Developing your career

Colin – Close Brothers Asset Management, Midlands

Well a lot. If you think about the Close Brothers Group there are many different companies within it. In my side of the business, within Asset Management, we put in personal development plans for people and, for me personally, I’ve been involved in many different projects which has led to career progression within two years. So, I think there’s lots of opportunities, it’s just about people having the passion and desire to follow those opportunities and grab them when they’re available.

Jennifer – Group Risk, London

We have an online academy which helps in terms of training needs. We have a very good learning and development department and learning and development partners who will work with, not only line-managers, but with anyone within the organisation who is looking to develop and upskill. Generally, in a more subtle way, in terms of day-to-day, people are very open about working and sharing what they know with others.

Jonathan – Close Brothers Asset Finance, Chester

I started at Close Brothers ten years ago as a new business administrator and I’ve made my way up to regional manager now. The job creation and job opportunities are endless. There’s no one there clipping your wings saying ‘you cant do this, you can’t do that’, as people want you to progress and you’re always looking to the future.

John – Banking Finance, Wimbledon

You can have formal development in terms of progress and promotions etc. You can do that within your own department, if you perform well you’ll have an opportunity. You can also move between departments, for example, I’ve seen people move from finance to IT and from finance to credit so there’s lots of opportunities for that as well.

Karen – Close Brothers Asset Management, Northwich

I’ve really driven my development forward; however, it’s also been reciprocated by the managers that I have and other people across the business as well, so I’ve really felt supported in that development. I’ve also been lucky enough to be part of the 30% club mentoring scheme where I’ve had a mentor from an external business and that’s really helped me to progress my career forward and have a lot more confidence about how I do my role.

Nahida – Treasury, London

In terms of development opportunities, I would say that I could be an ambassador for that. I’ve worked in Close Brothers for two years now and I’ve done four roles, across two divisions and two locations as well.

Kim – Banking Finance, Wimbledon

I actually came into the Bank as an analyst and from there I’ve progressed into a manger role, having now moved into a ‘Head of’ role so the business has been supportive in, not only allowing for training, but also for development from all perspectives. There’s never really a limitation on where you can take your career. Dependent on the stage that you’re at we, of course, have training available for junior levels to develop specifically what they’re focussing on. I have benefitted from the external training offerings that we have and also from a mentoring programme which set me up to push forward and get to the current role that I’m in.

Roohi – Close Brothers Asset Management, London

I’m on the emerging leaders programme at Close Brothers and that’s been pretty phenomenal for me. The idea is to get the next generation of leaders together and you have chance, not just to develop your leadership skills, but also your entrepreneurial skills.

Toby – Close Brothers Motor Finance, Sevenoaks

The way the company is broken down means you have quite a lot of interaction with senior management so any ideas or concerns that you have can be raised with them.