We are delighted to welcome Zoe who joined the firm a couple of weeks ago. Zoe’s HR management skills, knowledge and experience will no doubt further enhance the professional support team at Jacksons.
When I left college I really didn’t know what I wanted to do and tried everything from waitressing to working in a call centre. I was fortunate to secure a job at an Oil and Gas engineering company where I initially worked partly as PA to the MD and partly as an HR Administrator.
The Finance Director was a great mentor who put a lot of faith in me and very quickly handed over all the HR responsibilities. I was promoted to HR Manager and appointed to the Executive Team. The FD was very supportive and encouraged me to study my CIPD which I completed in 2012. I stayed at the company for 9 years but after a large take over by a (brilliant) American company the oil price crashed and the business changed dramatically.
I decided to explore other opportunities and found myself at a Renewables start up. I joined as employee number 3 and within 18 months we had a team of 180, it was a really interesting time.
I had three great years there but having spent all my HR career in engineering/ manufacturing environments I was keen to experience other industries. I was very interested in forward thinking HR practices (whereas Manufacturing environments tend to be more traditional) and was keen to reduce my hours, which I thought was unfeasible as part time jobs at my level jobs are scarce, so when I saw that Jacksons were advertising for a part time HR Manager I immediately applied.
I really enjoyed meeting the team, they exuded passion, energy and drive and the Jacksons culture of being flexible and family friendly was exactly what I was looking for.
The challenges are very different, in manufacturing there is a core focus on Health & Safety and you devote a lot of time trying to keep people safe; I won’t see the volume recruitment that I’m used to and I certainly won’t miss the squabbles about overalls or the dirt and the noise. But people are people and the skills I have learned in my 14 year + HR career are certainly transferable.
This role is different, yet utterly refreshing, I’ve only been here a few weeks and I can safely say that I am glad I took the plunge. I really like the new dynamic. Jacksons is a female dominated environment and really do uphold their claim of being flexible, family friendly and that they develop people and promote from within.
My goals for the next few months are to get to know the team and learn as much about the business and industry as possible. I’m looking forward to working with our employment team to update our own policies and build on the great culture we have around flexible working and wellbeing.
I’m also keen to work with our marketing department to elevate our employee brand, raise our profile as an employer of choice and get involved with the networking events we host.
Zoe Tweddle, HR Manager
