Myer Employee Perspectives: James Chung

Recently our National Talent Acquisition Manager Karen Werner caught up with Melbourne Store Manager James Chung, to chat through his career to date, how COVID changed his perspectives and why he loves working for Myer. Dive in below!

I recently caught up with James Chung, a long time retail operative who despite only joining Myer in July 2021, has proven that ambition and effort can certainly put you on an accelerated career trajectory, in an industry that moves with pace. Little did I know, I was speaking with James about his career on a day when he had just been offered a Store Management role! Fair to say the timing could not have been better.

James was exposed to Myer when he commenced as an agency casual team member for one of our fragrance partners, working between the Melbourne and Chadstone stores. Through his experience with different stores in counter management, an opportunity arose for him to work for Myer directly, as a Customer Service Manager in our cosmetics division. Timing on this occasion however was not so good as it was only a week before Melbourne commenced with COVID lockdowns, and like many people across various industries, James had to pivot from being a face to face Operational Leader to a Manager within our Online Fulfilment team.

Ever the optimist, James attributes his COVID experience to helping him understand the true importance of his role. He learnt that his ability to build relationships and networks also translated to the virtual world and in a world that was thrust into uncertainty, it seemed to help to stay true to his personable style.

I was interested to understand how James’ recent completion of his MBA had added value to his career to date, as well as his day to day responsibilities. James explained to me how this qualification has given him a deeper understanding of problem solving, through applying a thinking framework and being able to get to the root cause of a problem, rather than constantly applying quick fixes.

So as James has advanced from Counter Management, Customer Service Management, Assistant Store Management and now Managing a Store, there have been some common threads in what has made him successful in his career to date. James is all about people. Not only is he a believer in the company values and demonstrates that “Customers Come First”, but he treats people as assets and engages with his team on a personal level, encouraging feedback, suggestions and opinions throughout his journey.

When asked what gets him out of bed in the morning, James laughs as he tells me “his alarm”! But after his ritual of warm water and honey which allows him to operate at his best, what keeps him coming back to Myer is the warmth he feels in working for an organisation that looks after those in need. From our point of sale round up initiative that raises much needed funds for the Myer Community Fund charity partners, to the Christmas Giving ?Tree and supporting events such as National Autism Day, James commented that it felt good to work for a company that gives back!