A world of opportunity

posted by Caroline Grant
23 December 2013

I have always wanted to work in retailing. After finishing university, I was living in Bristol and the chance to work for a big name retailer, that was also based locally, was too much of an opportunity to miss.

What also attracted me to Clarks was the exciting future they had planned along with a great working culture – and that’s what I still love about the company today. There is such a range of work going on within the business that it provides huge variety in what I do. I love getting involved in new pieces of work and new ideas and then seeing them through to fruition.

I enjoy the continual drive and ambition that we have as a company. The business is constantly looking for new ways to develop our global brand, which in turn means that we are in a constant state of change. This is a good thing as our transformation into a truly global business creates increasing opportunities to work with people from other parts of the world. That really excites me.

The culture here is friendly yet ambitious. You can always find people who are willing to sit down and discuss new ideas or challenges that you have. There is a genuine drive and ambition amongst our people to improve continuously. I don’t think you would find a similar culture in many (if any) other businesses that employ over 16,000 people.

The breadth of opportunities is hard to believe sometimes. We have jobs like our Last Makers, who are highly skilled in techniques that are hundreds of years old, whilst at the other end of the scale you have our .Net developers, who work on the latest technology to support our eCommerce sites. We are constantly working on new projects and initiatives, so there is always plenty of opportunity to gain new skills and experience.

As far as training and development goes, I have simply had too much to list. Over the 9 years I have been with the business my training and development hasn’t stood still and has ranged from official qualifications such as CIPD Reward Strategy, to more informal development like being trained to run our in-house leadership development programme. On top of this, I have always been given opportunities to move into roles that continue to stretch and develop my skills.

There have been so many highlights in my career with Clarks that just one is hard to mention. From playing a significant role in installing a new payroll system, re-developing our retail incentives schemes to supporting a major piece of change work in our UK retail stores, to running our leadership development course in India, working with the US business on implementing a new grading structure, the list goes on! Clarks truly is a great company to work for and holds true to its near 200 year old heritage but at the same time is constantly looking forward. We always have a new challenge or opportunity which makes it an ever changing business and an exciting place to work.

There is so much that the company offers as benefits, from discounts on shoes to grants for employees, on top of the normal pay and benefits you would expect, all giving a lot in return for working here at Clarks.

There’s a good work/life balance too, which means I still have the time and energy for my favourite sport -Triathlon! I love to keep fit and healthy so when I am not in work I can normally be found on my bike somewhere around Exmoor National Park or pounding the streets of Taunton trying to improve my running.


Nick - Group Head of HR Programmes, UK

Categories: Street | HR |