How did you start your career at Deloitte?
I started out at Deloitte as an executive assistant in our Financial Advisory business working with a partner who specialised in mergers and acquisitions – I loved it! When our new marketing manager arrived, we quickly built a relationship and I volunteered to help her with the events and campaigns she was running which ignited my interest in marketing. She and I still keep in touch today.
How have you kept your career fresh staying in the same place?
Deloitte is a very dynamic organisation that changes on an almost daily basis. It is more than five times the size now than it was when I first started. With such change comes opportunity and the key to my satisfaction has been making the most of new projects as they appear. This is also advice that I give to my own team: it’s important to keep an eye out for opportunities that interest you and volunteer to get involved, rather than waiting to be asked.
I’ve had approximately 12 roles (currently operations director, clients and markets) in the time I have been at Deloitte. I like to set myself a challenge every year to learn something new or do something different.
What has been the main driver for keeping you at Deloitte?
It is important for me that Deloitte is making an impact that matters for our clients, their businesses, but most importantly society as a whole. For instance, we recently developed a 3D-printed hand for a colleague’s six-year-old niece who was born without her left hand. We’re now working on taking this further, and developing the technology on a wider scale. With projects that make a difference like that, why on earth would I go anywhere else?
How has the company changed over the years?
Deloitte is a very different place to 25 years ago and that is a good thing. We have evolved both in scale, complexity and in diversity. As a female leader, it is great to see Deloitte’s pledge to have 25% of our leadership made up of women by 2020. I strongly believe a diverse leadership in every sense makes for a much more successful organisation. I’m very proud too of our agile working policy, our newly updated Return to Work programme, initiatives such as Time Out (where colleagues can take four weeks unpaid annual leave) and shared parental leave, to name but a few.
Many marketers move jobs every few years – what advice do you have for them?
You don’t always need to ‘jump ship’ to learn new things, or further your career. Most organisations now recognise how difficult it is to retain talent, especially millennials, and are making changes to address that. It is about ensuring people feel supported as they develop, which is why we have such a flexible approach to working patterns and career ambitions.
What’s your top tip for marketing leaders looking to retain their talent?
Figure out what is important to your people, and make that a core part of your strategy. An organisation is only as good as those who work in it, so retaining talent, as well as creating a modern, flexible working environment, can win the race to get the best people through the door. Great talent really is what makes a team, delivers a successful project and ultimately builds a business.
