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Colleague case study - Mike Powell

What does a typical day look like for you?

The day-to-day is recruiting people to work for the British Business Bank.

That’s the key driver in what I do.

There is no typical day really.

This week, for instance, I’ve been looking at headcount plans for the coming year and determining where we’re going to need people across different departments.

Last week, I was looking at our intern programme and starting to shortlist from the many applications we’ve had for this year.

Apart from that, I run training sessions to help line managers interview candidates more effectively.

How did you land your current role?

I’ve always believed my career is my responsibility – that I’m the one who has to drive it. And I know that whatever I want to do in this role, there’s support for it, whether that’s attending different webinars, events or training sessions.

My team is responsible for ensuring that we recruit and attract the best possible talent for the organisation.

So we’ll go out into the job markets and promote the opportunities that we have.

And then make sure we take candidates through a fair process.

And we have the opportunity to undertake professional courses and development ourselves, so we can continue to provide the right advice and guidance.

I get a lot of time with people across the organisation to sit and look at ways to do things better.

Going through the process of joining the Bank and finding out how much impact it has, it all felt very inspirational. - Mike Powell Senior Resourcing Manager

Why did you decide to join the Bank?

When I joined, the Bank had some big opportunities and plans for growth.

To have the chance to help put those plans in place and make them happen has been great.”

Being brutally honest, when I first saw the vacancy, I knew nothing about the British Business Bank.

But once I started to learn more about the Bank and its mission, that was the seed for me.

Going through the process of joining the Bank and finding out how much impact it has, it all felt very inspirational.

Making finance work better for small businesses across the UK rang a lot of bells for me, as a proud Yorkshireman.

How have you found working from home?

One of the key assets of this organisation is its people. Everyone’s working towards a shared purpose.

And although I’ve missed the contact with other teams over the last 12 months, we’re all still working to the same common goal, albeit remotely.

During Covid-19, we’ve been busier than ever before.

And we’ve had to move everything that we’d do in a normal office environment online.

Now we conduct interviews using Microsoft Teams.

You do lose some part of that process, and we’ve had to think differently.

But by doing the simple things properly – like being able to get equipment to new joiners so they’re ready on day one – you find a balance and take away the stress that new colleagues will likely be feeling.

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