– 20 Years at Moody’s –

Here at Moody Direct, we pride ourselves on developing talented local people to meet and exceed their career dreams. The most common starting point for many of our now long-serving team members is within our Stores Team. By starting out in stores, it develops an initial knowledge of the parts, components, and equipment used throughout the industries we serve including; dairy, food, beverage, brewery, chemical, and pharmaceutical.

 

Darren Spooner joined Moody Direct in 1996 at the age of 18 as Stores Clerk. Darren joined at a time when Moody Direct were expanding their spare parts and components division. At Moody Direct Darren was able to get involved in all aspects of the day-to-day operations within the Stores department. After only a year, Darren became the Stores Supervisor and was given more responsibility in the management of stores, and also began to assist in the purchasing of PPE/hygienic products. This experience in stores led Darren to the position of Buyer, where he worked with our Purchasing Manager to source parts and components.

With an ambitious personality, when a position within the sales team became available Darren saw his opportunity for further progression. He knew that his experience in stores and purchasing gave him a good knowledge base of our products and would stand him in good stead when applying. Whilst the customer-facing sales role was very different and there may have been some reservations with some of the management team, the culture at Moody Direct is to encourage staff to ‘give it a go’ and prove themselves.

Over several years of hard work, Darren progressed into Account Manager and then to External Sales Manager. His role now, as External Sales Manager, requires him to lead a team of sales representatives and he is a vital contributor to management decisions that impact the entire organisation.

Darren added: “I will have been with the company 25 years in September 2021 and have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to progress as the company has grown.  This has been achieved through hard work, dedication and a little bit of luck at times (right place, right time) but also through the help and support of my colleagues, past and present. I can also attribute my success to the great leadership of managers, directors and owners that have guided, led and seen the potential in my abilities over the past 25 years and will continue to do so going forwards.”

 

Andy Russell joined Moody Direct in 1997 at the age of 19 and since then has progressed from a Stores Assistant to Valve Service Manager. After a few years working within stores, his interest in engineering grew, and working with our Factory Manager he was able to take over inspections and quality checks on parts and components, helping to build his knowledge and understanding of what they were and how they worked.

Moody Direct recognised Andy’s interest and put him through in-house training courses to enhance his understanding of both theoretical principles and practical usage. Several years later Andy began working extra hours to develop his career within our service team with a focus on valves. Here he established an in-depth understanding of valve functions and of the many different types and manufacturers. With experience, he even developed an incredible encyclopedic memory for seal kit part numbers!

When a suitable position arose, Andy jumped at the opportunity to join the service team full time. Andy jumped on the opportunity. Over time, Andy’s role within the service team developed. By spending time on customer sites he built good customer relationships and this has contributed to the significant growth in Moody Direct’s valve maintenance services business. Following this continued success, Andy has further been promoted to Valve Service Manager to work alongside our established Service Managers to influence and further develop our service and maintenance offerings. This influence is extended to the management team which impacts decisions made across the organisation.

Andy added: “After many happy years in stores I decided to take a step into the unknown and it has just grown and grown from there to the present day. Now I manage my own sector of valve maintenance within the business. I’m thankful to everyone who has helped with my learning and development to get me to where I am today.”

 

Jamie Wetherill joined Moody Direct in February 2002 as a Stores Assistant after gaining experience within a stores environment at a mobile phone manufacturing company, where they produced over 200,000 phones a week. However, this experience didn’t prepare him for the huge range of different products that Moody Direct stock.

After two short years at Moody Direct, a vacancy opened up within the internal sales team and with previous success of promoting within, Jamie was encouraged to apply. With a more reserved personality, Jamie wasn’t sure how well he’d do in a sales role. After some deliberation, he decided to take the leap and is very glad he did!

His first role was as a Sales Administrator working within a sales team, of three, handling customer enquiries and processing orders.

With two years’ experience in stores, it definitely helped him with the move into the sales department as his familiarity with the huge range of parts became essential when selling them to our customers. This knowledge is still serving him well in his role today.

A few years later, his knowledge and leadership skills began to shine through and he was promoted to Internal Sales Co-ordinator. With a slightly bigger team, Jamie’s new role included aiding the current Sales Manager and stepping in when they were on annual leave.

When the Sales Manager position opened up in 2016, Jamie was the natural choice to step up as Sales Office Supervisor to lead the sales department following the management buyout of Moody Direct. This carried extra duties and responsibilities including management of staff and reporting directly to the Directors.

Shortly after, Jamie was invited to join the Management Team and made Internal Sales Manager. Whilst this didn’t make major changes to his day-to-day role, joining the Management Team has given him insight into other departments and the overall running of the business. This insight allows him to provide informed solutions and suggestions for better overall operations.

Jamie added: “I am very proud of how far I have progressed through Moody Direct, and this wouldn’t have been possible without the support of my colleagues. The fact that we have so many staff that joined at a young age and are now in senior roles is a testament to the company’s commitment to promoting from within and spotting worthwhile candidates. I think the fact we have so many staff with 20+ years’ service speaks for itself.”

Jamie will be celebrating 20 years of service in 2022.

If you’re interested in joining the Moody Direct team, visit www.moodydirect.com/recruitment for all our latest vacancies.