Jill

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  Dispensing Optician
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Jill
Dispensing Optician
ASDA Opticians

Hi, my name's Jill and I'm a Dispensing Optician (D.O.) at an ASDA Opticians in the East Midlands. I joined ASDA in 2006 after a friend that I'd met at University recommended it to me. Prior to my career at ASDA, I had over 15 years experience working in Optics, shared between two of the big chain Opticians and also at a smaller independent Opticians. I was motivated to apply to ASDA because I wanted to broaden my experience and have more responsibility.

There is no typical day in my role as a D.O. at ASDA. Most of my days begin by attending the store meeting, or 'huddle' as we call them. This is an opportunity to find out how the overall store and business is performing, pick up any key business updates to cascade to my team in our department huddle and for me to update the wider store team on the department's performance. My other responsibilities are far reaching, from being accountable for maintaining our healthy sales and tri-weekly clinics, to being accountable for the training of the optical colleagues, operating within ASDA's standard operating procedures and the General Optical Council's regulations and, of course, dispensing! Therefore, I'm always busy which makes working here really interesting.

The team I work with in the Opticians is made up of a mixture of 12 full and part time Optical colleagues and a resident optometrist. We test every day of the week and we hold 3 contact lens clinics so our department is always buzzing with colleagues and customers just like anywhere else in an ASDA store.

As the optical units at ASDA are placed within a busy supermarket it means you don’t really experience the highs and lows that stand alone Opticians get, we are still just as busy on the run up to Christmas! It's great that there is a steady flow of customers coming into the supermarket because it means that if we have any appointments that aren't filled, there are lots of potential customers around that could take them. Filling the appointments is really important to all of the optical team because when we're busy, we're making a profit, which means that we're contributing to the overall success of the store.

Being a Dispensing Optician in a supermarket has really helped me to understand running an Optician's from a wider business perspective. I have learnt a lot more than I could have learnt in an optical only environment. I learn from the other teams in store and I hope they learn from me! Since working for ASDA, I know I feel more confident and able to take on new challenges. Along with the support that I receive from the wider store team, there is also a dedicated team of optical professionals based at our home office, ASDA House, in Leeds. The team at ASDA House are great support for any professional queries I may have and they also run a Professional Development Group (PDG) made up of optical professionals from around the business to look at ways the ASDA can further support us in our professional development.

ASDA know that developing their colleagues is the key to driving success, which is why in addition to the PDG, we have 2 company-wide Optical conferences per year to network with other optical professionals and gain key business updates and also why ASDA pay for a store subscription to the Optician magazine and allow us online access to register Cetoptics points.

Finally, one of the great things about working at ASDA is the focus of the business on people; whether that means delivering exceptional service to our customers or taking care of our colleagues. We see our customers nearly every week without fail, normally when they are pushing a trolley full of groceries past our department, most of them wave or shout hello! As colleagues we are rewarded for our hard work with a great package including 10% discount off most of the products we buy in store, which can really add up! In addition, I have the opportunity to work flexible shifts because we are open late nights and at weekends. This means that I can start work at 10am two days a week so I get the extra bit of me-time on those mornings. Also, I work some weekends and when I do I have an alternative day off during the week. This came in really handy when I was planning my recent wedding because it meant that I could beat all the weekend crowds in the shops!