It runs in the family: My journey to Customer Ops
It was May 2011, I was a 22 year old university graduate about to go into my final month and it hit me – what am I going to do next?? I hadn’t been very proactive (a skill I have now learnt) in considering my future and it left me in a position of not knowing my next step. At the time (and currently) my dad and brother both worked for British Gas in one of their Leeds offices and had done for 5 and 3 years respectively – (now 8 and 6). They told me that British Gas was hiring for a front line advisor role and that it would be a good place to work whilst I decided on my next step.
I submitted my application whilst finishing my dissertation and went for my interview the week before my first exam (not the best time to travel to Leeds and back from Nottingham). I found out I was successful and started with British Gas 4 days after my last exam. As I started working with British Gas, it struck me what a great place to work it was. I had always had a job since the age of 16 – Sainsburys / Morrisons / BSKYB / Green King – but I had never felt that the company was as invested in me as I was with it and it struck me that this was a place I wanted to build a career.
As I assessed the options available to me in my role and gaining some promotions, my brother told me about the Centrica graduate scheme and what it could do for me – having worked with and for ex grads in the past. I submitted my application and went for an interview in Windsor and 9 months later I started on the customer ops stream and I have never looked back. I even recommended my sister to join BG so we’re up to 4 family members (we’re starting an internal takeover – in a few more years it will be Hayes Gas).
I have had the most intense, thrilling, hectic, enjoyable year to date and I would recommend it to anyone!!!