Rachel Court

Name: Rachel Court
Job Title: General Manager, Human Resources & Operations
Time with the Society: 16 years

My background's not in Financial Services. I actually studied a Law degree initially but as I didn't want to practice law, I went into industry - spending three years as the factory manager for a footwear company in Kendal, the Lake District. The reason I wanted to change career was because I'd got married and was living in Preston, a long way from where I was working - which was quite impractical.

I'm from Yorkshire originally and wanted to move back to the region. It was a friend of the family that recommended Yorkshire Building Society to me. She worked there and thought they could offer me a great career. I applied for a Graduate Trainee Position - however, I didn't get this because they thought I was too experienced for the position. They said they'd be in touch if anything else came up and I thought it was a case of 'don't call us, we'll call you'. However, six months later they did get in touch about a position. I was interviewed for this and was successful, joining Yorkshire Building Society as an Assistant Manager in the Mortgage Arrears department. This was in 1991 and in the height of the arrears and possessions crisis. So it was a frenetic and high profile area. I learned fast and it was very enjoyable and rewarding. But because of the nature of the work it was also very stressful.

After three years, I decided it was time for a change. I discussed this with my Manager and we were able to arrange for me to swap roles with the Assistant Manager in Mortgage Administration. I learned a lot in this role and it broadened my knowledge in Mortgages. I then took a break for Maternity leave and on my return was promoted to Manager of the department. This was very interesting because at the time we were restructuring and setting up the Member Contact Centre. It's strange to think that we began with 15 people and now there's hundreds involved in the Member Contact Centre.

I then had a second period of Maternity leave and when I came back, I returned to Mortgage Arrears as Manager. Again, there was restructuring going on and I was able to build on my knowledge in Mortgages to take a role that involved managing the Arrears, Administration and Securities departments.

My next opportunity came up in Investment Services. Again, there was a lot to learn as previously I'd only been involved in mortgages. It was also a large department of over 70 people. This encouraged me to look for some training and I chose a course at Henley Management School. The Yorkshire supported me in this and it was a fantastic experience. I was working with people from different industries and it was one of those experiences that really made a difference.

A completely different challenge then came up in Intermediary Services. I'd never really seen myself as a sales person and the role would be involved with running a sales team and managing our relationship with some major connections. After some thought, I decided to go for it. In for a penny, in for a pound! I successfully moved into this new role and because we moved intermediary sales from the branch, my initial team grew and I recognised we had a need for training. There were people in the team with a background in sales but with no formal training. So I arranged for sales training at all levels of the team - including the three Sales Managers and myself.

This role evolved to become Sales Director of Accord Mortgages as I'd been investigating the concept of setting up a subsidiary intermediary company. And in April 2003, we got approval from the Board to go ahead.

On 1st October 2003 I moved to become Head of Mortgages for the whole Group. This was an exciting new challenge that enabled me to broaden my experience still further and contribute to the strategic direction and financial success of the organisation.

Finally, in February 2006, I was appointed to the General Managerment Team, with responsibility for the Human Resources function. I always appreciated the vital importance of our people and the difference that excellent leadership of those people can make, and in recent times I've had a real opportunity to develop our people agenda. My responsibilities have recently been extended further, taking on the leadership of the Operations function where I spent much of my early career. A fantastic amount has changed since my early days in those departments, but many of the same people are still there - a testament to what a great place this is to work.

I think the Yorkshire look after their people. If they identify you as someone who's committed with potential and talent, they'll develop you. Obviously, your personal development is very much down to you. But if you're motivated and you're someone who wants to get on, the Yorkshire will work with you to help you achieve what's right for your career.

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