Tina Collings
I am Tina Collings. I am 20 and I work at Gibsons Chilled Foods factory as Production Supervisor. When time came to leave school, I was glad because I didn’t like the environment, but I wanted to stay on in the sixth form, to learn more, but it wasn’t the case with my family. They wanted me to get into a job so I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. My dad told me to come to Gibsons as all my brothers and sisters worked here. They employed me to start on the line as a Production Worker. Basically that was all that was open to me at the time. When I was doing that the Production Manager, who is not here now, she seemed to think I had potential and spoke to me about becoming a Line Runner. So I spent about 6 months training on that so they thought I was doing pretty well on that so would you like to move up so I said yes, I would love to. So they put me on training to be a Team Leader. They put me on a few Team Leading courses. An assertiveness course, team leader one, and an NVQ Food and Drink. All this just to help me improve the confidence.
Ed Melia:
What was going through your mind at the time because you had left school quite young?
Tina Collings:
I thought “Whoa!”. I am shy. I want to doit but I didn’t know how to do it so it was a case of building on my confidence first. That’s what I needed to work on otherwise I couldn’t have done it without that. The assertiveness course sorted me out. I still need to learn a lot more. I can tell people what I need doing but in the correct manner. If you gave it to me four or five years ago now I would have probably ranted and raved at them they would’ve been like “Whoa what you doing?”.
Ed Melia:
Some people think that when they are at work and get sent on courses that it might be really boring. What do you think?
Tina Collings:
I thought it would be boring because I don’t like home work and you get given that at school but that’s not the actual case because our job is basically hands on learning. There was only a bit of paperwork to be done so it wasn’t boring at all. You learn a lot from it.
Ed Melia:
What was the response of your colleagues that you have come here and quite quickly….
Tina Collings:
They are very supportive. You do get the odd one who thinks’ “She’s younger than me, should I be listening to her?” but most of them are really respectful and they help you. I’ve had a lot of help to get where I am now. In our factory downstairs there are a lot of older people. They have worked here longer than me so they know what they are doing. They’d always help me. When I first became a Team Leader I didn’t quite know the full rules, which is why I went on so many courses. It just gives me a lot more responsibility and a lot more authority which is what I wanted. It helps you to move up and it gives you more goals to try and achieve. My overall achievement that I really want to be is Production Manager which will take, I reckon, a good few years but I know there are course to help me get to that stage.
Ed Melia:
How surprised are you at the progress that you have made in four years?
Tina Collings:
Very surprised [laughs]. I wouldn’t have thought that I would be Production Supervisor now. It’s a big achievement for me. I am happy that I am like that.
Ed Melia:
What is the difference between learning at work and learning at school?
Tina Collings:
At school you are talked to, well you are talked at. Here you’re not, here you are listened to. In school it was very rarely that you do practical lessons. Like in science you would do Bunsen burners but the rest is all paperwork. I think you can learn more from doing it with your hands than you do from books. Cos you can read a book and 2 weeks later you’ve forgotten about it but if you’ve done something yourself, you’ll remember it.
Ed Melia:
What is the difference between you when you first came here to you today?
Tina Collings:
I am more confident. I am more assertive. I know what I want. I didn’t know what I wanted until I started here. I don’t rely on anyone else because I know I can do things myself but if I need help then helps there. Whereas when I first started I couldn’t ask for help. I though “I’m not going up to that person - I couldn’t talk to them”. I know what my goals are. I know that when I come to work its not for the job it because I want to move up somewhere. It’s given me the achievement so that when I am older I know that I am going to settle down into a decent job and know what I want and set myself up for the future.
Ed Melia:
How much has the learning made a difference to you enjoying this job?
Tina Collings:
By learning you know what you are doing don’t you? There is nothing worse than going to a job where you haven’t got a clue what you are doing so you don’t know if you are doing it right or wrong. There is always room for improvement and you know that you are not stuck in a dead end job. I think it just gives you more motivation.