F&B Data Operations Lead Review

My role supports F&B teams access new data and better utilise existing data. I work with non-technical stakeholders and technical IT teams that support with project delivery. I work mostly in SQL and Power BI. An example project I worked on is creating a new restaurant measure called RevPASH (commonly used in the industry, but new to Whitbread). This involved supporting getting a new data feed to provide us with capacity data, and creating the BI after that was delivered.

I have learned time-series forecasting, got a deeper understanding of project management. I learned the STAR methodology for project write ups. I learned some python and was introduced to using Juptyer Notebook to practice python in. I learned how to create entity relationship diagrams.

I really enjoyed the course - particularly once my coach changed to Iswarya. I felt really well supported by her and enjoyed talking to her. She gave me a lot of confidence! The content was really relevant to my work and I could almost immediately apply everything I learned. I really thrived having that structured learning and accountability that provides.

I found the course well organised and structured. Towards the start of the course some of our workshops would get derailed a bit by people asking very specific questions and some coaches would try to address isolated issues on the call, rather than taking it offline or finding another way to help without neglecting the rest of the session. This did seem to resolve itself towards the latter half of the course - I'm not sure if the "disrupters" dropped off the course or if the coaches found better ways of addressing issues like this. I did find that workshops with multiple coaches attending seemed to run more smoothly.

Whitbread are very supportive in general so it was no surprise that I got full support from Whitbread. I never had any issues with balancing my workload and my studies. It was really nice having a small community of my peers in my cohort that I could speak with. I was also celebrated when I received my distinction which was a nice feeling

I was very very well supported by my coach and couldn't speak more highly of her!!

I have new skills and confidence to further self-develop my technical skills. My project management skills have really improved, making my projects run more smoothly - for example, having a communication plan before starting a project has improved the experience of working with me for my stakeholders - even if the end piece of work is the same.

Yes, there are often social events. In the past I have heard people talk of sports teams however this is not something I have personally pursued. One thing that is really nice is that within Decision Science we have a 30 min team quiz we run each week - it's a nice break from the work day and brings us all together as a team. I find it is particularly good for new starters to really integrate and build relationships outside of immediate work collaboration

Yes

Whitbread really care about you as an individual. I have been at Whitbread for 8 years and intend to stay for many years to come! I know that my career will continue to thrive at Whitbread and I will continue to develop and learn new skills. There is an amazing work-life balance too, which you can't put a price on!

In general I would say that for any interview - it is an opportunity to see if the job and company you are working for is the right fit for you, as much as they are trying to see if you are the right fit for the job.