Who got that job?

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Job title: Regional operations manager.

For: BP.


Viv Smith started out in computers, selling systems to gas stations and training operators in their use.

But it wasn't long before he jumped the fence, and started working for the oil companies instead.

The Brisbane-born Australian has now traded the wide-open spaces of Townsville and Cairns in Queensland - where he worked for a BP subsidiary - for the congestion of Auckland and a string of 14 of the city's 14 BP service stations in the north and west.

The challenge of this job - besides the "horrendous" city traffic - is boosting the profitability of the stations, some of which include bakeries and cafes.

"We're trying to be competitive with the supermarkets," he says.

After being In the job for eight weeks when the Herald came to speak to him, Smith is still working out the differences in the way things are done between New Zealand and Australia.

"I've got a lot to learn," he says.

"The systems are the same, but the procedures are different in operating business compared to how we do it in Oz.

"And the industrial relations are totally different."

Smith, 36, started a part-time master of business administration degree while he was living and working in Australia.

But he has decided to postpone it for this year while he settles into the challenges of his new job and awaits the arrival of his partner, Lisa, and three of their four children.