Here, you will find an in-depth look at all of the organizations I have worked for in the past, from the age of five and onwards.
Salesperson, Admin Person, Service Detailer & Floor Sweeper, Myers Volkswagen – July 2011 to Present
I started off as a salesman for The Myers Group, the most respected auto dealer group in Ottawa. In the beginning, it was a great new challenge. Unfortunately, the shine soon wore off, and I allowed the job to get me down, and let the bad customers get under my skin. This showed through in my sales figures, which prompted the management team to take me off the floor. However, everyone still wanted me around, regardless of my capacity. After about a month of bouncing from administrative position to administrative position, a permanent offer to work as a shop hand came down. I accepted it, and am now happier than I have ever been since joining the industry 2+ years ago. I think it’s a strange commentary on the car biz when the happiest person is the guy sweeping the floor.
Sales & Leasing Specialist at Donnelly Used Autoplex, Ottawa ON – August 2010 to July 2011
In short, I’m a used car salesman. There’s no polyester suit involved, I don’t refer to prospects as “suckers,” and I treat female customers with more respect than male customers. Instead, I convince people to buy a car from me, at this dealership. From there it’s a matter of picking out a car and having a discussion about the price. Not a negotiation–that’s a dirty word–we have a discussion. Oddly enough, customers seem to love me, and have come back to buy from me again.
Company Website: http://www.donnellyautomotive.com/autoplex/
Lot Attendant at Jim Gauthier Chevrolet, Winnipeg MB – July 2009 to May 2010
Worked with customers, managers, salespeople, and auto technicians to keep one of Manitoba’s largest GM dealers running smoothly. Although it was an entry-level position, my role quickly expanded from washing cars to performing minor repairs, marketing, dealing with customer problems, and on occasion, personally delivering and explaining new vehicles to the customer.
Company Website: http://www.jimgauthierchev.com/
Owner of Jordan Morningstar Photography, Winnipeg MB – Jan. 2008 to Present
Founder and owner of a part-time hobby business specializing in book publishing and photography. Book titles include “Class of 2009” and “Class of 2010,” an annual exploration of Canada’s hot rod & classic automobile community. Aside from the books, the business is also developing the “SundayCruiseFever.com” online brand and community.
SundayCruiseFever.com website: http://sundaycruisefever.com
Sales assistant at Don’s Photo, Winnipeg, MB – April 2008 to May 2009
Full-time sales assistant in a locally-owned chain of camera stores. The key responsibility of this position was to find solutions to imaging-related problems for personal, commercial, and government clients. Aside from this, the duties ranged from liasing with suppliers (Nikon, Pentax, Etc.,) to receiving inventory, to teaching customers how to use their cameras.
Company Website: http://donsphoto.com/
“Parts Pro” (a.k.a., Inside Sales) for Partsource, Winnipeg, MB — February to April 2008
Full-time auto parts specialist in a chain retail environment, providing advice and searching out vehicle parts for personal and commercial customers.
Company Website: http://partsource.ca
Supervisor at Rexall Drugstore, Banff, AB – June to August 2007
Full-time supervisor in charge of maintaining store inventory for a large drugstore. This included being in charge of 2 to 6 staff members, overseeing cash-outs and bank deposits, and being held accountable for all money locked up in the safe.
Company Website: http://www.rexall.ca/
Member Services Representative at Bow Valley Credit Union, Banff, AB – March to May 2007
More commonly known as a “Bank Teller,” I acted as the face of a small, community-owned bank. This included befriending local customers, remembering specific banking and personal details, and providing exceptional customer service that no major bank would offer.
Company Website: http://bowvalleycu.com/
Photo Editor for The Eyeopener weekly newspaper, Toronto, ON – September to December. 2006
3-month term position in charge of providing images for a small, weekly newspaper. This involved recruiting volunteers and motivating them to work, and then editing their images using Adobe CS2 in a Mac environment. Attention to detail, tight deadlines, and intense pressure to create an amazing product was just part of the job.
Company Website: http://theeyeopener.com/
Lab Technician at Banff Film Labs, Banff AB — May until August, 2005
In what the staff called “the world’s smallest camera store,” I worked as part of a team to handle the photo and imaging needs of hundreds of tourists per day. At the time, this could mean developing over fifty rolls of “one hour service” film in a day, copying over twenty memory cards to CD, and hundreds of digital prints. This was on top of our regular sales of film, disposable cameras, and digital cameras. There was zero tolerance for errors, which was especially true when printing for professional customers (including the official portraits for the 2005 First Minister’s Conference).
