We had a chat with Charlotte to learn about her graduate scheme experience and how being bold and proactive led to her landing her dream role in BT Group.
Can you tell us about what graduate scheme you joined and what your rotations were?
I joined the Project Management Graduate Scheme in the Global division, back in September 2020. My role sat within Operations, which is a large organisation within itself! Our graduate scheme was split into three eight-month rotations to allow us to experience a variety of roles and responsibilities to help us better understand the business and how different teams work.
We were appointed our first rotations and mine was within the Customer Success Office (CSO), which was a small but very welcoming team who were working on the early stages of an internal service management transformation. I was given lots of responsibility and trusted with confidential information from the get-go which made me feel valued and gave me confidence to speak up, question things, and share my thoughts and ideas. Whilst on this rotation I always made the effort to expand my network and set up introduction calls with people I thought had interesting roles or grabbed my attention during our induction. This then sparked an interest in a Business Manager role which I raised with my Assignment Manager which then resulted in a role in Operations for the Customer Success Leadership Team (CSLT). I did this work alongside my role in the CSO at this point.
When the time came for me to find my second rotation, I decided to take up the Operational Business Manager role full time and worked to support the CSLT on various projects over the next six months. Whilst in this role and beginning to think about my final rotation, I was approached for a role working in the International Markets Executive Office on a large sales transformation project. This exposed me to Sales and Account Manager roles which I quickly became very interested in and invested lots of my own time into learning the skills and product knowledge to land an Account Manager role. Fortunately, I managed to achieve this in May 2022 and began the role in July 2022, and I am loving it so far! Throughout my graduate scheme, BT were very accommodating in terms of me moving across teams and operational units. I believe the key to landing roles that you are challenged in and really enjoy is to network, be bold and put calls in people’s diaries – show proactiveness and offer your help, as not many people will say no and it may open doors for you in the future and if not, at least you have gained experience.
You joined BT Group in September 2020 during the pandemic. Can you tell us about your experience starting off the graduate scheme and what it’s like now?
When I started the graduate scheme, it was the height of lockdown and ‘meeting’ everyone virtually was strange as sometimes it felt difficult to really connect and get to know people. I am originally from Glasgow, Scotland however, was due to be based down in London. I was very excited for things to reopen to make the move down and meet real people in the office!
In April 2021 I was finally able to move down to London, and I started to go into our old office (BT Centre) once a week. However, it was very quiet as I think many people were still adjusting to life post covid and waiting for the opening of our new office, One Braham. Despite this, lots of graduates were travelling into the office and Thursday post work drinks became a regular! This was a really nice way to meet people and socialise with colleagues in an informal setting.
Now that the new office is fully open and we are encouraged to go in on a regular basis it is very motivating to go in, see people, network, collaborate, and socialise.
How would you describe the social element of the graduate scheme?
The social side of the graduate scheme was difficult to begin with, virtual games and connection opportunities were organised however, were obviously not the same or as fun as they would have been in person. As I mentioned previously, once things opened more after covid, a lot of the graduates were out regularly for work drinks and socialising which was fun but was all proactively organised ourselves.
In October, the Early Careers team organised a Graduate Ball for our year to celebrate us finishing and rolling into our permanent roles. This was travel, accommodation for the night, food, drinks, awards, and it was a great night to round off the graduate scheme – meeting a lot of colleagues for the first time as we were finishing!
Again, I do think the social element is what you make it. I believe that going into the office regularly, attending any events or conferences that you get invited to is a great way to expand your network and potentially make some new friends – get involved!
What skills and knowledge have you grown and developed throughout your graduate scheme? What unique development and learning opportunities are on offer at BT Group?
I have taken part in APMQ – Agile Project Management Qualification course which was funded by the business and was a great opportunity to have some certification and credibility on your profile to help build on real life PM experience alongside your day job.
BT Group employees also have free access to LinkedIn Learning which allows me to take part in whichever courses I would like (and there are thousands to choose from)! This helps me to develop skills in areas of weakness or where my manager and I highlight as focus areas for development – my current focus is improving my Excel knowledge!
Also, internally within the business there are always a variety of courses to partake in to help plan your career goals, build a measurable Personal Development Plan (PDP), improve skills, and build upon your product knowledge. The main learning / development opportunity is making use of the colleagues around you and the experience they have within BT and the wider industry etc to better yourself and learn from experience.
What initiatives have you got involved in outside your day-to-day role?
When I started the graduate scheme, I applied to be a part of the SHINE people network which is a team that organise knowledge calls, networking events, career development opportunities for our colleagues throughout BT Group. I became the Connect Lead and as part of this role I hosted several ‘Speed Networking’ sessions using the Teams breakout room function to bring our colleagues together especially during difficult covid times. This role was great for when I was new to the business and had the capacity to get involved in additional projects. It also gave me good exposure to people across the business.
Another initiative that I am still currently involved in is a Women in Sales series which I work on with a group of ex graduates to celebrate our female talent within Global Sales. We interview inspiring women on a fortnightly basis to hear about their experiences within BT, how they work to overcome any bias they may face, to promote gender diversity, and mainly to encourage females to consider a move into Sales – it’s a great place to be and perhaps not all that some may think (once including myself)!
You recently finished the graduate scheme. Can you tell us about the role you moved into full time?
I found my permanent role back in July, but I officially finished the Graduate Scheme in September, and I am loving my new role! I am an Account Manager for two major client accounts, HSBC and Barclays, which sit within the Banking Sector within International Markets.
My role is to build a relationship with and really understand any problems or issues that our customers face, and to provide the best possible solutions to them. It involves a lot of stakeholder management, organisation, and forward thinking.
