Savage & Whitten

 

One of the leading independent wholesalers in Ireland.  Savage and Whitten Wholesale Ltd based in Newry, Co. Down is ideally located between Belfast and Dublin.  Savage and Whitten's history goes back to 1918 with the establishment of Newry Cash & Carry and again to 1920 when J&E Whitten were formed.  Both firms merged in 2000 to become the Savage & Whitten Wholesale of today, the largest independent wholesaler in Northern Ireland.



Between the dates of May 28th and July 6th I was required to do work experience for the Careers Academy. Between those weeks I worked for a cash and carry company called Savage and Whitten. My employer was called Conor Duffy; Conor was the IT manager of the company, as an IT manager Conor did everything from fix company phones to attend meetings with software developers. While I was there I had to make sure I came in everyday on time and I had to wear the proper clothing (shirt, tie, shoes, etc).

In the 6 weeks I was there I worked with spreadsheets, databases and even the more practical sides to computing such as upgrading computers and fixing printer errors. I preferred working with the more practical side of computing because it seemed simpler for me to do and the practical work was less repetitive than the spreadsheet and database work.

The 6 weeks for me was a learning experience. A lot of it was Conor explaining how to go about completing each task when I’m not sure (for example how to wipe a hard drive without deleting anything that could cause the computer to crash) but there was other stuff I learnt such as how to work in a working environment, how to work with others which I learnt gradually throughout the weeks.

I thought the work experience was very useful because I got a bit of an understanding of what it is like to work in a working environment before starting a full time job and I also got a good job reference out of it which I could use for applying for a part time job which can give you a much greater chance of getting the job compared to anyone who isn’t able to put down a job reference on an application form.