categories of people who pass through the golden arches with a career in mind: those who start small but find a big career path; those who leave to go somewhere else – imbued with professional skills that serve them well; and those who enter as a part-timer and end up being much more.
THE MD.
Howse’s is a rags-to-riches story – he first joined Mcdonald’s over 30 years ago, as a schoolboy, in search of more laughs: “I was working parttime in a supermarket. Some of my mates were working at Mcdonald’s and they were having way more laughs; so I joined too.”
That fun element is still very much a part of working at Mcdonald’s, he says. “People working there develop friendships and even relationships.” He should know – Howse met his wife Prue at Mcdonald’s in what sounds like the beginning of a script for a coming-of-age movie. They met when Howse was working in the kitchen and Prue at the drive-thru.
“As a 16 or 17-year-old, I was leading six or seven people; it was a fantastic experience for me, taught me a lot in a short time,” he says. “Mcdonald’s were already teaching me so much about leadership and management, it was very persuasive to be pitched into that much responsibility that quickly. I was learning life skills I could never have learned at university.
“You could just want to work in Mcdonald’s for your own reasons, just as a holiday job. We don’t mind that – we find those people tend to be high-energy individuals who either come back time and again or they discover, like I did, that the company will put many, many opportunities in front of you.
THE FLEDGING FLIGHT ATTENDANT.
Jade Garrett-nunn is just 18, in a gap year after leaving Papatoetoe High School, and is representative of many of the young people who work at Mcdonald’s. She is deciding whether to train as a flight attendant or whether to begin a university interior design degree course.
She has a third option: Mcdonald’s. “My experience there has been great – there are so many friendly people; the skills and knowledge I have gathered already has been fantastic. I have learned so much about leadership and customer service and they are already talking about me becoming a crew trainer and then a manager.”
Fun has also been a big factor in enjoying her work and Garrett-nunn says customer service skills have been the biggest single advance she’s made so far, particularly if she becomes a flight attendant.
THE ASSISTANT RESTAURANT MANAGER.
Tiffani Waghorn, Assistant Restaurant Manager at one of Mcdonald’s South Auckland outlets, started in 2014 as a Year 13 student in a holiday job. She undertook their management training – and loved it: “But I felt, after a while, that I’d had
my go at Mcdonald’s,” she says. “I wanted to move on, to try other things.”
Waghorn managed an airport retail store, which valued highly her Mcdonald’s credentials – but she found out why. The store had none of Mcdonald’s clear, structured approach. She took another position in a chain of natural cosmetic, skin care and perfume stores. That too did not measure up to Mcdonald’s.
“So I found myself back at the same Mcdonald’s where I started – and I thought I would go full-time and just see how it went.” It went exceedingly well; she is now aiming to be a restaurant manager.
For more crew openings or information, visit us at careers. mcdonalds.com/ new-zealand/jobs