Who got that job?

By LIANE VOISEY

Were you one of the 75 people who applied for this job and wondered who got it?

Job title: National sales manager, Wiltshire (NZ)

After spending seven years overseas, Rhys Williams, 35, recently returned home to New Zealand with his wife and three boys, and saw the ad for national sales manager at a houseware and glassware manufacturer in Auckland.

"I was looking to establish myself back in New Zealand and I wanted to get into a different industry," says Williams.

His experience, he says, has come through hard work since leaving school at 17 and becoming a store manager for Hallensteins Menswear.

He then went on to become vice-president sales and marketing for Canadian Springs Water Company and national sales manager for consumer goods manufacturer Andrew Brands.

For the previous five years Williams has been general manager for a company specialising in bottled water and water coollers, based first in Canada and then in England.

Williams says his experience will help him to bring a customer focus to Wiltshire, something he concentrated on in his previous job - working for a company with thousands of customers from households and businesses.

Williams knew he would be energised by the products and learning a different sector at Wiltshire. The houseware and glassware industry is highly competitive and his challenge is to seek new products that meet the needs of consumers and retailers.

It will also be a challenge to become knowledgeable about the thousands of products the company manufactures.

"I've never had a product mix as large as this to work with," says Williams.

And he's looking forward to really getting to grips with the industry.

"There are quite a few aspects - understanding how the products are manufactured, how we get them into New Zealand, what our customers' requirements are and how our retailers think and operate. The focus for me is to use that knowledge to fulfil our customers' needs better."