Director of Student & Academic Services

You’ve got to take setbacks as opportunities to get feedback, learn from it, and use the experience positively.  Sometimes barriers can be self-imposed, whether it’s limiting what you’re truly capable of achieving or trying to achieve too much before you’ve set the foundations in place. 

Tell us about your career path. 

I have been at Queen Mary for 17 years. I started in July 2004. 

I started at Queen Mary in 2004 as a Quality Assurance Officer in, what is now, the Academic Registry and Council Secretariat (ARCS).  I stayed there for just under six years and in 2010 I took a one-year secondment as the School Manager for the School of History.   At the start of 2011 I got the job of School Manager for the School of Physics (as it was then called).   In 2016 I undertook another one year secondment as the Faculty Operating Officer for Humanities and Social Sciences and then in 2017 I was appointed as the Director of Student and Academic Services.  

Going back to 2004 the Quality Assurance Officer role would probably be equivalent to a grade 5 role on the current structure.   Eight months into the role I started an acting-up role as Deputy Academic Registrar as my line manager went on maternity leave.   The main focus of both of these jobs was quality assurance, academic governance, programme approvals, annual programme review, periodic reviews, all of the quality assurance work that cascaded down from the guidance from the QAA.  

When my line manager returned from maternity leave I moved into an Assistant Academic Registrar role which started to involve student casework.   I mostly worked with academic misconduct cases but also wrote institutional responses to the OIA and did some other general conduct work and academic appeals as well.   I then did another period as acting Deputy Academic Registrar before going back to the Assistant Academic Registrar role.  The biggest thing I did during this period was our application for Degree Awarding Powers where we had to go through a year-long assessment so that we could award Queen Mary degrees rather than University of London degrees.  I remember it being a huge amount of work!  

After about six years, I knew I needed to branch out and do something different to progress my career. A secondment came up in the School of History for School Manager. Secondments are really useful, they offer you the chance to try something new knowing that your substantive role will still be there after you finish.  There is also more flexibility with a secondment if you don’t meet all of the essential criteria that would be included if the role went out to external recruitment.     I had worked with the senior staff in the School of History before and that really helped me secure the job, if people know you are a hard worker and have a positive attitude it goes a long way.  

Towards the end of the secondment, a School Manager post in Physics came up.  So I applied for it…and I got it!   Again it really helped that some of the people involved knew me and that they had a positive experience of working with me in the past.  I had worked previously with the Dean for Natural Sciences when I was a Quality Assurance Officer/Assistant Academic Registrar and he was one of my referees for the job.   Also a few years before, I completed one of the undergraduate physics modules (including the exam at Stratford Town Hall!).  I did the module just because I found it interesting and because I wanted to know what people were talking about at the Faculty Board.   When I came to apply for the Physics job, one of the desirable criteria was a demonstrable interest in physics, which I could then show because I’d done this course - not with any planning, but because I genuinely enjoyed it. 

I then spent just over five very happy years in the school.  I really enjoyed working there and it was a fantastic role.   I progressed through those five years, I took on extra responsibility outside of the role. So for instance, I volunteered to become the faculty safeguarding officer (which became quite important later on in my career), and I also volunteered to do investigations under our HR codes of practice and sit on HR panels.  This gradual development of skills outside of the requirements of the role because crucial to my future career development.  

After about five years, the Faculty Operating Officer for Humanities and Social Sciences took a sabbatical.  So I applied for that role and was successful. 

A year later, towards the end of my secondment the role of Director of Student and Academic Services post became vacant.  I spoke to the then-Chief Operating Officer, who suggested I applied for it.  I was initially quite reluctant, focusing more on what I couldn’t do rather than what I could.    I had done a lot of work over my time as School Manager and as the FOO in the arena of student wellbeing and the student experience.  So I applied for it and got it! And because I’d done lots of other work outside of my job previously, like taking on the safeguarding role and doing the HR work, I had a lot more to draw on alongside my job experience. 

