Rico Pieri

Name: Rico Pieri

Employer: McDonald's Restaurants Ltd

Area of work: Quick-service retail

University: Middlesex University

Subject: BA politics and economics

I joined the trainee manager scheme the year after I graduated. It consisted of an intensive 16-week training process at the end of which I became a second assistant manager. I’m now a restaurant manager.

My job

I am responsible for all aspects of running the restaurant, including building sales, training my team, maintaining product quality standards and ensuring the restaurant is profitable. I hire and develop my team of crew and managers – making sure I have a team who work well together is an important aspect of my job. My aim is to become the general manager of the Leicester Square store – where I trained – as it is one of the company’s flagship units.

Best and worst

I work with people from a cross section of society – it’s a fun atmosphere to work in, everyone pulls their weight and you get through the busy periods by working as a team. I also qualified to go to the managers’ worldwide convention in Sydney in 2004, where 3,000 managers attended from around the world. On the downside, there are days where everything can go wrong but as long as you are confident in your ability and of those around you, things are never that bad.