Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Steve has a very important job with a big title: Operations Development Manager. This means he is in charge of finding the best ways to make the port work smoothly and quickly.

Here is what Steve does at work:

• He is a problem solver: Steve looks at how things are done at the port and tries to make them better. You might see him at his desk drawing “maps” or plans of how the work should happen.

• He is a chatterbox (in a good way!): A huge part of his job is talking to people. He asks them how they feel about changing the way they work and listens to their ideas.

• He is a team player: Steve tries to understand what the workers want and matches it with what the business needs to succeed.

Did you know? Before he worked at the port, Steve started his career as a chef!. Later, he became a manager in factories where things are made, and he worked his way up to the job he has now.

Steve says the people he works with are “absolutely brilliant”. He enjoys the challenge of his job and thinks the port is an exciting place to be because they are always trying to improve how they do things.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Charlie! He has an exciting job as an apprentice civil engineer.

Charlie looks after all the big things at the port that do not move. This includes looking after roads, railway tracks, and buildings. He also figures out how things work, like bridges and the walls next to the water where boats stop.

Charlie doesn’t stay in one place all day. He spends half of his time in an office doing design work on computers, and the other half he spends outdoors on site checking on work and talking to builders.

One of the coolest parts of Charlie’s job is that he is a drone pilot. He flies drones to check the roofs of sheds so he doesn’t have to climb up high to see them.

To be good at his job, Charlie uses a lot of Maths. He also has to be good at communication, which means talking to his friends at work and the people he manages.

After finishing college, Charlie started an apprenticeship because he wanted to learn while doing the job. This means he works most of the week, but he goes to university one day a week to get his degree. He loves his job because every day is different.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Ashley, whose job is to keep everyone safe at work! His official job title is a Compliance Administrator, and he looks after the health and safety of workers at a place called a unit terminal.

Here is what his work life is like:

Ashley says that every day is different.

• Outside work: Sometimes he goes out on inspections to check on people and big machines to make sure they are working safely.

• Inside work: Other times, he is in the office figuring out if there are any risks (dangers) or leading meetings with other people.

What Skills Do You Need? To do Ashley’s job, you need to be good at a few things:

• Spotting things: You need good observational skills to see what is happening around you.

• Thinking: You need “analytical thinking,” which is like being good at solving puzzles in your head.

• Talking: You need to be good at communicating with everyone, from the bosses to the other workers.

Ashley has had an interesting journey to get where he is:

1. He started out working in a pub and fixing shopping trolleys for a supermarket.

2. When he joined PD Ports, he started as a Ferry Securer, which is a first job for people who are 18 years old.

3. He worked his way up to become a “multi-skilled operator” at the ferry terminal.

4. He became interested in safety and became a “safety champion” to help improve things for the workers.

5. Now, he has his current job, and the company even paid for him to get a shiny new qualification called a Level 6 Diploma.

Ashley loves his job because he isn’t stuck doing the same thing every day- he gets to go out, meet people, and talk to them!.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Emma is a Learning Development Manager. This means her job is to figure out what new skills the workers at the business need to learn. She also works with schools and colleges to help young people understand what skills they will need for jobs in the future.

Emma spends a lot of time talking to people. She looks after a team of trainers and office helpers (administrators) to check on what they are doing and see if they need any help. She also does research into new technology and looks at what other businesses are doing so her company can stay ahead.

Her Super Skills:

• Listening: Emma asks a lot of questions, but she says that listening carefully is the most important thing she does. She has to listen to understand exactly what training her team needs.

• Problem Solving: She treats her work like a puzzle. She listens to what has gone wrong or what is missing, and then she finds a way to fix that problem.

Emma started her career working in an office doing simple jobs like writing reports and photocopying. She always looked for ways to make things work better using technology. Because she worked hard and wanted to improve things, she was able to work her way up to becoming a manager.

Emma loves that her company has very “cool” equipment (she calls it kit). She also likes that they use technology for learning, so people don’t just have to sit in a traditional classroom all day.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Tom! He is a finance assistant at a place called Jackson’s Law Firm.

Tom’s job is all about looking after money. He helps everyone in his office with money questions and takes care of the money for the people they help, which are called clients. He looks at bank statements every day to see all the money that is coming in and going out of the company.

One of his most important jobs is helping people when they are buying or selling a house. Tom handles the money side of things to make sure the right people get the right amount of money.

Tom didn’t want to go to a traditional college or university after he finished school. Instead, he became an apprentice. This means he started working straight away so he could learn on the job and get lots of experience.

To do his job well, Tom says you need to have great communication skills. This is because he has to talk to people to understand what the money is for and make sure he is providing the best service possible.

Tom really enjoys his job because he works with great people. He says they have a good laugh while they work, and it is a nice place to be because he feels appreciated.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Paige! She has a very exciting job in the UK helping people move into brand-new homes.

Here is what she does and how she got there:

• Helping People Buy Houses: Paige is a paralegal. This means she does the legal work needed when someone wants to buy or sell a house. She especially focuses on “new builds,” which are houses that have just been built by construction companies.

• Lots of Communication: Her day is filled with talking to people on the phone, sending emails, and checking in with the builders to see how the houses are coming along. She also talks to other legal experts called solicitors.

• Important Skills: To do this job, you need to be a good listener and have a lot of patience. This is because buying a house is a big deal, and not everyone understands how the process works as well as she does.