I also did the MBA in Higher Education Management at the Institute of Education [now part of UCL] in the late 2000s. I had completed quite a bit of other professional development along the way as well.

You've obviously had a real diversity of experience, and you've talked about the opportunities you've had for secondments and maternity cover. Thinking about those elements of your work experience, which of those do you think has helped the most when it comes to your progression? 

Definitely doing the secondments; that's been really important.  Secondments are amazing, because you basically get to try a job for a year.  And if you don't like it, you go back to your normal, substantive role.  There's no downside, really, and the university's always been really supportive in finding backfill and so forth. Though I appreciate sometimes it can be difficult to find backfill in all areas.  

I think what people sometimes ignore is the opportunity to move to a role at the same grade you’re in at the moment.  So you take that sideways move to get the additional experience, and then you can consolidate it all and go up to the next stage.  Your career progression doesn't always have to be upwards; sometimes sideways works out just as well. 

It has also helped that I have always been keen to get experience beyond the immediate role, such as taking on new line management or doing project work.  These things can really build up over time.

When it comes resources and sources of support, what have you found most useful? 

I think the biggest factor has been having development activity. I completed an MBA in Higher Education Management and I've also done other development within the sector as well such as the Association of Heads of University Administration course on doing your first directorship. 

I’m part of an action learning set with directors from other universities which is enormously helpful and comforting.  

Being part of sector networks has helped as well.  I'm a member of AMOSSHE, which is the group for people who run Student Support Services, but they also do a lot of events for people who aren't necessarily in a leadership position. 

Read literature relating to the sector -  WonkHe, Times Higher (which you can get via our library subscription), UUK briefings, Office for Student publications, HEPI reports and so on.  

I've also done oodles of internal Queen Mary development courses.  People should absolutely make space to do those as well.

You've mentioned that Queen Mary has expanded a lot since you started here. What do you think the impacts of that are on career development opportunities? 

I think there's two different impacts. There's more opportunities now: there's more jobs and roles available. In some ways, that makes it easier.

But in other ways, because Queen Mary is so much bigger, it's harder to be noticed. It's harder for people to stand out. When you're the sole person doing a particular role, it's easier to make contacts and form networks.  When there's lots of people doing a similar role, it can be quite hard for individuals to make their mark.

You’ve moved from a Grade 5 role to a Grade 8 in your time here.  If you were to make recommendations to managers, what can they do to make career development for their direct reports? 

There’s a few things I think managers can do to support their staff.  The first is by spotting talent, watching out for people who are able to take on additional things beyond the traditional boundaries of their role.   I think secondments can be really beneficial, both to the person undertaking it and to the team overall.   

I would also encourage managers to think about what new tasks staff can take on, obviously not to such an extent that it becomes burdensome for the staff member but finding ways to give people interesting new projects or develop line management experience can be good ways to help them develop. 

Make time for continuing professional development (CPD) as well.  Things can be so frenetic, everybody is so busy, but it's really important to make sure that your staff are able to carve out that time to do CPD.

Have you encountered any barriers in your career journey? 

I’ve thought quite long and hard about this question.  Initially I was unsure whether to share this or not but thought it might be helpful to others to know my background.  I had a lot of health problems in my younger life.  I had kidney cancer as a baby back in 1977 and treatments were less refined than they are now.  The radiotherapy stunted the growth on one side of my body so I have had to have a lot of spinal surgeries over the years and had my last major surgery just before joining QM.  Thankfully I no longer have to wear a back brace but I did have my spine fused when I was 11 years old which makes me very short when I sit down.  I’ve often had people think I’ve sat on a broken chair because I look so small when I sit and had to explain that the problem is with me and not the chair!  But that’s OK, it’s just people being kind.  I missed a lot of school growing up and I had to spend two full years in hospital and in convalescence in my early 20s.  

