Stuck in the Lift with… Rory Henshelwood, Goods In Team Leader

He heads up the largest team at Techbuyer which some would see as a walk in the park for this ex-Royal Military Police Corporal! Rory has been at Techbuyer for (what he thinks is) two and a half years and although at one point in time, you may have caught him skateboarding whilst donning a mullet, you’re now more likely to find him alongside his team processing, refurbishing and maintaining a whopping 12,000 servers, storage and networking parts a week. Here’s our interview with Rory Henshelwood, Goods In Team Leader.

 

What's your first memory? Wow! I can barely remember what I did last week… My earliest was maybe when I was 5 or 6 years old trying to play a prank. I glued a 50p to the path outside my house, but it failed miserably and someone ran off with it!

 

What did you want to be when growing up? I never really knew – I just didn’t want to get bored! Luckily, it’s hard to get bored at Techbuyer as we’re always so busy and our company growth is bringing new aspects to the job all the time. When I started out there was just six of us in the Goods In team, there’s 18 now!

 

How long have you been at Techbuyer? Two years. I think. Maybe two and a half (I should probably know this!) Let’s go with two and a half years.

 

What are your primary roles at Techbuyer? I currently manage the UK Goods In team, who receive, process and refurbish our stock, conduct quality checks and maintain our UK stock, amongst a whole host of other aspects - we tend to get involved in a lot! This is a bigger task than most imagine. There have been 1,191 PO’s put on in the last month and we have averaged around £600,000 / 12,000 parts booked in per week, this past month!

 

Where did you work previously? I’ve had a variety of roles from care work to plumbing. At my last role, I was a Corporal in the Royal Military Police, I served a few years in Germany, a few in the UK as well as an Op tour of Afghanistan training the ANP and supporting some specialised units. Most recently I worked on an Op Tour as a High Threat Close Protection Officer for HMA Algeria.

 

What were your first impressions of Techbuyer?! It was different! Tight knit, relaxed but motivated. When I came in for my interview, there was a friendly relaxed atmosphere, but it felt like the entire company wanted to achieve something. I saw people getting things done, clearly motivated to do what they do which only happens if you are both happy and valued.

 

What is your favourite thing to do out of work? Being outside in general. I get cabin fever if we get stuck in the house! I enjoy bouldering and have done this a lot with my wife and daughter.

 

Tell us something we don't know about you... I was an amateur skateboarder at one time and was sponsored by shops to wear their gear. I don’t want to give too much away as there are some embarrassing videos out there still where I’m sporting long hair (literally VHS videos – it was a while ago!)