Lisa
Video transcript
My name’s Lisa Rutherford. I’m a buyer for John Lewis. I buy gift food and seasonal events. I’ve done that for the last five years, and before that I was in branch for ten years. I’ve bought gift food just for three years, and then a couple of years ago the seasonal event part was added on.
As a buyer for John Lewis I know I can directly impact the results of the business. It’s really exciting, but it also means that I’m affecting the results of the business for my colleagues. It means we work together as a team and try and do things together.
My best example of where team work has really made a difference to John Lewis and where I have been part of that team, is probably Christmas 2009. We put together a range that was really, really different. And it took a lot of people to put that together. My skill in buying, designer skill in design, our merchandise team in terms of quantities, and really taking a risk. And actually last Christmas was our best ever. It was a record.
To do my job, I need to do many different things and wear many different hats all of the time. On a daily basis I might do figure negotiation with the supplier, choose products, decide what price the product should be sold at and work with my team to look at what we’re going to be selling next year - and have a vision on how things will be looking next year, or indeed in five years time. The skill set to do this is really varied.
You need to be really flexible, you need to be commercial, you need to love products and be passionate about what you do. You need to be driven to succeed. One of the things I really love about John Lewis, and that I’ve been really lucky enough to experience, is the support you get if you want to further your career. Of course a really big part of it is how you drive your own development, and being responsible for that.
But there are plenty of people who are really interested in helping you progress. Lots of doors open to you, and indeed lots of different jobs. I’m sure there’s something for everybody. Within buying, there’s lots of different roles that require many different skill sets. We’re always looking for different people to fulfil different areas.
We’ve got buying administrators who take on an administrative role who really might want to further their career in buying but want to start at the beginning. We have assistant buyers who work really closely with the buyers to create fantastic ranges. And of course we have buyers. On the other side we have merchandising who really support the buying role. They’re the guys who really look at the numbers that we need to produce, look at the quantities we need to buy, and we really do work together. So there’s plenty for everybody.
You need to be able to be confident in your selection choice and work together as a team. You need to be able to present well, speak to different people, and have the courage of your convictions. I think you should join the Partnership because it’s a great place to work. There’s plenty of opportunity, there’s fantastic team spirit. Who wouldn’t want to be here?