• The Best Part of the Job: Paige’s favourite thing to do is call her clients to tell them that everything is finished and they can finally go and get the keys to their new home!

• Her Journey: After she left school, Paige didn’t go to college because she felt it wasn’t the right fit for her. Instead, she did an apprenticeship (where you learn a job while you work) in a doctor’s office. After that, she got an office job at a law firm and worked her way up to becoming a leader of her team.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Helen! She is a solicitor (a special kind of lawyer) who works at a place called Jackson’s Law Firm.

Here is what Helen does and how she got her job:

• She works with business buildings: Helen deals with commercial property. This is just a fancy name for buildings where people go to spend money, like a hairdresser, a shop, or a fun trampoline park like Jump 360. She helps people when they want to buy, sell, or rent these buildings.

• Her busy day: Helen spends a lot of her time writing emails and answering the phone to talk to her clients. She also drinks lots of tea and coffee to keep her going!

• Talking to a machine: Instead of typing everything herself, Helen talks into a machine. A team of people then listen to her voice and type up the letters and emails for her.

• School and University: To get her job, Helen went to university for three years to get a law degree. After that, she did another one-year course to learn the practical skills of being a solicitor.

• Trying it out: While she was still at university, Helen did one week of work experience every single year at Jackson’s Law Firm because she wanted to make sure she actually liked the job.

• Why she loves it: Helen says the best part of her job is the people she works with. They are all very kind and supportive, and they have even become her friends.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

When someone wants to buy a new home, Daniel does all the legal work to make sure the house truly belongs to them in the end. His day is very busy with:

Daniel Nicholson has a very important job in the UK helping people buy brand-new houses. He is a leader at his work, which means he looks after his teammates to make sure they are doing well and helps them if they need it.

• Talking on the phone to the people buying the houses and the people building them.

• Checking important papers like contracts and mortgage offers to make sure everything is fair and that there are no hidden problems.

• Sending lots of emails because most of his work is done on computers rather than using paper.

Daniel didn’t always know he wanted to work in law. When he went to university, he studied journalism (which is learning how to write the news), but he found out he was really good at a subject called media law. After working in marketing for a while, he got the chance to switch to a law firm and has been there ever since.

The best part of his job is the happy feeling he gets from helping people reach their goal of moving into their very first home.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

David has a very cool job title: he is a “product and applications technologist”. That sounds very complicated, but it really means he is an expert in coatings, which is basically paint.

What does he do all day?

David works with two different types of paint:

• Water paint: This is mixed with water.

• Smelly paint: This kind is a bit “nasty” and smells strong because it is made with solvents (chemicals).

David behaves like a detective in his lab. He tests the paint to check three main things:

1. The Colour: He checks what colour the paint is.

2. The Shine: He checks the “gloss,” which means how shiny the paint is. Sometimes paint is very shiny, and sometimes it is “matt” (not shiny at all).

3. The Lumps: He looks to see if the special powders in the paint have mixed in properly, or if there are still little bits left floating in it.

How did he get his job?

When David was in secondary school, he was always very good at science and chemistry. Because he enjoyed it, he went on to college and then to uni (university) to study Chemistry.

After he finished uni, he found this job and thought it sounded brilliant.

Why does he love it?

David says the best parts of his job are:

• Using his imagination: He gets given a job to do, but he is allowed to be creative and use his own ideas to figure out the answer.

• His friends: He loves the people he works with! He says waking up in the morning is much easier when you are going to work with people you like.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Kate works for a big company called Venator. Her job title is Director of Corporate Finance, which means she helps look after the business side of things and talks to people about the company’s money.

What makes her company special? Venator is a “public company.” This means that members of the public (like grown-ups you might know) and other businesses can buy small pieces of the company, which are called shares.

What does Kate actually do? Kate has two main jobs:

• She works with the big bosses (senior leaders) to tell the story of the company to the world.

• She talks to investors- these are the people who have bought shares in the company. She answers their questions on the telephone, by email, or at big meetings called conferences.

How did she get this job? When Kate was at school, she was very good at Maths. She loved studying numbers and figuring out how they change and where they come from. Because she liked Maths so much, she trained to become an accountant (someone who is an expert at money records), and her current job uses those same skills.

What is the best part? Kate says the best thing about her job is working with lots of different people. She gets to talk to the teams who invent new things, the people who sell products, and the people who buy the supplies the company needs.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Katie has a very big job title: she is a Financial planning and analysis director.

What does she actually do? Imagine you are trying to save up your pocket money for something special. You need a plan to know how much you have and how much you need to save. Katie does this, but for a whole company!

• She makes the plan: Her job is to make sure the business knows exactly what the plan is.

• She counts the money: She figures out how much profit (extra money) the business makes around the world and how much cash will end up in their bank account.

What is her day like? You might think she just looks at numbers all day, but she actually does a mix of things:

• Talking to people: Katie chats to lots of different people to find out what is going on so she can update her plan.

• Using the computer: Once she has the information, she sits at her computer and puts it all into spreadsheets (which are like big digital charts).

Did she always know she wanted this job? No! When Katie was at school, she didn’t really know what she wanted to do. She just thought business was interesting because it helps you learn about what is happening in the world and inside different companies.

After school, she went to university and trained to become a chartered accountant (a money expert).

Why does she stay there? Katie has worked at the same company for a long time- 13 years! She has done lots of different jobs there, which helped her learn new skills. She likes it because everyone is really friendly and helpful.