Special Feature
Women In Indus
What is your full name
and current company/
position please?
Sarah Jane Hitchings, Sales & Marketing
Director and Co-Owner at Window
Widgets and The Residence Collection.
What are your main roles/
responsibilities?
Managing customer service, sales
and marketing teams plus corporate
ownership duties of the wider business.
What is your history in terms
of career/education and how
did it lead to this current role?
I did well at school, then went to
sixth form college in Hereford, but half
way through the first year I got restless
and wanted to earn more money, so I
left and got a job with a local solicitors
firm. I stayed there for a couple of years
before going on to work at a local charity
for severely disabled young people,
where I did their fundraising and event
planning.
After a couple of years there I had a
moment where I didn’t know what I
wanted to do, so I did a ski season and
worked as a chalet girl, I was usually on
breakfasts and cleaning, it was the best
shift as it meant you had the rest of the
day to ski (or snowboard in my case!). As I
was getting ready to return home I asked
my dad to post me the Hereford Times
so I could look for a job, it was there that
I saw Commercial Trainee at REHAU UK
Ltd. I applied, interviewed and started
working there in summer of 2006.
As a commercial trainee you work in
various departments to gain experience
before applying for a position within one
of the Business Units, I started in the
Windows Business Unit full-time as junior
product manager from 2008. From there I
worked my up to become Group Product
Manager for the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia
and South Africa, managing in excess of
ten window and door systems.
I joined Window Widgets and The
Residence Collection in September 2014,
and we have been through various sales
and acquisitions since 2014. Myself and
three other directors pu
MBO and completed on
business from Masonite
2019.
What do you think
challenges that fac
professional wome
Probably the biggest
one we all face as mode
balancing all the balls w
both professionally and
Although gender is high
some instances, most c
no means exclusive to w
Do you think fenes
‘boys club’, please
explain why in eith
I think historically th
sector was very male do
however it has enjoyed
in the number of wome
positions. When wome
women’s successes with
and the wider construc
it has an empowering e
there is undoubtedly m
improvement.
24
MAY/JUN 2020
locksmithjournal.co.uk