Communications manager UK & Europe Jill Watson and European regional director Paul Schaafsma work together in the UK office of Australian wine company McGuigan Simeon Jill on Paul We first worked together in Sydney. Paul interviewed me for a job in the marketing team there. He didn't seem very impressed. In fact he seemed to be in a hurry to get out of it. The word on the street was that he thought I looked like I had been out on the town all night, whereas I had actually been up driving since 4am. At that time I lived in a small coastal town quite a way from Sydney and had to start out early in order to get there on time. A week later, when Paul gave me the job (or rather his PA told him to give it to me, apparently), I had to uproot myself and move lock, stock and barrel to the big city. That was in 2003, so we've worked together for quite a while now. Paul travels a lot, which means we spend a good amount of time communicating over the phone. And I frequently arrive at work to a long email from Paul, which includes a list of things to do that he hasn't managed. When he is in town, though, we do go out sometimes after work. Usually it's karaoke, but Paul's only ever sung once, I think. Paul on Jill It does help that we are both Australian. I wouldn't say I'd only ever employ Australians, but it is good to have some common ground in terms of being able to talk about back home and both knowing what it is like to be out of your natural environment. When Jill first came to the UK I'd already been here for two years so I could impart some words of wisdom. I told her the first six months would be really hard and that she'd need to make sure she went out a lot. It's good that the wine industry is quite a fun place work - it makes that transition much easier. Despite the common ground we still argue, of course. To make up for that she always makes me take her to Yo! Sushi and pay for lunch. I don't think she's ever paid once. She always has the fried prawn sushi, which I don't think is proper sushi, really, as it is cooked. I like sashimi, the real raw stuff. She also has the chicken and duck sushi, which definitely isn't real sushi. I think she just thinks it's a bit trendy.

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