Katie to tell skills and training event how passion for people helped her achieve career goals at MKM Stadium

A manager at one of the region’s top sports and entertainment venues will share some of the lessons of her own 20-year career when she welcomes a major skills and training event.

Memorable moments include being hit by a flying football kicked by a former England captain when he threw a tantrum outside the dressing rooms, and tipping a tray of coffee and water over a global rock legend minutes before he was due on stage.

Katie West, sales manager at the MKM Stadium for Venue Catering Partner Limited, will also talk about how she challenges and supports young people entering the industry now.

The employer forum organised by Hull and East Yorkshire Local Skills Improvement Partnership (HEY LSIP) is expected to attract more than 100 business leaders to the MKM Stadium in Hull on Monday 9 February to kick off National Apprenticeship Week with a discussion on careers and work experience.

Katie will bring up her 20th anniversary at the stadium in April. She rejected the opportunity to go to college after leaving school and instead joined Chamber Training, part of the Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce, which is now the employer representative body accountable for HEY LSIP.

She took the NVQ route to a career which now gives her responsibility for leading a small team organising a variety of events.

Katie embarked on her first NVQ in business administration and after trying work placements which she felt didn’t match her skills and qualifications she took on a second NVQ in customer service and that earned her an interview at the stadium.

She recalled: “I met the directors of the company and I thought I’d messed up when I said Hull FC were rubbish and I supported Hull KR – but one of the directors was a KR fan as well. I was given a six month placement and after three months they offered me a contract as a full time business administrator.”

Katie continued her NVQs to Level 3 and progressed to sales coordinator and then senior sales executive before becoming sales manager.

She said: “Our  job is to make sure the stadium is busy on all the days when there isn’t a match. We do all sorts of corporate events, family celebrations, festivals in the car park, polo on the pitch. And we did Covid vaccinations.”

She recalls a match day when a visiting Premier League player literally kicked out in frustration, and the occasion when a drinks tray went flying.

Katie said: “I was at the other end of the corridor when the ball hit me. It took me by surprise but didn’t hurt. The player waved to acknowledge me and apologise.

“The first gig I worked on was Jon Bon Jovi in 2006. He requested coffee and water to be delivered just before he went on stage and I was taking it to him when we both tried to go through the door at the same time!

“It ended up all over his outfit. Fortunately he wasn’t hurt but he did have to get changed. He told the crowd that’s why he was 20 minutes late on stage, but he was very nice about it!”

Katie credits the team spirit among her stadium colleagues as the key factor behind their collective staying power.

She said: “Almost all the staff have been here as long as me, and some longer. No matter what role you are doing they always want to see everybody progress. Nobody here ducks out. I wouldn’t question coming down to serve tea and coffee at a colleague’s event, or standing in to help someone who was working late at an event the previous night.”

Her message to young people taking their first steps in the world of work is to remember that people buy people.

Katie said: “A lot of young people now prefer to sit behind a computer. I was the same at school – I didn’t want to talk to anybody. But when I started here it was about picking up the phone, talking to people and then going to see them.

“The teaching I got was all about interacting with people. It’s people skills and now I probably have more knowledge about the person I am working with than about the event they are putting on.”

The LSIP forum will take place at the MKM Stadium on Monday 9 February with registration at 9am for a 9:30am start and optional pitch side tours. The proceedings will conclude by 1:00pm and will be followed by a free hot buffet lunch.

Presentations will also be made by The Careers Hub about the recently announced Modern Work Experience Programme, Humber Learning Consortium about their Educational Portable Escape Rooms, and The Tigers Trust discussing its reach into schools across the region.

The LSIP team will update its stakeholders, partners and supporters on feedback from its current survey including difficulties around attracting skilled workers and particular areas of concern with attributes lacking in potential recruits.

To register for the HEY LSIP forum visit the news and events section at https://www.heylsip.com/