When I left school, I was successful in gaining a place on Lloyds Bank management scheme. It was a fantastic start, throwing me right into the deep end of the world of work and learning skills on the job. Over the years, I worked in various departments within Retail Banking. I covered all back-office roles including HR, compliance, training, brand management, a bit of marketing so it was really varied. I wanted to challenge myself, so moved across to the Commercial Division, initially to support commercial clients in the Agriculture sector and then the housing sector, leading to being promoted to Associate Relationship Director in a very busy housing market.
Following this my department experienced a big structural change and I moved into the role of Specialist Team Manager just before COVID-19 hit, when everything shifted to remote working and soon after the office was re-located to Edinburgh, the other side of the country! So, after 30 years with Lloyds Banking Group, I decided to take voluntary redundancy and take some time with my family before re-entering the world of paid work as an Office Manager for a healthcare communications business, and later as Business Support Manager for a training company.
So, I worked with Brad Jarrett during my time at Lloyds. We both joined the Commercial Department on the same day and just clicked straight away. We are both similar in a lot of ways with how we approach work, both dynamic, up for a challenge and don’t like taking no for an answer! Then a couple of months ago, Brad’s name popped up in my inbox offering me a role. I met with the bancon leadership team, they needed someone to manage UK admin and support with a project for a big UK building society, and with my background in management it felt like a good fit for everyone. During my time with Lloyds Bank, I worked closely with SME businesses, so understand their challenges, opportunities and threats and could add that knowledge to the bancon team.
I think the role will naturally evolve as I learn more about the work, the clients and the team and have had the chance to identify and analyse gaps where I can apply my experience. Initially I am hoping to increase operational efficiency across the financial services portfolio, by freeing up as much of Brad and his leadership teams time as possible and support them better address the demands of delivering for our clients . Having someone with a ‘can-do’ attitude in a fast-paced, growing company like bancon is always a positive. I am more than happy to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in wherever support is needed, and as a bit of an all-rounder with banking knowledge, plus knowing the pain points felt by growing medium sized enterprises, I’m hoping to add real value.
First and foremost, the company culture. As we are all working remotely it can be really hard to get the feeling of being one team, but I felt this right from the start, even in the interview. I actually read Claudia Hoffman’s meet the team article before the interview and it was vital for me to read that bancon put their people first and that trust was a common theme. It’s nice to be able to see the people behind a company and showcase the culture, so I’m really pleased to be part of one of these interviews myself!
Secondly, Brad hasn’t changed one bit and I’m looking forward to working with him again - a dynamic duo! Watch this space…
If you’re looking for a new career opportunity, take a look at our careers page or get in touch with Claudia Hoffmann.
