Erin

When I was at school, I was part of a big friendship group, and everyone was planning to go to university, so I applied to go too. I wasn’t sure it was right for me, but it seemed the thing to do, so I went to university to study to become a teacher.

During university, I realised that this wasn’t the career path I wanted to go down. For me, I wanted a career where I could really immerse myself within a business, learning as I was working and start earning straight away. I applied for a Modern Apprenticeship and knew quite quickly that it was the right choice for me.

I’m now working as a Logistics Co-Ordinator, which isn’t something I never thought I would do. If you had asked me a few years ago, I couldn’t even have told you what this job involved. And now, I love it! I work for PG Paper as part of the team that arranges to move containers full of paper and packaging materials from global suppliers and deliver them to customers worldwide. I make sure that everything needed to get these products from A to B is sorted – customs clearance, specialised documents, checking the type of material that’s been loaded and cross checking against our packing lists and commodity code. In a short space of time, I’ve learnt a lot about all different kinds of paper and packaging!

I really enjoy working as part of the logistics team as I feel like it’s truly at the heart of the business. We work closely with all the other teams and help keep operations moving smoothly. I really enjoy communicating with all the teams, from Finance to Sales and Procurement, and seeing the process through from start to finish. It’s a real team effort!

We operate in more than 60 countries and are continuously expanding, so there are new customers, new countries and new requirements to learn about, both from the supplier side and the customer side. Learning more about the details of how to get goods in and out of a country is something that really interests me. Every day, I am expanding my knowledge and growing within my role.

PG Paper has been very supportive of my learning and development. They've put me through multiple courses, so I've achieved professional qualifications in Logistics Operations and certificates with the Institute of Export and International Trade.

In addition to our regular orders, we also do a lot of charity work that is very important to the business, such as sending medical equipment/supplies to India to help during the Covid pandemic and, more recently, sending humanitarian aid to Poland for Ukrainian refugees. Sending these goods was new to us, so we had to do a lot of research. It was a great feeling to be a part of this process, and made all the research and learning more than worth it.

For me personally, it’s rewarding too. Working and learning means I can afford to go on holiday with my family and also with my friends, buy my own car and treat my loved ones with gifts (especially my dog, he’s very spoiled!). It’s important to find a balance with work that I enjoy, spending time with my family, friends and my dog too.

I have made lots of friends at work. Honestly, it’s such a good group of people, and they have supported me and shared so much knowledge. It’s much easier to come to work when you’ve got good working relationships, I love it!