"Being fearless really speaks to me as an encouragement to keep trying new things and to be yourself."

Can you tell us a little bit about your background and journey to Advanced?

I joined Advanced in 2018 as a HR Business Partner after looking for an opportunity to work in a growing company that gave opportunities for me to develop personally. I’d worked in HR for a number of years and the interview process where the phrase “we believe in having a go, and if something breaks there’s always something to learn but its vital to at least try” locked my interest in as an role where I could give something back by looking for ways to add value.

What makes a career at Advanced unique?

The culture and approach of giving opportunities based on potential rather than experience really speaks to the way I developed early on in my career. I grew by asking to get involved and stepping out of my comfort zone, so whilst I was an experienced hire the idea I could grow and keep stepping out of that safe space excited me. In the (nearly) three years since I’ve seen this come to life and loved that mix of excitement and nerves that comes from trying something new and getting exposure to things you haven’t had the chance to see / do before.

What is the best career advice you have ever received?

Put your hand up. Whether its to ask a question or to volunteer, be brave. Shortly after I joined Advanced, whilst focusing on our employee engagement levels I noticed some things we could introduce which could benefit our employees. One example was to partner with an organization called Pennies from Heaven who assist payroll giving by sending the pennies from your payslip to a charity. We not only introduced this to Advanced but also built the ability to facilitate this into our payroll product for our customers to benefit from this also.

What is the best part about working for Advanced?

The sense of accomplishment of making such a difference to people is so rewarding whether that be our products and the things they help our customers do for so many of their customers or my day to day people focus for our employees I can see how we impact people in a positive way. That combined with the recognition for the work done is really refreshing to me. In my time at Advanced I’ve had spot bonuses recognizing where I’ve done something to make a difference to a team member or the business and a real highlight was winning a CEO wildcard place on the 2019 Top Achievers Club to Toronto. My suggestion around payroll giving within our product and the project to bring it into effect was recognized by myself and my husband getting to fly to Canada, stay in a beautiful hotel with trips to Niagara Falls to zip line, a tour and meal at ice winery and viewed the whole of Toronto from the top of the CN tower. We celebrated with others at a masked ball, dancing to a swing band and it was brilliant to talk to other colleagues on their experience and their contribution that got them a place on the trip.

If you weren’t in your current role, what would you be doing?

Sat in the cold in the north of the UK being a scuba instructor in the Caribbean is very appealing but for now its recreational dives in my annual leave!