NEXTGEN: SARAH BEALES
Interview with NextGen
SARAH BEALES
Mansfields Propagation Nursery Where do you work and what is your role? I currently work at Mansfields Propagation Nursery, which is a wholesale nursery located in Skye. My role at Mansfields is Despatch 2IC which involves making sure all orders for Mansfields customers and Bunnings stores are being sent out with the best quality plants that Mansfields produce, making sure all scheduled orders are being sent out on the corrects days and correct transportation they have requested. Also assisting customers when they come to the nursery to collect their order, loading trucks/ unloading trucks, taking the orders out when they arrive and any other requirements they need while visiting Mansfields.
How long have you worked where you are and has your role progressed in the time you’ve been there? I have worked at Mansfields Propagation Nursery for coming up to four years now. Within these 4 years I have been lucky enough to work in nearly all areas of the nursery to widen my
ESTABLISHED 1998
WHOLESALE NURSERY | LANDSCAPING AND SEASONAL LINES BORDERING PLANT OPTIONS | POTTED PLANTS
knowledge of the processes in the nursery and what happens from start to finish. Learning and improving in these areas have led me to my current role in Despatch.
What do you like most about the Nursery industry? What I like the most about this industry is the versatile skills you can gain through working in each area of the nursery and the learning never stops. There is so much to learn within this industry because each day things are changing and improving, you are learning something new every day or every week, even within a role you’ve been in for a while. Everyone is coming up with something new or learning new thing about the plants from implantation to growing to the quality of the plant being sent out the door. The plant never stops growing and neither do we in this industry.
Where would you like your career to go to within the industry? My goals for the future within the industry is to keep improving myself and my knowledge and working my way up hopefully one day have a manager role. Trying to keep an open mind and seeing where this industry could take me in the near or far future.
How did you end up working in the nursery industry?
JMK NURSERY 160 Wandin Creek Rd Wandin East VIC 3139 E jmknursery@bigpond.com | T 03 5964 2971 | jmknursery.com.au 28
GROUNDSWELL JUNE 2021
Working in this industry wasn’t actually a first choice of mine, I had other career plans for myself once I left school but my mum’s side of the family has always been in this industry and an opportunity opened up at a nursery where my mum was working at the time. I applied there, got the job and ended up loving every minute of it working outdoors, the team environment and learning a whole new world. That’s when I knew I wanted to further my interest in plant knowledge so I applied for an apprenticeship at Mansfields which I had heard nothing but the best things about and now four years on I have loved every minute and gained all the knowledge I needed to get to where I am today in my career and I wouldn’t change a thing.
