Starting out: Calor UK – Graduate Program (Finance)
“After university I spent three amazing years teaching English in Thailand, and at the age of 25 decided it was time to come home and get a ‘proper job’. The new graduate program advertised at Calor UK was appealing: four 6-month placements each in a different business area, including one placement abroad.
Danny McMahon
project manager for Makro Group in São Paulo
I was to be the Team Leader at Oxford Calor Centre. Cue some cold, early mornings loading trucks, and some long afternoons wondering how I was going to fit so many orders on three trucks. I look back at these six months as hugely important for my development at SHV Energy, being trusted with so much responsibility, speaking to customers every day and learning exactly how the business works in practice.
Next up was a placement in the business partnering team in finance. This was the perfect complement to my first placement, allowing me to work with teams from across different departments, and ultimately make recommendations to the management team.
The first of many adventures to come: Primagaz Scandinavia – 222 Programme (Operations)
“Following my first year at Calor, I was invited to join the 222 programme, which involves two placements in two different SHV businesses. My first position was as an Operations Project Manager based in Denmark. My primary project was ‘Project Suez’– reviewing the cylinder distribution network in Scandinavia. We analysed the number and location of gas depots, and even the distribution model of hiring third parties to run them on our behalf.
We decided to fundamentally change the distribution model, reducing the number of depots and changing the model so that Primagaz Scandinavia would run the depots, take orders and plan logistics. This meant a huge change in the way of working for a number of people at Primagaz – we built the first Primagaz Scandinavia-run depot, bought trucks, hired and managed drivers, implemented a route planning system for logistics and new handheld devices for drivers. All I can say to everybody who worked on this fantastic project is ‘tak for dig’!”
The next step: Makro Group – 222 Programme (Strategy)
“I am currently working in São Paulo, Brazil, as a project manager in the Strategy Transformation Office for Makro Group. The aim of the project is to move Makro to a new ‘food cash and carry model’, keeping the spirit of a wholesaler while at the same time opening the doors to families to come and do their shopping. This means a huge change in assortment, pricing strategies, and store experience. I have been here for six months and out of necessity my Portuguese is already a lot better than my Danish!”
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