My name is Joy Shaw and I am an Assistant Manager in Northwich. I’ve been with the company now for just over two years, I started on a one-year placement with the outlook to secure a graduate job at the end of it. I went to the University of Liverpool and graduated with a degree in International Business Management. I chose this degree is because I knew it could take me anywhere in the world and would hopefully teach me business management on a bigger scale.

When I thought about placement year I always had the intention of working for a company like Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes Benz, IBM, Deloitte, basically a company with a well-known name. Soon into the application process, I realised they all had something in common, they all had very difficult tests with much of the hiring process being through tests and a computer not face to face. I found I wasn’t having much luck so I soon came across Enterprise on Rate My Placement. I read through the employee reviews and had a look at their website and there were three main things that stood out to me straight away; 1. Fast progression, 2. Promote-from-within and 3. Promoting more women into higher management. I never looked back, the application process was very enjoyable and much of the process is face to face, as much as it can be in a virtual world! Enterprise stood out a mile to me in comparison to the other companies as they give you a chance to make the best impression with a recruiter from the start. I soon realised that Enterprise hires people off their personality, as an individual, and what they have to bring to the company; this is important as after all customer service is our way of life at Enterprise. This opened my eyes up to realise that Enterprise is unique to other companies and the application process may not be as hard as other companies but you are given a chance and I have never looked back.

I wasn’t sure exactly what area of business I wanted to work in, I enjoyed several different modules at university and Enterprise’s placement opportunity suited me because it was a very varied role including customer service, sales, management, account management, marketing etc. I was hesitant about applying for say a marketing role with a company and actually not enjoying marketing. No day is ever the same at Enterprise and I thoroughly liked this about my placement year. You are given responsibility from day one and when I went back to university for my final year I had grown in confidence so much, I built up resilience and my work ethic just got better.

A huge focus of Enterprise is to promote more women into higher management roles, they do many events each year for women in the workplace to increase inclusiveness and try to build women in the workplace with more confidence. Enterprise offers a mentoring scheme which is great, you can arrange to meet with any leader/department head in the company for a coffee and catch up, this can help build your knowledge of different areas of the business but also helps you build your personal brand so when you look to be promoted people higher up in the business know who you are. I found this incentive very rewarding especially if I was having a bad day or feeling slightly unmotivated these meetings would motivate me and help refocus to where I want to be. I hope to go very far at Enterprise, I see myself staying in our rental operations instead of taking a side step into a head office role, although there are plenty of options. My goal is to go from Assistant Manager to Branch Manager to Area Manager to Group Rental Manager and hopefully as far as General Manager. I really enjoy the daily rental side, I have learnt to love to develop people around me and see them do well and I hope one day I make a really good manager.

The culture at Enterprise is very inclusive and diverse, everybody is unique in their own way but everyone has their own individual qualities. Three skills that I would say are essential to be successful at Enterprise are to enjoy and be passionate about customer service, be hardworking and driven and finally to want to be a leader. Enterprise has made me more resilient after different experiences, it has taught me how to manage a business efficiently but most importantly every day I go to work to work hard and to help others in the workplace better themselves too and this is why I am determined to progress into senior leadership.

One bit of advice I would give someone reading this who might be hesitant about applying would be to just go for it, don’t hold back, the future is bright for you at Enterprise and if you are willing to give it everything you’ve got, the company will reward you in many ways. Apply for a placement or graduate opportunity today!