Q: What’s your career journey been like so far?
I got to the point where I was playing tennis and training in Europe. But, having started quite late, it became apparent it was not going to be a genuine career option for me. I made the tough decision to focus back on A-levels.
Having spent a number of years playing that sport and thinking it was something I was going to pursue, I absolutely jumped at the chance to work at Wimbledon.
It started a path for me where I went back every summer and did the championships, and by the age of 21, I was managing the players’ area. After finishing school, I started to look at other hospitality-type roles and ended up working for a great London-based events team, which I loved.
Q: When did you start thinking about finance?
I fell into my first role in the finance industry after a period in Australia. I wasn’t 100% set on what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be based, but an opportunity came up to take a fixed-term maternity admin role, which became permanent.
Q: How did you manage the transition between careers?
Because I didn’t go through the traditional graduate recruitment route into financial services I was able to do my exams while working. I valued that, because it’s not always a given that you’re going to understand the full set of skills you need to be able to do this role. I gained a lot of soft skills, alongside the typical day-to-day understanding of what an investment manager does.
Q: Can you make any comparisons between your career paths?
One of the lessons I have learned is that being part of a strong team is key to delivering the highest quality of service. The right team needs a good blend of personalities and skill sets where, ultimately, everyone has the same goal of delivering for our clients.
All of our clients are individuals, with individual wants and objectives, and having a diverse team enables us to meet their needs. Having worked in hospitality, you learn quite quickly what people’s strengths are. From a sporting perspective, it’s rare you see someone competing at a very high level as a one-man band. They have a team of people around them, and make changes year on year depending on what they hope to achieve.
Read the rest of this article in the November issue of Portfolio Adviser magazine
