Katherine Sheppard

Degree: Publishing, Oxford Brookes

Joined: March 2007

Career path:Trainee Manager at Sonning and Reading and Assistant Manager at Oxford

Katherine Sheppard –Trainee Manager

What attracted you to Majestic Wine?: Majestic Wine are different to anything else I’ve done before and for the first time I really enjoy coming to work! I was attracted to Majestic Wine because the website is so good. It’s also good to go to a store and talk to the people who work there – get their take on it. They are honest with you and it’s clear from the off that everyone mucks in. There is absolutely no sexism or status – if you work here you shift boxes and deliver wines.
What is the training and development like?: I took my WSET Advanced Certificate towards the end of last year and now feel really confident both approaching customers and training new members of staff. I started knowing nothing and now I feel like I've picked up so much. This is a very product-focused job with over 700 wines in our store. I certainly don’t know all of them yet, but I am getting there!
We receive some kind of training every month. We also have tasting and study outside of work and some Head Office learning days. That’s quite apart from the teaching we receive in store from the people you work with. We all try everything. We also get a tasting book so we can record what we’ve tasted over the course of the different stores and levels of training.
What was it like starting at a brand new store?: I started at the Sonning store before it even opened! We spent three weeks just un-packing and setting up the store with the pallets and the stock. There was a lot of planning and building to be done and we all bonded over it. It looked fantastic when we finished and we were all really proud of it.
What do you enjoy most about your job?: What I really enjoy is that every day is busy – there is always something to do. I like the problem-solving and really using my brain to work out what is the best thing to do. At Majestic you can progress at your own rate. You can stay as a Trainee if you like or, if you feel ready you can go for a promotion.

What attracted you to Majestic Wine?

Majestic Wine are different to anything else I’ve done before and for the first time I really enjoy coming to work! I was attracted to Majestic Wine because the website is so good. It’s also good to go to a store and talk to the people who work there – get their take on it. They are honest with you and it’s clear from the off that everyone mucks in. There is absolutely no sexism or status – if you work here you shift boxes and deliver wines.

What is the training and development like?

I took my WSET Advanced Certificate towards the end of last year and now feel really confident both approaching customers and training new members of staff. I started knowing nothing and now I feel like I've picked up so much. This is a very product-focused job with over 700 wines in our store. I certainly don’t know all of them yet, but I am getting there!
We receive some kind of training every month. We also have tasting and study outside of work and some Head Office learning days. That’s quite apart from the teaching we receive in store from the people you work with. We all try everything. We also get a tasting book so we can record what we’ve tasted over the course of the different stores and levels of training.

What was it like starting at a brand new store?

I started at the Sonning store before it even opened! We spent three weeks just un-packing and setting up the store with the pallets and the stock. There was a lot of planning and building to be done and we all bonded over it. It looked fantastic when we finished and we were all really proud of it.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

What I really enjoy is that every day is busy – there is always something to do. I like the problem-solving and really using my brain to work out what is the best thing to do. At Majestic you can progress at your own rate. You can stay as a Trainee if you like or, if you feel ready you can go for a promotion.