20/07/2026
28 years of โgrown upโ work! ๐
On Monday, 20th July 1998, a 17-year-old Verity Holloway got dressed in her Bay Trading (remember them?!) pinstripe skirt suit and Dorothy Perkins blouse and got a lift from her Dad to the Hatfield office of Compel plc, where she was joining as the new Receptionist on a whopping ยฃ8,000 a year.
โ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ?โ
Paul Bean, the Head of the Support Centre, a wonderful Welshman, gave her very clear instructions on how to answer the phone. So much so she wrote it down at the top of her notepad, above the โGood afternoonโ version.
She had a tour of the site (it didnโt take long!), met so many people whose names sheโd surely never remember, and went back to her desk to learn the ropes.
โThe ropesโ consisted of Lotus Notes emails, how to use the fax machine, how to frank the post, and of course learning how to transfer a call (rather than cut them offโฆoops!).
Within weeks sheโd memorised the phone directory (Toni Richards, Iโm still confident your extension was 241!).
Then, one morning, Paul came in, went to go upstairs, stopped halfway, and came back down.
โ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถโ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถโ๐ท๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ดโฆโ
Shortly after, I moved upstairs into Customer Services.
A year later, I found my way into HR, studied for my Certificate in Personnel Practice and discovered the profession Iโd eventually build my career around.
Paul sadly passed away a few years ago.
I'm just grateful I had the chance to thank him before he did. I don't think he ever realised quite how much that conversation changed my life.
It's one of the reasons I care so much about helping organisations recognise and develop potential today.
Because you never know which conversation someone will remember for the next 28 years โค๏ธ
(Photo is from 1998. Sadly I donโt have any of the pinstripe suit! ๐
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