From Adviser to Leader: Natalie’s Journey

I joined Vodafone in 2016, starting as a Service Desk Adviser. I had worked in telecommunications and noticed the Service Desk Adviser role for Public & Government accounts, which sounded interesting and different from what I had previously done. I also knew a number of people who worked at Vodafone and they had all good things to say.

I started my career in Customer Services and had progressed to handling complaints and process mapping at a different telecommunications provider, which gave me some great transferrable skills for joining the Service Desk team at Vodafone. I really enjoyed the role and the customer base we dealt with, as it was very fast paced and allowed you to develop new skills continuously. I’m quite techy and enjoyed learning about the solutions and products we offer our customers, which are so much more than just mobile phones, so it was a great fit for me. The role was demanding at times and there’s lots of different systems to use but resolving customer faults and making sure they have the best experience is such a rewarding part of the job.

I had a great Team Leader who supported me in my progression to my next step, which was to a Lead Adviser role. I had regular 121s and coaching sessions, and I was encouraged whilst in that role to complete the Vodafone Aspire Team Leader Development Programme. Aspire is a programme to gain leadership and people management skills, consisting of workshops on topics such as coaching and wellbeing. After I passed this course in 2018, I moved into a Team Leader role, managing a team of 13 Service Desk Advisers. Having been an Adviser myself, it gave me a deeper understanding of what my teams do on a day to day basis and it helped me coach and support them, as well as assisting with any technical and product related questions too.