Hospitality & Foodservice experience (1999 to 2002)
Senior Team Leader at Jugo Juice, Inc., Toronto ON – January to November, 2002
As a senior team leader at Jugo Juice’s locations in Union Station and on Queen Street in Toronto, I was responsible for the day to day management of the store. Although my primary job was to explain and sell our product to customers, there were few hats I didn’t have to wear. Recruiting, training, and leading staff, receiving deliveries, and prep cooking were all duties I performed every day.
Company Website: http://www.jugojuice.com/
Head Bartender at Yates’s Leicester Square, London, England – March to June 2001
As head bartender, I was the go-to guy for all of the front-of-house staff when there was a problem. This was especially true for the barbacks, most of whom did not speak English; or, at least, not when they started working with us. During the time I was with the company, I had helped to build an “elite team” of bartenders (of which I was a member), worked with bar industry legend Ben Reed, and turned our VIP room from a $50/night sinkhole, to an $1800/night profit centre.
Company Website: http://www.weareyates.co.uk/
Bartender, Waiter, Doorhost, Cook, at TGI Friday’s, London, England – Oct. 2000 – March 2001
If there was ever a job that proved my ability to adapt, this was it. I started out training as a bartender, but soon found myself filling in as a regular waiter and occasional doorhost, to survive the Christmas season. Soon after, I was dropped headfirst into the kitchen to fill in a needed vacancy. It was at this company that I began to understand the concept of “product.” We might have served great food, but the “product” that customers were really buying was the fun they had.
Company Website: http://www.tgifridays.co.uk/
Retail Assistant at Pembina Fine Wines (now Tico’s Wine House), Winnipeg MB – January to April 2000
As a retail assistant at Pembina Fine Wines, I helped customers to find the perfect wine for any occasion or meal pairing. When I wasn’t busy selling, I handled inventory, helped with merchandising, and kept the bottles clean and shiny.
Company website: http://ticoswinehouse.com/
Barback at Monty’s Sports Bar/Montcalm Hotel, Winnipeg MB – November 1999 to April, 2000
For several months over the “Y2K” winter, I worked as a barback at a popular university nightclub. I was tasked with every behind the scenes job, from stocking beer coolers to cooking hot wings. This job gave me a solid foundation in both customer service and operational efficiency that helps me to be a better worker today.
Agriculture Experience (1999 and earlier)
Warehouse Manager at Agricore Co-Operatives (now a part of Viterra Ltd.), Rosser MB and Souris, MB- April to August 1999
Two hours after writing the last exam to complete my Diploma in Agriculture, I was offered a position with Agricore Co-Operatives in Rosser, Manitoba. My first task was to operate and maintain a large, specialized fertilizer spreader known as a Floater. After covering more than 6,000 bill-able acres with the machine (more than twice the output of the previous year) I was put in charge of the chemical warehouse in Souris, Manitoba. In this position, I advised farmers on responsible and sustainable pesticide usage, and sold them the appropriate products and services. I was also responsible for keeping three separate inventories (as required by municipal and provincial law), delivering products to farmers’ yards, and sourcing products from our retail network when necessary.
Company Website: http://www.viterra.ca/
Groundskeeper at Bridges Golf Club, Starbuck MB – August to November 1999
After being laid off due to a flood that knocked out most of Agricore’s customers in Souris, I spent the rest of the summer of 1999 helping to build one of the best–if not the best–golf courses in Manitoba. Most of the job involved operating small tractors and commercial mowers, although a great deal of time was spent walking the grounds and re-seeding the lawns by hand–not to mention securing a spot as the fifth person to play a round on the course.
Company Website: http://www.bridgesgolfcourse.com/
Ground Crew at Morse Brothers Aerial Application, Starbuck MB – April to August 1998
In this role, I worked on the support side of a Sprayplane (aka “crop duster”) and farm services company. The fleet included two AT-401 sprayplanes and a Cessna Ag-Truck, as well as conventional spraying and fertilizer spreading equipment. This was my first job off the farm, and the most demanding so far. Eighteen hour days were commonplace, with a few twenty hour days thrown in for good measure. However, the job also taught me how to reach beyond my limits, work within an organization, and resolve problems on the fly.
“Farm Kid” at Morningstar’s Farm, Goodlands MB – June 1988 to Present
My earliest memory of working on the family farm was picking rocks in a wheat field at age four. However, my farming career truly started at age nine, when I was big enough to see over the dashboard of our GMC pickup truck. By the next year I was raising my own herd of pigs and kept a flock of a dozen laying hens. By the time I left for university at age 18, I owned three cows, was an experienced arc welder and tractor mechanic, had helped to build farm structures from both wood and metal, and had put in close to 1,000 hours operating heavy equipment and tandem-axle trucks. Although I no longer actively participate in the farm’s day-to-day operations, my brother and I still manage a “quarter section” (160 acres, or one-quarter of a square mile) currently planted to alfalfa.
