Chloe, Sales Team Leader

I started working for Maplin in 1995 at the first Superstore in Leeds. I was there for two years and during that time I progressed from Full-Time Sales to Sales Team Leader. At the end of 1997 I left to look after my baby but remained in touch with some of the great people I had worked with, including:

• Grant, the Saturday lad, who advanced to become one of our scary Internal Auditors.
• Duncan, Full Time Sales Assistant who is now in our Buying Team & travels the world.
• Jackie, one of Maplin's very first female Store Managers who is now responsible for Maplin property management and boy is that a tough job!
• Neil, who started at the same time as me as a Sales Advisor and has since progressed to become one of the best Store Managers in the business and is one of only a few people who can claim to be responsible for the training of a Director, a Regional Manager and two of our Internal Auditors!!

In February 2004, when both my children were full time at school, Maplin welcomed me back to the fold. I was offered the perfect working hours, 9:30am - 2:30pm, Mon - Fri, 25 hours per week in a role that is interesting, fun and gives me a lot of satisfaction.

Even though I work part-time, I have had lots of support which has enabled me to balance work with the responsibilities of being a mum. I've been able to transfer stores when I moved house, attended step up courses and completed an NVQ, to enable me to progress as far as I can, and I was recently promoted to Sales Team Leader.

I fully intend to continue my career with Maplin and one day hope to move to a full time role in Head Office once both my children are in High School.