Slimstock places a huge focus on developing up and coming talent: a key part of which is the company’s Young Professionals Programme. This intensive development scheme is designed to help young professionals gain exposure to the real-life challenges that supply chain industry professionals are faced with on a daily basis.
Since joining the team in December 2014, Konstantina Efraimidou has been working as a young professional in the United Kingdom. As a consultant, Konstantina’s role involves supporting the supply chain operations of some of the UK’s leading businesses. During this interview, Konstantina discusses how her career has developed since joining the team.
Every day is different at Slimstock and this is what motivates me. A day in the office could involve providing remote support for customers, preparing for a customer meeting or visit, undertaking data analysis as well as sharing experiences and solving problems with the rest of the team.After more than 2 years working at Slimstock, every day is still a learning experience. Having worked with such a variety of companies, it has given me the opportunity to see how different people in different industries deal with the same problems. I now understand just how big and complex supply chain can be!
Equally, a day on site with the customer could include anything from implementation, set up and training of the system to audits, reviewing results and setting new objectives. I have been exposed to a range of industries allowing me to experience their strategies and processes first hand. Based on my experience, in order for a project to be a success, respect, patience and passion needs to exist between both parties.
When I first started working at Slimstock, I spent a lot of time with our senior consultants getting to know existing customers and familiarising myself with Slimstock’s inventory management software, Slim4. I am currently responsible for supporting existing customers, a big part of which is providing advanced and refresher training for users of the software.
Given that I have more experience, I am now able to take full responsibility for supporting new customers. Whether this means setting up Slim4 on site, providing training or remote support, my role allows me to work closely with our customers.
One of the biggest challenges was being able to manage a group of people with different backgrounds and experiences. Training sessions usually take around 5 days and during this time, I have to cover many different topics. It is really important that this time is used effectively and that customers are also given plenty of opportunities to ask any questions they have. Since joining Slimstock, I now feel far more confident when presenting in front of big groups of people which can range from demand planners to senior supply chain managers. As a result, I am now able to offer our customers a much higher level of support.
In every project, Slimstock strive to offer the best level of service. Thus, effective project management is key! Having no technical background, understanding the technical aspects of Slim4 such as coding and configuration settings was always a challenge when I first joined. However, with the help of the team at Slimstock, I now feel much more confident on this topic. That said, there are always new things to learn!
During my time at Slimstock, I have always been encouraged to develop both my knowledge and skills as much as I can. I have taken full advantage of the many different training and knowledge sharing sessions on offer. These sessions are not only related to the inventory management software, Slim4, but also on the other management skills that we all need to have when we are involved in any type of project.
Slimstock supports all employees. However, the business specifically invests a huge amount of time and effort into developing young professionals who have the motivation and ambition to succeed.
As a company that takes great pride in developing young, up and coming talent, Slimstock works hard to find the most talented professionals to join the team. If you think you have what it takes, why not explore our vacancies.
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Will Severn
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