“The reality of this business is that people come and go, but the relationships that you build go on outside of work.”

Born in Lubbock, Texas, 26-year-old department manager at Charnwood McDonald’s, Amelia Lowrie, first moved to Canberra at age nine.

When her family relocated to Sydney in her teens, she returned to the Capital for love, but found it in the most unexpected of places.

“My partner at the time was here, so when I was 18, I left home to be with him.

“We tried long distance, but it wasn’t working. Then I moved here, then we split,” she laughs. “But I met my current fiancé at McDonald’s. We’re going on seven years next month.

“When I moved down, I needed to start paying rent straight away. McDonald’s was the first place that hired me.

“They hired me to do coffee. I had café experience, and they were about to renovate and add McCafé to the drive-through.

“On my first day, the trainer went home sick as soon as I walked in. So, I was just kind of thrown into it, but everything worked out because the management team was so fun.

“And then I just never left. The culture kept me around. You can continue moving up as long as you have that drive to do so, and it’s like a big family.

“I know that’s a cheesy line for a lot of places, but here it really is.

“A girl that I trained from her first day, who went on to become a nurse, moved to Queensland for a few years and we kept in touch. She’s recently moved back, and we are still best friends,” Amelia smiles.

“I’ve seen restaurant managers become supervisors, and even though a lot of managers come and go, I still keep in touch with pretty much everyone that I’ve ever worked with.

“It’s really fun seeing everybody move up and then move on, but you always get a few coming back.”

Amelia met her fiancé, Marcus, at 4am. “Opening up the store at Gold Creek. He still works there.

“We hit it off, talking about movies, and he started picking me up and taking me into work for early starts. I didn’t have my licence back then, and the bus wasn’t cutting it for 5am starts,” she smiles.

“Eventually we just started dating, on February 14th actually.”

When it comes to finding a job in a new city, Amelia says the warm work culture and flexibility made Maccas a good fit.

“A lot of people don’t realise that we can work with you as an adult. It’s not just a job for 14-year-olds.

“We have parents who work day shift, from five in the morning to when the kids get off school at three.

“You can pick up the hours that you need, you can work as much as you want, and the management is usually really willing to work with you,” she says.

“If you’re at uni, you can work around your classes. If you’ve got a second job, we can work around that as well. As an adult, it’s just really flexible. And it pays surprisingly well.”

While working at Maccas, Amelia bought her first apartment at the age of 21.

“All you need to work at Maccas is a willingness to learn. It doesn’t matter which position you’re in. Doesn’t matter what time of day you want to work. If you’re willing to learn, we can teach pretty much anything,” she says.

“We can teach you to work well with people, we can teach you to work well with food. And if you want to work your way up to management, as long as you’re willing to take on feedback, we can teach that, too.”

“We work with the person to find what works for them.”

“We are a Registered Training Organisation, so we offer Cert II and Cert III, Australian School-based Apprenticeships (ASbA), and work experience.

“I’ve seen quite a few people use their Cert II and Cert III to finish school early and break into the workforce.”

After seven years progressing on the McDonald’s career path, Amelia is on the cusp of starting her Management Development Program (MDP3), priming her to take over a store by the end of 2023.

She’s guided almost 50 employees through the ranks. “My proudest accomplishment from my time here is all the people that I’ve seen move onwards and upwards.”

The most valuable skill (or perhaps it’s a virtue) that she’s gleaned from her career at Maccas is patience.

“I definitely was not much of a people person when I got hired and I’ve had to forcibly become one, because you do deal with a lot of people.

“Whether it’s crew, customers or other managers, you learn to work with all sorts at Maccas.”

To find out more about career opportunities at McDonald’s, visit careers.mcdonalds.com.au

For more information on sponsored partnerships, click here.