Tell us about your current role at Vanquis and where you first started?
I recently joined the Recoveries team as an Analyst however I’ve worked Vanquis for 6 years now in various different teams.
I started as a Customer Services Agent, which was a big challenge for me as I was very shy and didn’t like talking to new people, but my confidence grew over time. I then moved into Account Services Monetary where I spent 2 years working on reconciliations and specialising in missing payments. This is where I started to gain my analytical skills, which enabled me to apply for a role in Operations Development as an Analyst. This team was moved into the Customer Analytics team where I specialised in Complaints and Next Best Action, before applying for my current role in Recoveries.
What made you take this new direction into Recoveries Analytics?
I’ve always worked in a Customer Services environment, which has been great and has enabled me to learn a lot about Vanquis. When I specialised in Complaints Analytics, I got the opportunity to work with many different areas and Fresh Start and Recoveries was one that really interested me. I felt it was time for me to try something new and I believe the Recoveries Analytics team is somewhere where I can build upon my analytical skills whilst learning about a completely new area of the business for me.
What support/tools have helped your career progression at Vanquis?
I was given a lot of support from my previous team, Customer Analytics, to build my analytical skills and also my confidence in communicating with people business-wide. In the time I spent there I was coached by my manager and peers in SQL and Excel and saw some real improvements in these skills. My main area of focus has always been around confidence in talking to groups of people – as an analyst you need to be able to explain the numbers! I was given a lot of opportunities to attend meetings with key stakeholders across Ops to improve upon this, as well as attending in-house training such as Presentation Skills.
What challenges did you face in getting into your role in Analytics?
The main challenge I faced was initially getting into an analytical role, when I was younger I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do as a career and decided Uni wasn’t for me. Once I had worked out that analytics was something that I wanted to do I worked hard to develop myself, getting involved in projects that involved analytical skills so that I could gain the experience I needed to negate the fact that I don’t have a degree.
What's next for you?
I’ve only just joined Recoveries so next steps for me are to learn as much as I can about this area and Fresh Start. I think this is a great opportunity for me to work with and learn from, a group of really talented Analysts – there seems to be a great opportunity here to develop with the team. My aim for the near future is to develop into a more senior role.
What's the one thing people would be surprised to know about you?
I roller skate competitively and have done for almost 16 years now. I skate for Maidstone Roller dance club and we travel around the country competing against other teams.