Growing with Orama: Emma’s journey from warehouse operations to new opportunities at Hyfire
Across Orama, career growth takes different forms: moving into a new role, taking on wider responsibilities or discovering an interest through a project. Growing with Orama shares the people and experiences behind those journeys, exploring how colleagues build their skills and contribute across our businesses.
For Emma McGettigan at Hyfire, that journey began with a temporary role picking customer orders in the warehouse. Today, as an Operations Coordinator, she draws on experience across warehouse operations and Customer Service, helps train colleagues and represents her team in the implementation and testing of NetSuite. Each step has broadened her contribution to Hyfire and helped her discover where she would like to take her career next.
Before joining Hyfire, Emma worked in a cinema and later in furniture sales. The fire industry was new to her, but the welcome she received helped her settle into the warehouse team and consider a longer-term future with the business.
“The team was incredibly supportive, welcoming and friendly. That made such a difference when I first joined and was a big part of why I knew this was somewhere I wanted to stay.”
As she gained experience, Emma moved into Customer Service and later progressed to her current role as Operations Coordinator. Each move brought different responsibilities, while her understanding of warehouse operations remained valuable: she has continued to support that part of the business, including helping to train colleagues.
Building knowledge and contributing across teams
Learning about Hyfire’s products was an important part of the transition. The Technical Support team took Emma through the full portfolio, helping her build the knowledge she needed for customer-facing and operational work. Her manager, Sarah, and colleagues across Hyfire also supported her as she took on new responsibilities.
“Sarah has played a huge role in supporting me, but the whole team has helped me develop. I’ve been given opportunities to learn, take on more responsibility and get involved in things I probably wouldn’t have imagined myself doing when I first started.”
Alongside her day-to-day work, Emma has completed First Aid training, taken on training responsibilities and contributed to wider business projects. Her involvement in NetSuite has been a particularly significant step, bringing her operational experience into the implementation and testing of a new platform.
Representing her team in the working group has meant exploring how the system will work in practice, identifying what colleagues need from it and contributing to the testing process. It has also given her the chance to apply an interest that predates her time at Hyfire: Emma studied IT at college.
Through the project, she has rediscovered how much she enjoys working with software and understanding how platforms are introduced into a business. Software and platform implementation is now an area she is interested in exploring as her career develops.
Kate Fieldhouse, who has worked alongside Emma in Customer Service and as her interim Team Leader, recognises the contribution she makes across these different areas.
“Emma is truly exceptional; she is meticulous and focused, but unassuming and a great support to the warehouse in her cross functional role and to the NetSuite development team.”
A clearer sense of what comes next
For Emma, the experience of moving between roles, learning new skills and contributing to projects has also changed the way she sees her own abilities.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned is not to doubt myself. I’ve grown so much in confidence and learned to believe in myself and my abilities. The team has really helped me see what I’m capable of.”
Her experience shows how moving across different areas of a business can benefit both the individual and the teams they work with. Emma’s knowledge of the warehouse continues to support her colleagues, while her work in Customer Service and Operations brings a practical perspective to the NetSuite project.
What began as a temporary role has become a career with room to develop further. Through NetSuite, Emma is building on her experience at Hyfire while exploring an interest that could shape her next step.
