Next Gen talent manager, Visa Europe
I spent 13 years with BT, starting as an apprentice telecoms engineer, and I quickly progressed to line managing a group of 30 experienced telecoms engineers. By the time I left the organisation, I was responsible for heading up the apprenticeship programme across the group. Later, at a company called Careers Info, my role was to help bridge the gap between education and employment and advise businesses how to better engage with students.
When I joined Visa Europe, it was clear it needed to transform its approach to recruitment. The company had grown quickly, which meant leaders had risen to the top without necessarily having a broad career path. We needed a long-term strategy, so I was recruited to implement an apprenticeship scheme.
We know the workforce is going to change dramatically over the next seven years, and the payments market especially is burgeoning. Our plan was to encourage the next generation early. With apprenticeship programmes now in every division – technology, finance, HR and accounting – our business is fully prepared and experienced in working with Gen Y and making the most of what they have to offer. HR’s role is to find that new knowledge and create the right environment and community for it to flourish.
We want people who will bring a spark to the organisation. While our apprenticeship schemes can teach a lot of the necessary skills, the challenge is to merge technical capability with creativity. We find that by combining the experience of existing subject matter experts with new apprentices, we can create truly innovative products. Security has to be at the forefront of all our operations and we have a pretty rigorous induction programme to make sure recruits really get that message early on, and start to live and breathe the culture of being safe and secure with data.
It sounds like a cliché but there really is a truly supportive community feel at Visa. We have a lot of specialists who are keen to share their knowledge and openly welcome anyone who is interested in learning. I love that I was given the freedom to develop a programme and grow it into uncharted territory, for a company that really understands the importance of next generation talent. The support from the CEO and every single member of this team makes my job a whole lot easier.