Interview with NextGen: Sarah Beales, Mansfield's 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 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?

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.

What is a typical day like for you?

A typical day for me starts off pretty early in the morning, once I get in for the day I start by looking at the schedules for the day in what is going out and whether orders need to be boxed, packed on stillages and that orders are on the correct trolleys for the correct companies, making sure all the plants have been dispatched and are going with the correct transport or if our truck drivers are delivering the correct orders to the correct places. If things are required to still be done we organise a team member to get all the orders in their correct places in the morning before heading out or getting picked up for the day.

Once this is all organised I then head out and start dispatching our Bunnings orders as these are the first thing to go out for the day and have cut off times for when they need to be dispatched. Once the orders have been fulfilled, I then and go and walk our stock and update our stock list to make sure the Bunnings live orders are up to date and ordering the most recent stock. Once the Bunnings side of things are finished, I then move on to despatching Mansfields orders and making sure these orders are fulfilled by the end of the day and ready to go out for delivery the following day. I also set up both despatch areas for the next day and if there is time left in the day I then check in with my manager to see what I can help with next or if there are any other jobs required, which can either involve helping the sorting team out or help organise some of the team member on different jobs.

Are any of your family members in the horticultural industry?

Yes, a lot of my family members have or are still working in this industry and most of them work at Mansfields Propagation Nursery.

Did you study horticulture and where did you study?

I recently just completed my apprenticeship in Certificate III in Nursery Production at Chisholm

What level of study are you at presently and how much more do you plan on doing?

As of now I’m currently not studying and don’t plan on studying for a few years but if I do choose to go back and further my studies, I would start my Diploma of Horticulture.

What do you in your space time?

In my spare time if I’m not training or playing softball, I love finding different places in Victoria to explore and adventure, going for drives through the hills with my partner, catching up with friends and family and just enjoying the outdoors.