24 years ago, when a wet behind the ears 17 year old applies for a part time job, at what was then known as Granby Marketing, to help pay for uni whilst doing a biomed degree. Then, gets invited to an assessment centre where he meets 3 pretty inspirational ladies, Karen Doyle, Jayne Ditchfield and of course, Tracey Davies. Following the telephone test which involved taking a mock call for the Aldi Stores Location Line, I was invited to follow a very smiley Tracey to an office for the actual interview. 
Over the years, I’ve come to learn that it is the skill of the interviewer to ease candidates, not scare, stress them out or try and trip them up. People perform at their best in interviews when they are at ease and can be themselves. I now reflect on that and can see that’s exactly what Tracey did, managed to ease a pretty petrified 17 year old who was pretty desperate for this job. I can still see her sat behind the desk smiling a lot, and just speaking really gently, that made the world of difference. Then, comes my school boy error, she asked “do you know what we do”, well, of course I didn’t, and had to be honest in that. So she explained, “you know the tokens on the back of Kellogg’s packets to send away for things, well, we are the company you send them to, to our Blackburn address, where the toys are sent out from. And the number you see on the side of the packets for customer service, that also comes to us”. It was then I realised that a whole industry existed which I later learned to be known as, outsourcing. The great news was, my school boy error wasn’t held against me and the next thing I know, I’m working with a group of people, that, if I am perfectly honest, shaped my future.
I recollect Tracey, as Call Centre Manager, her office being in the middle of the call centre floor which was referred to as “the gold fish bowl”, when walking through the call centre, she walked with a purpose, but always smiling. God knows how much pressure she may have been under at times, but sitting from my desk, I couldn’t see it. She would walk across the floor, wearing her trouser suit and carrying a folder, never too busy to smile and say hello. I looked at her and thought, jeez, I think I want to do what she does. The environment and culture at Granby, then IntelMark, then CPM was very “people first”. It actually felt like a family. As a young whippersnapper, I genuinely felt excited to be going into work, and loved the people I worked with and we all became very close friends, and I know, that is testament to the leadership. Anyway, I finished the Biomed degree in 2003 whilst still working at CPM, but decided to say thank you to science, but I’d rather try and pursue a career in call centres.
24 years later, that’s all I know! Thank you, Tracey for being such a kind interviewer, for not holding my school boy error against me, and for inspiring me to pursue a career that I have both enjoyed and found rewarding. I wanted to share this story because although 24 years has passed, I remember it well, because it meant a huge deal to me.
And I still have my memo, you have no idea how ecstatic I was to get this and my £25 WH Smith vouchers.