“I’ve never been happier in a role; I’m so thankful I found this place.”
In the first of our ‘Employee Spotlight’ series, we focus on Account Director, Keri Chewter.
“It was the straw that broke the camel’s back, even though it was ultimately insignificant. A peer jumped down my throat via email, with threatening language acting like the World had ended. When in fact it was a minor mistake, caused by constantly spinning plates. It was toxic, anxiety inducing, and incredibly harsh; I shouldn’t have even been put in that position.”
Don’t worry, this is not Keri talking about her experiences at ResourceiT, she is explaining why she decided to leave her job in the corporate world at the start of 2021. Keri had been working in that sphere for the previous 12 years and moving away from it is certainly not a decision she regrets.
Keri’s first job was as a 14-year-old call controller at a taxi rank, before leaving education to work as part of a call centre credit control team. However, aged just 19 and working for an inside sales team at a Microsoft partner, her marketing potential was spotted; the rest is history.
“I got on really well with the marketing manager and she nabbed me to go and work with her. I instantly found a love for marketing and the psychological nature of it, understanding what people want and matching that with an offering.
“Over the next fifteen years I worked in a variety of marketing roles, including BAE systems as well as with telecoms and electronics manufacturers.”
When asked what it was like working as a woman in what was a very male dominated workplace, Keri clearly revelled.
“As an individual you need to know how to get on and work those relationships. I certainly don’t think anyone felt threatened by me, if anything I was underestimated, but I was methodical, knew what I wanted and used that to my advantage.”
Priorities changed for Keri once becoming a mother, and she now has two wonderful boys aged six and four.
“By 2020 I was beginning to feel burnt out from the corporate world, my children were aged two and four at this point. I had dropped down to four days but expectations hadn’t dropped. The corporate world can give you a golden handcuff situation with pensions and medical cover, but your day-to-day wellbeing is the most important thing and I began to realise that.
“Thankfully, my husband who works for Microsoft had heard of a company called ResourceiT based locally to us. They were advertising for a campaign manager; the stars aligned so to speak.”
Keri first got to meet with founder and CEO, Julie Simpson, and she was instantly impressed when she was interviewed at the start of 2021.
“I mean, how can you not fall in love with Julie. It instantly all seemed a good fit. Rather than seeing this square hole that she wanted to fill, she looked at me as an individual, saw my skills, and thought about how to utilise them. I remember leaving thinking, this is the start of something.
“They understood my commitments as a mother and proposed me working four days a week around the school day, it was just the change I needed. Julie made me feel like an individual, a unique person, not just someone ticking off competencies for a job spec.”
“I knew Keri was a shining star from the first time we met. She simply sparkled. To be a great award-winning company you must win and retain the best talent, so know it when you see it and grab hold of it! Keri would work all day and all night sometimes if we let her, so it’s up to us to understand her motivators, personal drivers, and commitments, and give her the flexibility and space to work everything through. Everyone at ResourceiT is highly valuable and brings a unique contribution to the business and our customers – getting the best out of people is our secret sauce.” Julie Simpson, Founder & CEO.
Over the course of the two years that Keri has been at ResourceiT, she has loved every minute of it, and the reasons don’t just stop at the flexibility she is given as a parent.
“They couldn’t be more flexible in that regard, but they are also flexible in so many other ways. As an example, I believe I have undiagnosed ADHD. Sometimes I find myself working till 4am as I can’t leave something alone, or I have moments in the working day where I just need a brain break as my head can spin.
“Our General Manager, Tory Simpson, has been so helpful in that respect, she always suggests that if I don’t have client commitments, that I go home and pick it up later.
“She treats people like adults and trusts them to get the job done. My unique ADHD perspective is fully embraced at ResourceiT, it’s considered of value and not a barrier.”
Over the course of the time Keri has been in her role, she has certainly seen plenty of change within the business.
“It really does blow me away. The size of the team, the capability expansion, the number of clients, on every scale the team has grown. Tory has such vision for the business, and our recent office move has made us feel as creative on the outside as we are on the inside.”
In summarising, Keri is in no doubt that she made the right decision when she chose ResourceiT.
“Being able to produce your own ideas that are embraced by the company is just amazing, that wasn’t always the case in previous roles. I love coming to work, I never ever have that blue Monday feeling. We have fun, and we deliver, it is such a great environment. I’ve never been happier in a role; I’m so thankful I found this place.”
It certainly seems a world apart from spinning plates in the corporate world just two years ago.