 But barriers are not immovable and we have to play the cards we are dealt in life.   Also we often look at other pople and see just their successes and not their failures.   I’ve been for lots of jobs I didn’t get, but you don’t go around saying ‘I didn’t that dream job last week’.   You’ve got to take those setbacks as opportunities to get feedback, learn from it and use the experience positively.  Sometimes barriers can be self-imposed whether it’s limiting what you’re truly capable of achieving or trying to achieve too much before you’ve set the foundations in place. 

I think another barriers for everybody working in university administration is that it's not obvious what career paths are possible.   I think that can be quite a barrier when you're junior, and you don't see what's possible.  People can be quite unrealistic about the timescales involved – I certainly was!  I’ve now got over 20 years of experience in the sector and am moving on to a Registrar role.  So you do have to be realistic about the amount of experience that's needed.     I think there were probably days, or even weeks, when I thought: this isn't going anywhere,  I don't see the future in this.   When I started at Queen Mary, my plan was to stay 18 months, and then figure out what I wanted to do with my life!  It turns out I was doing it already. 

So: 18 months versus 17 years.  What kept you at Queen Mary? 

I’ve had to edit this answer now I’m leaving Queen Mary!  But I don’t think anyone could accuse me of paying just a fleeting visit to QM.  I really like the place. I like the people. It's a nice, friendly institution. It's an interesting place to work.  And there's lots of opportunity to get ahead, if you want to take it.

I think one thing that internal candidates to jobs often don't realise is that as an internal candidate, you're going for a job interview every day.  You never know when your interactions with somebody are going to become relevant further down the line.  I've been really fortunate to have had a wide network of people who are really nice and really friendly, and really passionate about working here.

Do you have any sense of your plans over the next three to five years? 

Since I first did this interview I’ve accepted a new role at UCL as their Executive Director of Student Services and Registrar.  

My original answer to this question was that  I’ve never really planned any of my career out in advance!  It’s more been about making the most of any opportunities that come along.   And I stand by that, I wasn’t looking for a new role but the opportunity came up and I went for it.   I do think that it can be quite damaging for people to have rigidly fixed goals, such as ‘I want to be a director in five years’ as so much can change along the way.  Career paths aren’t always linear.   The higher education sector is in such a constant state of change that it can make it hard to develop concrete plans.  It’s best to be flexible and try your best in every role that you have. 

I've never really been one for planning, as I expect many people can attest! 

What advice would you give to PS colleagues trying to develop their careers? 

Firstly, and this sounds really obvious, but the best way to develop your career is to do your current job well.  The best advertisement for yourself is being good at your job, especially if you apply for an internal vacancy.  People will know if you've done a good job, if you’re pleasant to deal with, if you’re passionate about the institution, if you do your best to provide a good service.  If you are going to an internal interview you can’t expect the panel to suddenly disregard all of their previous memories of you. 

Secondly: if you do apply for an internal role and don’t get it, react well.  This has happened to me two or three times.  Learn from it, ask for feedback and don’t deny the feedback, show that you’re genuinely okay with not getting the job.  Nothing is going to convince them that they made the right decision more than you reacting badly and arguing with their feedback!  Make it an opportunity to learn what you can do better next time. 

Take risks, because you stand a much better chance of getting a job if you apply for it!  If you don't get it, it doesn't matter – you learn from it and move on.  You're never going to get good at interviews unless you go through quite a few of them. Applying for jobs gets you practice at crafting your CV and improving your interview technique.   Take secondment opportunities where you can, I think they're really powerful. 

Talk to people.  Develop networks, develop an interest in what other people do.  Look for opportunities outside of your job.  Taking on optional work can give you a really good insight into so many different processes, which is so important when you go for higher grade jobs.  For example, becoming Safeguarding Officer for Science and Engineering helped me get the role I’m in now, which required safeguarding experience.  I didn’t know at the time that it would help, but all these little blocks can build up to something bigger. Be the person that volunteers to do things like working on the Clearing hotlines or helping out at Open Days.  These acts of collegiality are a great way of building up skills beyond the confines of your job profile and may be really helpful in that next job interview.