Many Corrib Oil employees begin their careers with us as retail or deli assistants. Since the company has a policy of promoting from within, many become supervisors, assistant managers, or eventually run their own stores.
Corrib Oil now operates more than 30 service stations and employs more than 1,000 people. In order to ensure people get the best chance to rise the ranks within the company, the company offers high-performing staff the opportunity to complete an Apprenticeship in Retail Supervision with Retail Ireland.
Apprenticeship in Retail Supervision with Retail Ireland
This course combines online and classroom training with workplace tasks designed to teach students how to implement them. Each person on the course has a Corrib Oil manager as a mentor, who supports them with this at work. All retail staff have the opportunity to apply for a spot, and five people are chosen each year to go forward. The wide-ranging curriculum includes customer experience, health and safety, merchandising, finance, operations and more. After completing the 2-year apprentice program, the apprentices can apply to go straight into year 2 of the degree programme instead of starting at year one.
Gavin Butler, Manager of Corrib Oil Athlone, completed the apprenticeship last year. He is now a mentor to a member of his team, Stephen Quain, who is currently completing the course. Gavin said: “Stephen joined as a Retail Assistant and worked his way up to Assistant Manager. My ambition for him is that he will manage a Corrib Oil store himself one day.” Meanwhile, Gavin has progressed from the apprenticeship programme to a Level 7 degree programme at the Atlantic Technical University, also supported by the company.
Gillian Morris, Head of Retail at Corrib Oil, said: “We’re keen to make sure that employees rising through the ranks of management have the opportunity to get formal qualifications as well as on-the-ground experience. It helps us with succession planning, and it ensures we’re always ahead of the game in retail. Our mentors help the apprentices to apply their learning and implement ideas that come to them as a result.”
Are you interested in working in retail at Corrib Oil? Visit the Recruitment section of the site to see where we’re hiring right now. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for discounts, competitions and more.
