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I’m Katie,

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I am head of shopping centre management for Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield,

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and I am based in London.

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I’m responsible for the safety, security and

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the operational management of the Westfield shopping centres in the UK.

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That means anything from customers coming in the door. Are they having a safe experience?

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Are they having a fun experience?

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The retailers, are they opening on time?

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Have we got the best retailers here?

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Are we operating a clean, safe, secure environment?

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We’re involved in decision making on multi-million pound budgets.

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You know, a cleaning budget, for example,

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could actually run up to nearly 100 million pounds,

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and then we could be involved in a fire evacuation or a security breach,

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or having a conversation with a customer

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that’s unhappy about their parking experience.

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It could be so varied, but that makes the job really interesting and fun.

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I think the

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skills that are most important are those that are transferable.

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A really strong work ethic, working hard, good communication skills

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and getting on with other people.

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At A-levels,

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I studied drama, English and sociology.

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I hated maths,

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I was rubbish at it, I hated sciences, I was bad at that.

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I loved English, loved drama, loved art, loved the creative stuff.

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So I think playing to what you’re good at is really important.

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But, you know, we all have to get the maths and the English.

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You have to do it.

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And it’s important. Do

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I use what I learned at school now?

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No, but I’ve learned along the way all the life lessons

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that you learn, you know, by making mistakes.

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I actually didn’t want to go to university.

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I wanted to go to drama school

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because I wanted to be an actress, but my dad was insistent.

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And if I wanted to do drama school after that, then I could,

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but I was to get a degree.

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Obviously, now hindsight is a wonderful thing.

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I was quite resentful at the time,

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but now I’m very grateful because it got me to where I am today,

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ultimately, through the graduate scheme and through the retailers that I’ve

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worked for.

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My career has been predominantly in retail.

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When I left university, I went and did a ski season,

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and then I left there and realised I had a student loan to pay off

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so I just went and got a Christmas job in Marks and Spencers,

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and I got a job in the men’s pants and socks department, and I loved it.

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I loved working with the other people. We had a lot of fun.

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I worked hard.

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I did every extra shift that I could.

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I was always on time, and I threw myself into it.

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So when I saw an opportunity for a management graduate trainee

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programme, I spoke to my manager, said I’d like to apply, and I got in.

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I probably put more revision and practice into making sure I got that job

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than I probably did in my GCSEs or my A-levels, because I think

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I recognised that it was sort of like the springboard

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then into any kind of retail career that I wanted to go into.

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It’s taken lots of little saying yes to everything, taking every opportunity,

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kind of taking a punt sometimes and going, I’ve got this opportunity to leave

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Marks and Spencers that I loved, to go and work for Fortnum and Mason. You know, a

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crazy retailer in the heart of Piccadilly that, you know, sells jam for a tenner.

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And then I went on to Selfridges,

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And Selfridges is the world’s best department store.

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So these career choices that I made,

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I didn’t know that I was making the right decision at the time, but it’s played out

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the best that it has for me.

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If you don’t necessarily know what you want to go into,

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retail is a huge consideration because

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there’s so many different roles within retail.

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You can go into logistics,

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you can go into buying and merchandising, you can go into HR.

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You can go into finance, you know, operations.

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My advice for anybody starting out in any career

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is that people work for people, and people work with people.

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The most important thing you can do is get on with your colleagues,

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get on with your line manager, get on with the customers.

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Be a people person.

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And knowing when to adapt

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and fit in, or when to say

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it’s actually not right for me anymore, I think is really key.

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Staying true to yourself and what you believe in and knowing

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when a business isn’t right for you anymore,

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and when you need a new opportunity.

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And if you don’t enjoy it, then cut your losses and go

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and find something else that you can do.