Four off the floor
Greg Wallis, 29
Managed house area manager
Salary range: £28,000-£40,000
How did you get where you are today? I joined the brewery six years ago as a stocktaker, then I became a tenanted area manager, and in January I moved into the managed sector. Since joining Shepherd Neame I've moved up the ladder rapidly. Before all that, I was at the Hurlingham Tennis Club in London where I was a courtside manager.
What do you do day-to-day?
I look after 21 sites, liaising with the pub managers on everything from their wine list and menu costings to what their staff wear and the colour on the walls. I'm on the road mostly, although I go into the office every few days. I do about 35,000-40,000 miles a year and manage to get a lot of phone work done in the car. There are four area managers and we all report into the managed house retail manager.
What are the hours? Certainly not 9am-5pm, and my phone is always on in case there's a crisis on a Sunday. I'm also out up to three evenings a week picking up on what happens when the pubs are trading.
What are the ups? Being involved. If it's all going right, I'm buzzing.
And the downs? The phone call at the weekend when the chef has disappeared and there are 100 people booked for lunch. I then have to ring around the other sites to see if they have a spare chef - or pray.
Where next? I need to jump up to retail manager eventually. I want to stay on the managed side, because you get more involved, whereas tenants are self-employed, so all you can do is advise them.
Sarah Lunn, 31
Recruitment co-ordinator
Salary range: £20,000-£25,000
What do you do? I interview and recruit all the managers, and I find tenants for the tenancy estate. The pub managers take on their own bar staff, so I run a recruitment course to help them. I also issue recruitment packs and place job ads. I'm the only person that handles recruitment, and I report to our human resources manager, Graeme Endacott.
What experience do you have? Before I joined Shepherd Neame I'd spent 11 years working for an international life insurance and pensions company, Colonial, as a trainer and a recruiter. I've started a Chartered Institute of Personnel Development course, which takes three years, and Shepherd Neame pays for it.
So, how much do you know about pubs, then? When I joined I had a few sessions behind the bar and I've started working one evening a week in the Ship & Trades pub in Chatham, Kent. I don't have to do it, but I want to learn all aspects of the business for my own development. Having said that, I am very happy behind the scenes. I work 8.30am to 5pm, which suits my lifestyle.
Was it difficult moving into a new industry? The transition hasn't been too hard, because the basis of the job is the same. I guess there's less hierarchy here, so it's more personal. There are only 20 of us at HQ in Faversham, and it's typical of a small, family-run company. I like the fact we all help each other out and we get to know all the managers through social events.
Where are you heading? Long-term, I'd like to combine recruitment with a training role.
Angela Barlow, 32
Field trainer
Salary range: £19,000-£25,000
What's your story? I joined Shepherd Neame in April last year. Before that I was at Whitbread for eight years, where I became assistant manager at Brewers Fayre. I did a hotel and catering degree at Huddersfield University, because I wanted to be a hotel manager, but I started working in a pub while I was there and got the bug.
How did you get into training? A position came up at Whitbread to develop in-house staff. I moved to Shepherd Neame because I wanted to work for a smaller company and be involved in the beer side as well as retail.
So what does the job entail? I'm based at Faversham, but 80% of the time I'm out in the pubs training the managers. I also run a centralised workshop for both staff and management. I have to be hands-on, because I need to learn the roles to write the training programmes.
What about the hours? If a course needs to be run at the weekend, I can be working a six-day week. Some days it's 8am to 5pm, while other days I won't get home until 11pm.
What's the best bit? I enjoy watching people grow. Training is ultimately about staff retention.
Where next, then? This year I'm putting together an assistant manager development package and next year I'll do a manager's package, so I'm too busy to think of my next move. I guess human resources manager - but I would need recruitment experience.
Do you get time for a social life? I'm single, so I don't have to manage a partner, but I do organise my social life around work.
Samantha Byrne, 28
Brand manager
Salary range: From £20,000
How did you get the job? I came over from Johannesburg two years ago and I got the job through a recruitment agency.
Any previous experience in hospitality? I worked in travel, which is also a service industry, and as my degree is in marketing and sales, I just apply the same principles here. I went on a three-week induction when I joined, so I spent a few nights behind a bar and learnt how beer is made.
What does your job entail? There are two of us, and we do the advertising, the website and various marketing activities. We tend to divide responsibility for the brands between us, although we work together on some projects, such as the internet promotion of our Spitfire ale. It's a very diverse industry, so the job certainly isn't monotonous. Most of the time I'm office-bound at Faversham, but I try to get out and about two days a month to get feedback.
Do you work regular hours? Yes, on the whole I work from 8am to 5pm, but I try to go to pub openings or pub visits a couple of evenings a week.
Are you tempted to move front of house? No. I like the challenge of working behind the scenes. I like being involved in the development and implementation of promotions and seeing it work.
So where next? With my qualifications, I can enter other industries, but I like being part of the pub industry. I'm ambitious, and in this job there is the opportunity to move up the corporate ladder.
What about quality of life? I'm engaged, but I don't think marriage and children will be a problem - being a woman, you can juggle.
Shepherd Neame
Britain's oldest brewer, started 300 years ago, has pubs throughout Kent, Sussex, Essex and London
Estate: 397 tenanted and 68 managed houses
Employees: 280 in the brewery, 750 managed estate, 3,000 tenanted estate
More details:www.shepherd-neame.co.uk
Contact: Graeme Endacott, HR Manager, 17 Court Street, Faversham, Kent ME13 7AX. Tel: 01795 532206
