Casual Christmas roles beginning of long-term careers

Each year we recruit casual Christmas Customer Services team members to scale up our ability to deliver extraordinary customer service during our busiest time of the year.  

For some, what begins as a casual Christmas job is an opportunity to gain valuable experience and is the beginning of a long career with us. Six years ago Joshua Hardy accepted a casual Christmas role, he is now our Services Manager at Westfield Warringah Mall.  

Josh shares his story...  

I have been with Scentre Group for six years, beginning in a casual Christmas role. Jumping into one of our Westfield Living Centres and being trained in anticipation for the busiest time of year was an exciting opportunity.  

The time I spent onboarding and working during the Christmas period was an exhilarating experience, constantly being challenged and having lots of fun with the team and customers. I quickly realised that I wanted to work year-round and stay at Westfield Warringah Mall. 

After the Christmas period I had the opportunity to continue to work with the team across multiple roles including carpark and valet, having an absolute blast delivering the customer experience within multiple departments.  

I then enjoyed a three-year stint in Brand Experience championing many projects and customer activations. Whether it be booking petting zoos during school holidays, hosting sensory-friendly activations for everyone in the community or leading Santa’s parade through the centre, I always loved planning and bringing to life vibrant and fun community activations. 

During this time, I discovered my true passion was delivering outstanding customer experiences. With that knowledge I applied for Scentre Group’s Centre Experience Executive program. The program is designed to fast track your development by completing a range of centre-based rotations, shadowing and filling vacant roles and supporting the broader Centre Experience team. 

I’ve been part of the program for the last 12 months and I’ve enjoyed the team dynamics and diversity that everyday brings. Networking and establishing my personal brand has been invaluable, as has the exposure to life as a leader and seeing the higher level of thinking which plays out in our business.   

It has allowed me to fully explore who I am and want to be as an individual and a leader. My experiences through the program have greatly enhanced my self-awareness, wider business knowledge and skillset to be a strong individual within our Westfield Living Centres and Scentre Group as a whole. 

Following my successful completion of the program, I have recently commenced the role of Services Manager at Westfield Warringah Mall. One of my first priorities is hiring additional team members to support us during the Christmas period. Having been recruited through this process and now starting a new management role, I’m excited that this may be the beginning of someone else’s exciting career journey with Scentre Group just as it was for me. 

Scentre Group wants to be the place for talent to thrive, and I hope my story shows that is true, no matter where you start.