Encouraged by friends to join them, Team Leader Marcus took voluntary redundancy from a previous role in order to pursue a career at Hastings Direct. In this week’s blog, Marcus explains that the decision paid off, what he loves about his role and how to make the most of the opportunities available. Tell us about your background and what led you to join Hastings Direct I previously worked as a customer service team leader for a supermarket. I’d been interested in working for Hastings Direct after hearing about it from some friends who work here. They told me about the development opportunities available and it seemed like a good fit for me, as I wanted to develop myself whilst still having a good work-life balance. In my previous role, there was a management restructure and I decided to take voluntary redundancy and apply for the role at Hastings Direct. Sometimes you have to take risks in life and I’m pleased that mine paid off. What does a typical day in Customer Service at Hastings entail for you? In Customer Service it can be very fast paced and no day will ever look the same. Day to day I will complete my usual coaching sessions, 121s, huddles and attending various meetings, whilst looking at ways to engage and motivate my team to achieve their objectives. Over recent months, I’ve been working from home with the occasional days in the office when needed. I have found myself to be really productive working from home and it gives me a bit of time back in my day. I have had no less support than I would have done if I was working from the office – helped by being connected with everyone via Microsoft Teams. What advice would you give to someone looking to develop their career at Hastings? The best advice I would give is to explore the opportunities available within the business. Before I worked here, I knew there were lots of opportunities but didn’t realise just how many there are. Once you’ve started, you can find out a lot about the business through our intranet and there are also opportunities to shadow other departments to help gain an understanding of what their day-to-day roles look like. What do you love most about working for Hastings Direct? The people! I enjoy working with a variety of people across sites and departments, and the job wouldn’t be the same without them. We’re currently recruiting Customer Representatives to join us! If you’d like to be part of a team working together to support each other and the business, while delivering for our customers, click here to check out our current vacancies and apply.