The mission
Our candidates are on a worldwide mission to analyze, understand and discover the richness of energy and environment activities. Like all GDF SUEZ employees, they are committed to responsible energy.
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The 2 teams
Perrine and Julien
currently in France
Marc and Laure
currently in France
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‘Change is opportunity’ |
07/04/2011 |
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First Name : Kelly |
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The Energy tellers : What is exactly your job ?
Kelly Clark : I cover all of the UK and my role is to advise and guide managers on anything which involves dealing with people and their employment. I especially work on how to identify learning needs and training delivery. Sometimes, I deliver the training myself. There are a lot of engineers at Cofely UK. They are very good at technical skills but as they move through their careers and get into managerial roles, they need to use different skill sets. Therefore, they sometimes need assistance to deal with people. If that is the case, we encouage them to call us, learn and move forward. It is our job, what we are trained for : we try to pass on the message that there is no weakness shown by calling us for help. The training sessions I deliver are in the field of soft skills and management with themes such as leadership, time management or customer care. I also design some assessment tests used during the recruitment of managers.
What do you like in your work ?
I like my work because you never know what is coming next. I like the variety of it. I think that’s a real strength for this job, you can’t get bored with it ! Also, it’s about people, so we can see the effect of what we are doing. You can see people developing new skills and competences ; see them becoming more confident. It’s a real boost !
And what do you like less ?
It’s a tough one because I do enjoy my job ; I know I’m lucky ! (laughs) But I also think that if you don’t enjoy what you are doing, you should change it! You are the master of your destiny. The job I’m doing can get tiring but such as anything which you put some energy into. Also, if you get a boost when you see people change/evolve, there are always people who don’t want to change. That can be frustrating. You know they can change but they just don’t want to. This is a flipside for any trainer, I think.
How did you get there ?
This is becoming difficult (laughs). This is my fifth proper job since I left university where initially I studied biology. I started as an administrative assistant in HM Prison Service. Then I progressed through several grades and was a HR manager before becoming a learning and development manager in HM Court Services. It was in the prison sector where my interest in people and their behaviour started and I was lucky to be supported by them through my HR qualifications. I undertook a degree in Training and Education while working at the courts to understand more about learning and development. Then, I changed fields and was a publican (Editor’s note : pub owner), a training consultant and an operations manager in a charity that delivers business education in schools. And here I am now, at Cofely UK.
Do you have a piece of advice for young graduates ?
Think carefully about the specialisation you want to go into. The age when you graduate, it is hard to make decisions you are going to base the rest of your life on. You really need to sit down and think : what am I good at, what are my skills, my competences, what really interests me ? The age I graduated, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I studied biology then changed track completely because I got interested in the people side of things. I was lucky, there was a lot of mobility in the prison sector so I had the opportunity to try different areas (health care, finance, human resources) and found the one that I fitted into. I did my qualifications in the HR area alongside progressing in my career, following what really interested me. Sometimes, you need to step back and think : is this what I want to do ? Set yourself some goals, but keep in my mind that they can change…change is opportunity !
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