From ‘Just a Job’ to a Career
Emily joined UKAS in August 2016, immediately having graduated in Law from St. Mary’s University in Twickenham.
No longer a student, Emily was keen to get a job as quickly as possible and had heard from friends that the team at UKAS, in Emily’s local Staines-Upon-Thames, was small and friendly.
“A lot of friends from Uni went into administrative roles in large corporate offices in the city, or to work in call-centres or sales. These positions didn’t really appeal to me and when I researched the company prior to interview, I thought it sounded really interesting and could see UKAS genuinely strives to make a positive difference in the world.”
Having joined UKAS, Emily supported her colleagues Tracy Pia and Jackie Burton in the TQG team (now the Technical Quality & Risk or TQR team). Emily’s role was to help ensure UKAS maintains our high standards internally, serving our customers to the best of our abilities.
Emily’s potential was quickly recognised and in 2018 she was promoted to Team Leader of the Development and TQR teams, reporting to Accreditation Director, Lorraine Turner.
This new role involved a considerable extension of Emily’s responsibilities as she was now responsible for coordinating the various development projects that UKAS is involved with, from initial Expressions of Interest, through to pilot programmes and, ultimately, grants of accreditation.
Emily is active in assisting Project Managers and Assessment Managers in delivery of new projects in all the fields UKAS works with across a wide range of sectors.
“The variety of the job is definitely the thing I enjoy the most. I have been involved in the development of accreditation programmes in Biobanks, SARCs, MPACE and digital forensics. I enjoy talking to our customers at every stage of their journey, but the best part is when I hear that all their hard work has paid off and they have received their grant of accreditation.”
At the same time, Emily still manages administrative support for TQR, ensuring they have the resources required to run this important department effectively.
Emily explained that the biggest challenge comes in coordinating the sheer volume of projects that UKAS has going on at any one time, and this has encouraged her to develop good organisational habits and record-keeping.
“When I first applied to work at UKAS, it was certainly more about just getting a job. However, I quickly found my stride here and have really enjoyed each part of my role, which has now evolved into a rewarding and satisfying career.”
Emily’s place at UKAS was recently further cemented as the recipient of the Executive Award for PRIDE Values at the UKAS Staff Awards in January.
UKAS Non-Executive Director, Adrian Newland summarised Emily’s achievements when presenting her with her award:
“Emily exemplifies all the PRIDE values she is professional, takes responsibility and in her role supporting development and helping to drive innovation and service excellence. She has flourished during 2020 taking a lead on complex and value adding external webinars as well as supporting colleagues outside her team including Marketing and Operations. She truly deserves the be recognised for both her hard work and team spirit.”