Village Manager - Nathan Giles
Despite being a self-proclaimed ‘shy person’, Nathan Giles set personal goals when he joined Sodexo to consistently push himself out of his comfort zone and take advantage of all opportunities that came his way. His dedication has seen him recently appointed to the role of Village Manager in North Queensland.
Nathan’s FIFO journey began with Sodexo in 2016 when he joined as a kitchen and dining attendant. Referred by his Aunty, a Sodexo housekeeper at the time, the world of FIFO wasn’t something Nathan had previously considered.
“I was looking for work and thought I would get my foot in the door,” Nathan said.
“I initially didn’t engage that much. I would do work, go home, and that was it. Moving into an administration role after being an attendant led me to a lot of customer engagement and being open to talk to management.
“It brought me out of my shell.”
Over time, Nathan has accomplished things he would have never dreamed of when he started his career with Sodexo, including moving to another state.
Without the immediate support of his mob, Nathan began to engage more with his team onsite and found a support network within Sodexo. Here he also developed an abundance of skills, including people management and leadership.
Nathan was empowered by Sodexo to take advantage of upskilling opportunities and soon began to engage with his mangers to discuss his future within the organisation.
“I decided I was ready for new challenges with work,” Nathan said.
“My Village Manager training pushed me to do things that were way out of my comfort zone, but became comfortable with in time,” Nathan said.
After undertaking a Village Manager traineeship, Nathan was quickly promoted and recognised for his commitment to building relationships and rapport with employees.
As an Aboriginal man himself, Nathan is also a passionate advocate for the employment of First Nations peoples and hopes to continue fostering inclusion and equal opportunity in the workplace. Sodexo completely supports this as part of its pursuit to create culturally inclusive pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to join its teams across Australia.
We’ve come a long way with engagement with young Aboriginal employees as an organisation,” Nathan said.
“With the right support, they can definitely go a long way. I want to see young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people believing in themselves and taking the proactive steps to better their careers.”
In his role of Village Manager, Nathan hopes to use his position to be a role model for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people.
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