Member Article

27-year-old optician becomes director at Hillsborough Specsavers

Specsavers’ youngest ophthalmic director in the region, Jas Sandhu highlights why people should set their sights on a career in optometry.

Specsavers’ youngest director in the Sheffield region, Jas Sandhu, started part-time, fresh out of school, before completing a qualification in BSC (Hons) in Optometry from Aston University.

After spending five years as a fully-fledged optometrist in the Sheffield city centre store, Jas quickly moved through the ranks, which has seen his recent appointment as a director at the Hillsborough branch.

Each Specsavers store is part-owned and managed by its own directors, who are shareholders of their own businesses, but are supported by key specialists in support offices, who provide a range of services, such as marketing, accounting, IT and wholesaling, among others.

This joint venture partnership ensures that the opticians and audiologists who run their stores can concentrate on delivering what they do best – providing expert eye and hearing care to their customers.

With half a decade of experience in the region, Jas has built up years of experience caring for the local residents and has built up a strong rapport with local communities. He brings with him extensive knowledge of the community and is a welcome addition to the store’s team.

Jas comments: ‘Optometry is a really rewarding industry. Even a small issue that can be remedied quickly could have a huge impact on the customer’s

quality of life. For me, it’s really exciting to see the emerging technologies in the industry, which have enabled us to see into the eye in more detail than ever before, which would have at one stage required a visit to GPs or hospitals.

‘Whilst the optics industry might not be the first choice for school leavers, there are a huge range of roles and apprenticeship schemes in the sector at the moment. Being paid on the job to learn can really help to improve social mobility for those in hard to reach areas or communities that might not have been able to afford or considered going to university.’

Jas concludes: ‘I’m delighted with my appointment as a director in Hillsborough and I look forward to serving the customers in the area to help alleviate and spot any problems that they might have.’

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Specsavers .