Acting general manager, Metrobox Auckland

Name: Alex Oliver

Age: 25

Pay: Trainee manager $37,000 to $43,000, project manager $45,000 to $60,000

Job title: Acting general manager Metrobox Auckland division

Working hours: 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday, some weekend or after-hours work with time off in lieu

Employer: Toll Tranz Link


Qualifications: A degree is becoming a minimum entry point for the management trainee programme (MTP). I have a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Auckland University.

Career prospects: Divisional manager of a Toll Holdings business unit here or offshore, additional management responsibility through to senior management roles. Outside this firm it could lead to more significant project management work or possibly self-employment.

Q. What do you do?

A. I was chosen to join the Toll Holdings management trainee programme (MTP) after six months working for the firm's refrigerated cargo division (after graduating).

Having spent the first four months learning how the various divisions operate, I was required to submit reports and improvement presentations to senior management. This was followed by a series of project management assignments.

I'm currently acting general manager of Metrobox Auckland, a joint venture shipping container division that manages the movement, storage and maintenance of over 1000 containers used daily across the business.

Around 70 per cent of this role is office-based while the remainder is spent outside working on the daily logistics of container movement in and out of the yard. It's critical that containers are made available to clients as soon as they're required, so much of my job focuses on identifying and implementing improvements in operational systems. That also entails getting containers surveyed and repaired as quickly as possible.

Much of my time is also spent in internal meetings, managing staff and monitoring business processes.

Q. Why did you choose this job?

A. I chose to join Toll Holdings after graduating because I thought the broad and early exposure to a diverse range of business experiences would be an excellent foundation for my future career.

Q. What skills do you need to become trainee manager?

A. You'll be dealing with everyone from the MD through to the drivers so it's important to have a well-rounded personality and excellent written and oral communication skills.

You'll also need a broad appreciation of business processes, the ability to think laterally and good numeric skills.

Q. Best part of the job?

A. This is a very time-sensitive business, so there's a lot of satisfaction resolving the myriad issues that come up in any given day. I also like the intellectual stimulation, the team environment and the strong support structure provided.

Q. Most challenging/difficult part of the job?

A. Being thrown in the deep-end as acting general manager of the Metrobox Auckland division and having to live up to the trust that's been placed in me.

Multi-tasking such a busy workload has been demanding, but it's made me grow. Managing 26 staff without any previous experience has been equally challenging.

Q. What sort of training do you get?

A. Much of the training provided through the MTP programme is learnt via mentoring on the job and through the various projects that we're assigned to manage. Ongoing training both internally and externally is on an as-needed basis.

Q. Any interesting one-off projects?

A. I've been involved in a new $4 million site development that will turn otherwise unusable ground at Metrobox Auckland into a large wash facility and other facilities for day to day operations.

That's meant working alongside engineers to work out the ideal solution.

Q. What advice would you give someone considering this career?

A. If you're looking for a similar career then you'd better complete your degree first. Try to gain as much working experience as you can while studying.

Any previous exposure to the logistics industry could help a lot, especially if you're applying for the MTP programme.

There's a lot more professionalism within the logistics industry now and from a career perspective the sky's the limit.