What was the best thing about being on the programme?

So the two things that were really brilliant on the graduate programme for me; one was the breadth of experience I was able to build really, really quickly; so the eight month placements really helped. There were times when I have thought why have you put me here in these placements?', but actually, trusting the process and trusting HR to manage that part of the process really worked. And secondly was the support framework - both from HR, the mentor relationship, and the Line Managers you get allocated. So you get the ability to do a great job in the placements, and build yourself as a leader through the support network that exists.

Could you describe the roles you've held since then? When you made the move, what did your job involve and how did it help you develop?

So a brief history of my roles I've taken in Nationwide has broadly been; I joined the Nationwide Management Development Programme, did three placements in our processing centres, IT and then in the Business Development area in ATMs. From there, I took a senior management position in ATMs and I worked my way through executive positions in both IT and Operations, to the point where I now have a combined role which combines my skills I've learnt in both IT and Operations across a large chunk of our Customer Servicing area of the organisation.

Could you describe the roles you've held since then? When you made the move, what did your job involve and how did it help you develop?

The great thing about joining the programme, and indeed Nationwide at that time, was we are an organisation that believes - truly believes - in the power of leadership. So the programme was structured in the sense that it not just focussed on the job you are doing, but building your leadership skills, and the support in the leadership skills was that we were allocated a mentor. So that was a senior person in the organisation that wasn't about your tasks, but was about how you're developing, how you're embedding in the organisation, how you understanded the challenges you faced. It's deliberately not about your job, it's somebody from a different part of the business. And I was also really fortunate that I had a bunch of really good Line Managers who bought into the fact that a graduate has more requirements than just doing a great job in the task sense, it was about a focus on development. So there was a Line Manager, there was a mentor and there was a centralised function from HR, which created a set of one-day interventions, but they're actually training workshops, where you sat down and focussed on a specific area that was really important to leadership, so for example communication, motivation, inspiration, inspiring trust - a whole set of stuff linked back to our leadership capabilities, which for me joined it up from top to bottom.

What attracted you to Nationwide?

So there were two things primarily that attracted me to Nationwide; one was the brand, and a sub-set of the brand was the culture - I was a Nationwide member, I had been a member since I was a young kid. Nationwide was a part of the town I grew up in, the community I grew up in, which was great. And the culture of the people, which actually, even in the branch network, wasn't about selling but was about relationship building, which I found really quite enticing, having worked for another major institution whose focus was solely on selling. And the second one was personal opportunity. The way they described the programme I was joining, it meant that you could probably gain a breadth of experience in a relatively short period of time, which you wouldn't have got elsewhere.

What did that first role/programme entail?

I joined Treasury division in 2006, and my first role was in the middle office. The middle office essentially takes a very holistic view of the front office. You kind of get in touch with a lot of people, which built up my contacts, and you understand a lot of what's going on. My first role involved me working heavily with the senior management. For me that was fantastic, because I could understand what it took to be a Senior Manager, and it also meant that I was able to try and feed off some of their experiences that they've had throughout the industry. My first role was numbers based, in that you had regular output to do, but it was also a lot of influence, which is something that's a softer side to it. And I've come to realise that about Nationwide; we are a financial organisation, we do focus a lot on numbers, but you do need that softer side of influencing people and building relationships, and that is incredibly important to getting the job done.

What new skills and experiences did you gain?

When I joined Nationwide in 2006, there was a set programme for us to learn various new skills; things like presentation skills, influencing skills. I took that completely on board and gained as much as I possibly could from that. Outside that, there are professional qualifications. I'm now a Chartered Financial Analyst - Nationwide paid and sponsored me for that in its entirety. In terms of experiences, there are a lot of Senior Managers who are around, and I try to take the best bits of each one of those and work out why they are so good, and just think about how I can apply that to myself.

Could you describe the roles you've held since then? When you made the move, what did your job involve and how did it help you develop?

I joined Nationwide in 2006, and I was in the Treasury department for three years. During that three years, the economy went from a boom period, to a bust period, and to a slight recovery period. That was fantastic to be there, and the biggest thing I learnt during that period was being in a high performing team and what it takes to be a high performer. I then moved out of Treasury into Group Strategy and Planning, and there I learnt what a lot of the business does. So in Treasury we look externally to the City, and in Strategy and Planning, I got involved in the product areas, in the economics, and Corporate Finance - things that gave me a whole group-wide picture. My current role is in Risk Analysis and Capital Planning, so that's focussing on a more specialised part of the organisation from a financial perspective, and the skills I've learnt there are really influencing; trying to get capital on the agenda, trying to get people to realise that capital should be the thing they look at. That is my major short-term ambition.

What was the best thing about being on the programme?

I think the best thing about the graduate programme has been the network that I've built up. You move between different departments, between different roles, so that network not only involves people that you work alongside and the Senior Managers that you support, but also it's the graduates that are around you. I have some fantastic contacts that I can just ring up in various departments that are completely unrelated to me, and just bounce some crazy or ridiculous idea that I have and they'll give me a completely impartial and honest view back. And that's because I built up a strong relationship with them whilst I was on the graduate scheme, and those relationships I'm sure will continue going forward.

How do you feel about Nationwide as an employer? What makes them unique?

Nationwide as an employer is obviously great. It's a massive company with lots of support, lots of development. I think especially for grads, there's a massive development programme that they offer, and I think there is all the opportunities that come along with it. It's recognised throughout the organisation and you've got lots of the senior team who are really happy to help you. I think as an employer overall, we've got all of the flexible benefits, we've got all of the additional support that they offer people, whether it be flexible working hours, whether it be training and development, whether it be new opportunities in different roles - there's just so many opportunities.

How do you see your career progressing from here?

I can see my career progressing from here upwards. I see myself developing every day, there's opportunities every day. I'm still recognised as a member of the scheme although I came off it a year ago, and people are really willing to put the time and effort into you and into your development, so all I see is myself excelling in my role and going up.

Could you describe the roles you've held since then? When you made the move, what did your job involve and how did it help you develop?

As part of my time on the scheme, I worked in HR and I'd also done my degree within HR so that was something I was really keen to go back into. So although I'd worked in the Central Retail programme and got involved with that side of things, I was still really keen to get back into the area of HR. When I moved back in I worked within the Business Partner team. My role varied, so I supported a number of different Business Partners across a number of different roles, and over the last year I've actually focussed more on my marketing role, so I work within the Business Partner team supporting our marketing functions and over time as I've developed that's become more and more specific, and I'm given more and more opportunities and development every day that I do it.

I just like it. I love it. I love being involved in it.

What support have you received in gaining these new skills and experiences?

The support I gained in learning the new skills and experiences within the scheme was great. Everyone is really supportive of the scheme within Nationwide, it's really well recognised across the whole society, so whoever you're dealing with has heard about it and knows. For that reason, people are really happy to support you. A really good example is when I had worked in HR, I was really keen to get back into it, and the Senior Management team were really keen to keep involved with me throughout my final placement to make sure they could accommodate me when I came off my scheme.