Carole Rigby managed seven large department stores without ever applying for a job.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s been responsible for up to 140 staff, taken charge of a \u00a31m shop refurbishment and managed one of British Home Stores\u2019 top 10 UK home stores \u2013 but never had a job interview.<\/p>\n
That changed when she decided to pursue her dream job \u2013 to work for Marks and Spencer \u2013 and at 36, Carole now finds herself manager of the company\u2019s store in the Eagles Meadow shopping centre at Wrexham.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just love retailing,\u201d said Carole.<\/p>\n
Born in St.Helens, Carole started working part-time at the local Safeway store when she was 16 while she successfully completed her A-levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had ambitions to go to university but when I got promoted I started working full-time at Safeway when I was 18 and worked my way up through the ranks to become manager about six years later,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She made the switch to Bhs when she became assistant store manager at their huge Liverpool store and returned to St.Helens as Bhs store manager.<\/p>\n
She was there only six months before taking over a larger Bhs store at Telford where she stayed about three years and oversaw its \u00a31m refurbishment.<\/p>\n
Carole was then promoted to manage the Bhs store at Broughton Retail Park in Flintshire which is regarded as one of the company\u2019s top 10 home stores.<\/p>\n
When Bhs Chief Executive Tony Brown decided to leave the company and move across to the Beales department store chain he wanted to take tried and trusted personnel with him and asked Carole.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d worked with Tony Brown previously and he\u2019s an amazing person so I left Bhs and went to work for Beales first at Southport but then managing their flagship store at Bournemouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cSix months later I made the biggest career decision of my life. Up to then I had never done a job interview in my life. I had always moved with managers who knew me and wanted me to work for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did a lot of research. I had always wanted to work for M&S and all their values and beliefs make them such an outstanding company. I was not going to jump ship lightly and this was the only job I had ever applied for.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just sent my CV in to the company and was asked to attend an interview and got the job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was given 12 weeks in depth training. The training programme is absolutely world-class. This company lives and breathes its values and beliefs, not like some company\u2019s who just hang them on a wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou also get to work with amazing staff who actually want to be here and working for the company. It\u2019s a joy to come into work every day,\u201d said Carole who is in charge of 96 staff at Wrexham.<\/p>\n
Along the way Carole has also found time to meet and fall in love with soon-to-be husband Mark Davies. He\u2019s 41 and an engineer working for Airbus at Broughton and Carole and Mark will be marrying on July 27. What spare time they get they like to go out on Mark\u2019s motorcycle.<\/p>\n
Carole thinks the Eagles Meadow centre is \u201cbrilliant\u201d. She said: \u201cIt\u2019s a lovely set up with the cinema and the restaurant. The parking facilities are amazing too. All new things take time to bed in but I\u2019m sure it\u2019s going to be a huge success.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eagles Centre Manager Kevin Critchley was delighted to welcome Carole to the centre.<\/p>\n
He said: “Carole’s impressive track record and the fantastic ethos of M and S is a winning combination.”<\/p>\n