Now she is sharing her passion for supporting customers as the building society’s training supervisor for Customer Care.
I’m a training supervisor in the customer care team which means that when people start working in our team at The Cumberland, I help them begin their journey. I initially train new starters to use our systems and then move on to working with customers. I also help upskill existing colleagues to make sure their knowledge is accurate and up to date. Overall, there’s a really strong emphasis on training - we’re a hands on team and everything we do is to help our customers.
Another part of my role is helping colleagues in the team learn how to engage with people and how to deal with conflict. Customers sometimes come to us stressed and having a difficult time, colleagues need to learn how to help.
We do some role play in training which is really engaging. Once our new starters know the system, they get to buddy with someone who can guide them. It also helps the buddy who can learn and help train someone.
I was in retail, but I wanted to do something more for customers, so when I saw the Cumberland were recruiting, I applied. I really wanted to be able to help other people.
I’ve also always been interested in the training route, so when the role of training coordinator became available, I went for it and got it! I’ve since progressed to becoming the supervisor. It's been hard work, but I’m enthusiastic and I’ve found who I wanted to be. I love that my job now involves helping both our customers and my colleagues. I also get a lot of enjoyment out of organising activities for the team to do both in and out of work to keep morale high, which is something I do in my own time.
I didn’t believe in myself initially. It was a mental challenge to get to where I am. I have had great support from my managers, it’s made such a difference having supportive managers who I know are here to help.
When I was younger, I bounced around from one thing to another. At Sixth Form, I didn’t know what I wanted to study because I didn’t really know what I wanted to be. So, I thought I would cover all the bases and started to study health and social care as well as psychology. I was chatty and wanted to help, but I didn’t know what kind of job that would translate into. Ultimately, studying wasn’t for me, so I stepped away from education and went to into retail work.
If someone wanted to be in my role, I would say be yourself, you can’t go wrong by being who you are.
Believe in what you can do, there will be setbacks, but they will help you grow.
Do it, you’ll never look back. It is the most welcoming place I have ever worked. Even if you don’t know much about banking, there are plenty of opportunities to do anything.