#Gradstories Katriona Crowe, Branch Rental Manager, Enterprise Rent-A-Car

What does your role involve?

As a branch manager, there's a couple of tasks that I want to make sure are looked after on a weekly basis. So first being customer service, second being morale and third employee development.

Customer service is a huge thing with Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I want to make sure that my staff are delivering excellent customer service to everyone, that they know what's expected of them as a team and how we deliver customer service.

In terms of morale, making sure that everyone is enjoying themselves and that they enjoy their workplace. So whether it's hosting a competition or getting a branch lunch, whatever the case is to make sure that they're happy and they're enjoying where they work.

Employee development is a major one for me. I just want to make sure that we're constantly developing our employees whether it's delegating certain tasks that a manager would take on a weekly basis.

How did you get your job?

I'm not your typical and business rental manager that you would think with Enterprise. I'm actually a music student so I graduated from the University of Limerick, in dance. I was just looking for a job in Dublin and I was drawn to the graduate program. I was just looking for a job and it ended up being a career.

What skills do you need to be successful in your role?

There's a couple of skills that are very important as a manager, one being, I suppose, a very motivated person and understanding people more so. I mean in college there was a lot of teamwork, working with others was critical and as a manager, you have to know your people. If you know what motivates them then obviously you can develop them as best you can and you will always get results. Knowing your people and knowing what drives them generally is very important as a manager.

How is your graduate programme structured?

As part of my training I developed certain modules with managing your business, I started off with human resources and it touched on marketing, national sales even risk management so you really learn absolutely every aspect of the business. When you've completed that, you're eligible to go ahead and qualify for your management qualification interview and then you get your management role.

What experiences helped build your skills?

For me personally, I'm a very motivated and very driven person. I mean, I'm happy to say but, you know, I got a first-class honours degree - I've kind of always seen the end result. And with working two jobs to go through college, you know you get there in the end but that has seriously stood by me because I fast-tracked my career within the company that I'm working for at the minute.

What's the best thing about your job?

The best thing about my job is the responsibility, again, as a branch manager. I'm pretty much given the keys to my business, I'm given a team to work with and we run the business.