Pete's journey to becoming a Team Leader

Here at First Response Finance, we're big on supporting our team members with their career goals. Whether they want to start Business Foundation* or Leadership Academy*, work part-time in another team, or just develop the skills needed in their current job role - we'll be there every step of the way to help them on their journey!

*an internal course at First Response Finance

Pete's journey

We spoke with Pete, a Team Leader based in our Risk and Onboarding team, to find out about his journey from Dealership Account Manager to Team Leader - here's how the conversation went...

How long have you worked at First Response Finance for?

I've worked at First Response Finance for a total of ten years and was originally hired as a (vehicle) Dealership Account Manager, which I did for nine years before becoming a Team Leader one year ago.

I've always been bought into the culture at First Response Finance, like massively. I went around quite a few different jobs before starting here and never experienced a culture like this one! I enjoy working for a company that actually cares about the people. It's a nice, comfortable place to be and it makes you want to stay and build a career here - I knew pretty quickly that I didn’t really want to go anywhere else, I could see myself staying for a long time.

How did you decide that you wanted to be a Team Leader?

Business Foundation had made me sit back and think about what I actually enjoy doing at work. This is where the leadership pathway came to mind. My Team Leader supported me with this goal and gave me opportunities to get involved in developing people through training and supporting new starters. I then started Leadership Academy (after finishing Business Foundation) and this further cemented my love for helping develop people and being involved in people's journeys' at First Response Finance.

Is your dream job everything you thought it would be?

It's exactly what I thought it would be, but I think that's because I was in a position where my peer group were Team Leaders before I got the job, so my closest friends and colleagues were people that would be feeding me with information the whole time; telling me what it's really like to be a leader which helped me with my expectations.

I would say if you think you want a specific job, then it's up to you to get that exposure yourself. If you're just sitting in a little bubble with the team you're in at the moment, you'll struggle to meet your own expectations of the role. So, go out and spend time with people who do the job you want to get a realistic understanding of it!

What's the best thing about your job?

I love being able to support people who have career goals like I did in their journey. One member of my team has recently graduated from our Business Degree Apprenticeship programme and they want to be on the leadership journey. I love giving people opportunities, spending time with them, and challenging mindsets - which I'm doing a lot of with people in my team at the moment.

What advice would you give to anyone looking to progress their career at First Response Finance?

I'm a massive advocate of the mechanisms at First Response Finance, like Business Foundation and Leadership Academy etc., but they don't get you the whole way there. It's not a linear process to do those two courses and then become a Team Leader, it's about using them as tools, applying what you've learnt from them, and carving out an opportunity for yourself.

If you want to work for a business that's been recognised as a "world class company to work for" by Best Companies, then look no further – we're hiring! 👀

To find out more about the roles currently available, check out our careers website.