Career Heroes - Rowan McFarland

Tell us more about you

I’m 24. I enjoy working on cars, fly fishing, and anything to do with the outdoors.

 

What kind of work do you do?

As the Stores and Dispatch Coordinator for IPC Mouldings, I ensure that all our weekly orders are inspected, packed, and shipped on time.

I’m based on the workshop floor, which is a very fast-paced environment, but it does change. Some days I may be on the workshop floor and then there are days when I’m in one of our finished goods stores.

My duties are to attend production meetings at the start of the week, which involves communicating with all other departments within the company, like Sales, Production, and Engineering. Towards the end of the week, you’ll find me booking air freights, ocean shipments, and couriers.

How did you become a Stores Coordinator?

I left school after my GCSEs. The school I attended didn't offer A Levels at the time, so I went on to further education at the Northern Regional College (NRC). I studied graphic and web design. I really enjoyed it and did well on my exams, but I knew that university wasn’t for me at the time.

After NRC, I went straight into full-time employment. Since then, I’ve worked in several different industries, including healthcare, retail, sales, hospitality, and now manufacturing.

I started with IPC Mouldings in January 2020. My role then was Admin Assistant. I worked with the admin team for nearly two years and then an opportunity came up to move to the dispatch department. I decided to give it a go and I’m still here a year later.

If you could do-over, What would you do differently?

If I could do it all over again, I wouldn’t have gone into full-time employment as young as I was. I would have taken more time to enjoy my hobbies and enjoy my younger years.