Careers

Amanda - Area Manager

“After 10 years at O2, I suppose you could say I’ve been here for the whole journey. I first started off as a Sales Advisor and worked my way up. Until two years ago, when I finally got where I wanted to be.

Working with people is a massive part of the job, as you do a lot of coaching. You need to be able to motivate your team from afar. You get lots of training here, so you’ve got to demonstrate that you want to learn and develop.

When I first applied to be an Area Manager, I didn’t get the job. But I got feedback from another Area Manager, who took me out of the store environment and gave me some real hands-on experience. Which really helped me in my personal development.

Now my key focus is creating a balance between products, services and customer experience. There are two big challenges in my job. The amount of targets we have to meet. And the variety of products we sell as a business. It’s evolving at such a fast pace, there’s always a constant need for new training and development.

I’d say the challenge is one of the best parts of my job - I love targets. I also love going out on store visits. Getting out on the shop floor. And working with Sales Advisors, Gurus and the store management team. I think the people, the rewards and recognition are what sets O2 apart. You tell Branch Manager applicants about the recognition schemes we have, and you see their jaws drop. I’ve yet to hear of a company that offers the same recognition or takes as much pride in their people.”

Jess - Branch Manager

“The people that you work with tend to be the type who like to give good customer service, work their way up and are very positive. They’re the sort of people who work for O2, and I like that. ”

I’ve been at O2 for around 18 months, progressing from Assistant Branch Manager to Branch Manager. To do my job, I think you’ve got to relate to your team. Know how to motivate them, and be approachable too. So people won’t be scared to come to you with something.

It’s important that you’re someone your team can respect, and are able to give them advice when things are going so great. I’m always trying to think of how I can motivate my team, and not get bogged down by my responsibilities.

At O2, I know I’ve got the support of the other Branch Managers. They’re always just a phone call away. We have regular meetings. And sometimes we go out for drinks. We all have our sales targets, but customer experience targets are just as important.

I’m very proud to work for O2. People are very loyal to the brand and they do treat people very fairly. If things aren’t quite working in terms of achieving your bonus, things will be re-jigged every quarter. It’s very, very fair. I love working for O2.”

Luke - Sales Advisor

“The thing I like about my job is that no two days are the same. And there’s always something different happening or a new product coming out. ”

I joined O2 after being away in the States. O2 has always had a good reputation and I’d been an O2 customer myself. One of my friends had worked for O2 and he always had good things to say.

There was quite a lot of training when I started. I spent two days learning about the company. All the managers were there and I got to meet them all. You feel like you’ve come to a really big company, but you’re also made to feel really welcome too. Everyone comes up and says hello.

When I first started, I didn’t know much about the technical side of things. But it’s a customer service job. It doesn’t matter how tech-minded you are. If you’re good at talking to people and listening to them, you can learn the techie stuff as you go along.

I think the best day here was when the store had a refurb. There was a real buzz about the place on the opening day. We had a lot of fun. But then, everyone here gets on really, really well. It’s my birthday soon, and we’re all going out. Plus, when we get new targets, it’s all about what we do as a team.

Neil - Assistant Branch Manager

“I’ve been here about four and a half years. I started out as a student working part time. When I left uni, I went full time. Now I’m running the store, day to day.

I make sure everything goes smoothly, everyone’s trained up and new starters are looked after. It’s a lot of responsibility and I often stand in when the Branch Manager’s not here. So it’s a real challenge. But you don’t need any extra experience to do my job, so long as you’ve been around a store and know what’s involved.

Rather than individual targets, I get a store target. So I’m involved in monitoring sales and customer service performance across the whole team. I’ll also sit and have meetings with the rest of the management team, where we talk through any problems and how we’re going to handle them.

I’d say my best moment here was the event at The O2 in London. Before they opened it to the public, they closed almost every retail store for the weekend. 17,000 of us got an all expenses paid trip down there to watch the Kaiser Chiefs, Basement Jaxx and Peter Kay. The entire placed was packed with people from O2, there was free food and drink and we stayed in a top hotel. We even got to take a partner or friend along. The whole weekend was spot on. It doesn’t get any better.”

Matt - O2 Guru

“I became a Guru because I always wanted a role in technology. I was working for O2 at the time, so as soon as the role came up I applied."

I suppose you could say my job is all about translating technical speak into everyday language. The Guru role was ideally suited to me, as I was doing it in my spare time anyway. I spend a lot of time online. And I’m really into technology and gadgets.

You don’t have to be a geek or anything, Just a people person who enjoys talking to customers. You’ve got to be patient, as sometimes it does take a bit of explaining to get the message across. After all, people take in technology in different ways. So sometimes, you need a different approach.

In terms of training and support, we have regular meetings. And once every few months, I attend Guru conferences. Where manufacturers give us an insight into their latest products. On top of that, there’s a lot of self-learning too.

Every new Guru gets a full training pack. And I keep up to speed by going on the big tech news websites. I think cloud computing could be the next big thing. It’s where you’ll have a very small, basic device that you’ll connect to the internet, log on to Google and launch all your applications from there. Being a Guru’s going to be really exciting.”