McDonald's People

Jimmy Edwards

My name is Jimmy Edwards. I’m the Operations Director in McDonald’s in Ireland and I have been working for McDonald’s for nearly 25 years.

I started as a Crew Member in McDonald’s Nutgrove Shopping Centre in 1986, moved to Floor Manager and was promoted to Restaurant Manager by 1993.

As a restaurant manager I had the pleasure to work in downtown Dublin across 3 of our busy restaurants. Then I became an Operations Consultant and spent time working with managers of the company-owned restaurants during an exciting time that included a number of new openings. My next career move was in 2000 when
I became a Franchise Consultant, which meant I was now working with our franchisees, until 2002 when I took up the position of Operations Manager for Franchising.

I always identified what I wanted to achieve and communicated this with my managers throughout my career. If you believe that your future lies with McDonald’s you should speak with your current manager and get them to identify the areas you need to develop and improve on. I have never turned down an opportunity to further my career as they have always come at the right time for me and have been in line with my long term plans.

I have always tried to learn and early on I realised that I can’t control everything and now I delegate more and plan better.

Early in my career I didn’t get to spend as much time with my family as I would have liked. But when I look back it was worth it. I have no regrets. I always enjoyed what I did so it wasn’t that much of a sacrifice. Working in a seven-day-a-week industry has meant that I can plan my work in a way that limits the effect on my family. So I can attend my son’s nativity play on a Thursday and work on a Saturday instead.

The best advice I can give to anyone working for McDonald’s is to do the best job you can, at the position you are in. You should also think about where you want to be in two years time. If you set goals for yourself, you generally achieve them.