Aidan P.
About me
| Aidan P. | |
| Chemistry | |
| Chemistry | |
| Undergraduate | |
| Goodricke | |
| 2013 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Senior Account Manager | |
| Funding Circle | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Finance and consultancy | |
| Medium-size business (50-249 employees) | |
| 2014 | |
| £25000 |
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A day in the life of a Senior Account Manager in the United Kingdom
I successfully used recruitment agencies to find this role
My career goals when I graduated
Non-specific. I wanted to earn a boatload of cash.
My career history
I did a few small jobs before graduating, then did cold-calling for a local company for 6 months after graduating.
After joining Funding Circle I worked in the sales team for 18 months, before splitting off to start the Outbound Sales team, and it's grown from there.
What has helped my career to progress
Being prepared to have a go.
Working at a young company, stuff doesn't always work first time. If you can roll your sleeves up and stick with it, people will want to work with you.
Courses taken since graduation
Nothing formal - but I'm currently learning to code properly.
How my studies have helped my career
Studying Chemistry at York taught me how to really dissect a problem, from identifying the component parts, how they interact, and how to build a solution.
What surprised me about my career so far
It's not been as hard-nosed as I expected. If you work with people who love what they do, you can't help but enjoy it.
Where I hope to be in 5 years
Running strategic projects across Europe, or founding the commercial division at a brand new startup.
My advice to students considering work
Read the news. Follow the stories that interest you, and see what companies are working in those fields. Do something that you care about!
Also, don't try and con your way through an interview. If they see through it, they won't hire you. Even worse, if they don't see through it, you might end up in a job that's no good for you.
My advice about working in my industry
Culture fit is king.
You spend a huge chunk of your life at work, and if you're working hard, then you'll want to be alongside people you like.
NB: This doesn't mean they have to have table tennis. If you're excited about working in banking, then go and take the world of banking by storm.
Contacting me
I'm happy to chat about anything that you think will help!
I can tell you plenty about my background/career plans, as well as interview or industry advice.
What I do
I started the Outbound Sales channel for Funding Circle - everything including the strategy, budgeting and rollout. We're getting bigger, but it's still a tech startup at heart.
Skills I use and how I developed them
Loads of analytical skills came across from my chemistry course. If you can't measure something, you can't improve it. Sales has spent the last 25 year moving away from the "gift of the gab", and into an exact science.
If you can break down the data, you can find opportunities in there.
What I like most
I work across every function in the business, as well as with our customers.
I have to pitch to the CEO to fund my work, align it with our marketing team, work with our tech department to get everything integrated, and make sure that it still turns a profit each quarter.
What I like least
It can be a bit chaotic.
The work is fast and exciting, but as we're always trying to break new ground, it can feel a bit disjointed. Especially if something doesn't work!
What surprised me most
There is nobody to tell you if you are right (or wrong). Everything prior to working life usually came with a "right" answer, that a parent/teacher/lecturer could explain.
Working here, you have to make the best assumptions you can, and find a way to make it work from there.
Next steps...
If you like the look of Aidan’s profile, the next steps are down to you! You can send Aidan a message to find out more about their career journey. If you feel you would benefit from more in-depth conversations, ask Aidan to be your mentor.