I’ve had a varied career, from being a profession footballer, working in the welfare and education sectors, to running my own clothing line – and that’s all before I joined GC!
I’ve learned that a career journey doesn’t have to follow a straight line, and it can take a few roles (and sometimes a few years), to find an employer and a role that’s a perfect fit for you. I’ve now had three roles here at GC in about two and a half years.
Kicking a few career ideas around…
I attended Sheffield Hallam University and studied Sport Management, and also started out playing football with Sheffield United. Unfortunately, it didn't work out, so I left the club at 18 in 1998 and turned semi-professional. Alongside that, I worked as a Recruitment Consultant with Spring Personnel for four years (2001 - 2005), and then moved into the welfare sector working for various companies, including A4E and CTS Training. Through these experiences I was able to develop my people coaching skills.
I left welfare sector due to redundancy, and then dipped my toes into the education sector in 2012, because I thought I wanted to be a teacher. I got a role in the pastoral side of Sheffield College, but I found it wasn’t for me. I also had a stint of running my own clothing business, Brother Circle, for 5 years from 2015. It provided great networking opportunities. I loved it, but the pandemic really impacted the business and I had to close down. I feel like everything I've done has been leading me to GC!
Fantastic career progression
When I saw a few welfare related positions within GC Employment come up in Rotherham, I decided to apply – with a bit of apprehension because I'd been out of the sector for a while. I managed to get an interview, and I actually got offered more than one role! I opted for the Advisor role within the newly established Restart team in January 2022.
I did 9 months in the role and was hitting all my targets, then I was moved over to the In Work Support team, helping people get back into work. I did that for a short time before I applied for and got a Team Leader role on the new Refugee Employability Programme (REP) in August 2023, which I did for just three short months before securing the Service Manager role for West Yorkshire in December. It's a lot of moving around in a short time, but at GC I've been lucky to be in a supportive environment that sees my potential and allows me these opportunities.
I've been in my current role for eight months now, so it all still fairly new. There’s one big change from being an advisor, where every day can often feel the same… being a Service Manager, is the opposite!
Support, when I need it
The support you get from people around you at GC is amazing. I've worked for companies before with ‘values’, but in reality, they haven’t rang true. Whereas at GC, I can see our values are ‘front and centre’ and across everything we do.
Even now in a different role on a different contract, I can easily turn to people for support and advice. The role brings lots of new challenges to work through, which means that I'm learning every day.
Opportunity is what you make of it
GC is a contract-based organisation, and I can’t say that job security has never played on my mind, but I don’t lose sleep over it. That’s because I know that, if I do my job to the best of my abilities, the people around me will know what I deliver – which’ll put me in a good place when another opportunity comes around.
I’ve never felt the need to stay in one organisation for long before but at GC I've found my career and a place where I can be myself. I've no intention of looking elsewhere and I’d love to stay here long-term.