Connor Pittam

My first two years at Pak'n'Save Rangiora were spent on the shop floor, building displays and helping customers finding items and navigating their way around the store. In this time I was subject to the panic of the Covid lockdowns, with the hectic state that supermarkets were, having strict health guidelines.

After my first year, I started supervising the staff in my department, passing on the wealth of knowledge on the stores operations to others, along with helping assist the management team in buying & ordering stock for the store. I gained an extensive knowledge of the Foodstuffs computer system quickly, and became an efficent and vital part of our team.

After a couple of years on the shop floor, and seeing a small part of the technical operations side of the store, I wanted to get more into the logistical side of the shop. In June 2023 I ventured out into our Inwards Goods department, to get more of a understanding of just how our warehouse operated. I spent alot of time on our Counterbalance and Reach forklifts, navigating tight aisles with racking upto 5 meters high, and unloading trucks delivering stock, sometimes with upto 70 pallets onboard. I also spent a decent amount of time receipting in stock using handheld scanners, and cross referencing with delivery dockets to ensure stock had been delivered.

In March 2024 I went for OSH and F-Endorsment, due to an update in the stores policies, understandably flying through due to the experience I already had.

I also streamlined many processes in our storeroom to increase efficency and simplicity for the whole team, and also other departments and merchandisers. I have always been committed to my team, very often staying overtime upto 12 hours, to ensure all tasks for the day are completed, eliminating any backlog for the next day.

As a Volunteer for Youth Alive Trust in New Brighton, I was involved with a number of roles and tasks such as looking after groups of youth, setting up and packing down equipment, running food stands such as the organizations Candy Floss machine, and taking leadership over my team. My superiors were often impressed with my high standards & commitment to complete the task at hand.

During my time helping in my schools canteen, I was introduced to somewhat strict Health & Safety procedures, such as handling goods, temperature measurement, and customer service, along with teamwork & time management.

I also spent a day as a cashier helping in a food truck run by one of my school secondary teachers, Mr Rob Fuller, who knew my past experience in my school canteens, and the skills I had picked up. Rob was surprised at my work ethic and ability to work under pressure, and was impressed with how well I managed to run their ordering system having no experience using it.