As a Customer Representative in our Bexhill contact centre for the past two years, Aimee tells us about her development journey so far and why she loves working for Hastings. Tell us about your background and what led you to Hastings Direct. I joined Hastings Direct in October 2018 as a Customer Representative. My educational background is animal management – I spent three years studying this at college and got the opportunity to go on an eight week nature guide course in Africa. It was an amazing and life-changing experience; there’s nothing like seeing elephants and lions up close with no fences getting in the way!
For most of my career after college I worked in a pharmaceutical warehouse, picking and packing products for stores and hospitals in the local Sussex area. I also worked in McDonalds, which made me realise that I wanted a job where I get to help customers. Then I applied for a Customer Representative role at Hastings Direct and was successful! Tell us about your development journey so far at Hastings Direct. Until I joined Hastings Direct I’d only ever been a customer of an insurance company, so I’ve learnt a lot in my time here. I am lucky to have such a great team leader who has recognised my hard work and put me forward for various opportunities. The most recent was a secondment into the recruitment team in January 2020. I got to run assessment centres and telephone interview the candidates for customer service roles. I’ve probably spoken to or met some of the newer colleagues that are reading this blog, so I hope they are enjoying their roles here at Hastings Direct! During my time with the recruitment team I even got the chance to learn how to headhunt for more senior roles, which I found really enjoyable and very interesting. I hope to re-join the team at some point in the future. Who would you say has been your biggest support during this time? I would have to say my biggest support throughout my time at Hastings Direct is my team leader, Marcus. He is a great leader and really wants to see all of the members of his team succeed. If there’s anything you need help with or perhaps an area of the business you’re interested in gaining experience with, he will try his utmost to help you achieve your goals. He was also one of the people to put me forward for my secondment into recruitment and I really can’t thank him and everyone else involved enough! What advice would you give to someone looking to develop their career at Hastings? If you put in the time and effort, you can get a variety of fantastic opportunities. You have to remember that there are always other people going for the same thing, but your leaders and colleagues will support you in achieving your goals. Finally, what do you love most about working for Hastings Direct? Firstly, the people I work with. My team has become my family away from home! Secondly is the fact that Hastings Direct put their colleagues first. I think that this gives Hastings Direct a great culture and makes me feel that I matter. Whether it be by providing continuous improvement or providing a monthly budget for the team to have fun, Hastings Direct really invest in their colleagues. Sometimes it is the little things, like an ice cream voucher for the van in the car park on a hot summer’s day, which can really make a difference. For a list of our current vacancies, click here.