Jilly is an OU Graduate, and the Joint Managing Director of Telford Mann. Here is her inspirational career story, and the reasons why Telford Mann want to recruit OU students:
Once I had completed my A Levels, I was unable to take up my place at University and so I took up a trainee tax role with a national accountancy practice. Accountancy and tax weren’t subjects I was particularly interested in and after a short time I moved to the Financial Planning Department. I was there for a few years, before I ultimately joined Telford Mann, as we are known today. That was 15 years ago and in that time I have gone from the firm’s first trainee paraplanner to the Joint Managing Director, building the team from 3 to 30, whilst becoming one of the youngest Chartered Financial Planners and Fellows of the Chartered Insurance Institute in the country.
When I joined I was attaining my professional Financial Planning qualifications to progress my career, whilst at the same time studying for my Open University degree in Humanities & Classical Studies. I knew that I still wanted a degree and I wanted to study what I enjoyed, not what I had to study for my career. At school I had always enjoyed Latin and Ancient Greek and with the subjects so rarely taught these days, I wanted to continue learning these Ancient Languages. Combining my professional studies with my degree was difficult, because the exam week for both fell at the same time every year, so some years I would have four 3 hour written papers in one week, but I was determined that I wanted to achieve my degree and professional studies as quickly as possible and so it was worth the effort.
At the time I received no support with any of my studies from my employer and so funding all of my studies was down to me. The OU allowed me to study at a time and pace to suit me, knowing that if I wanted or needed more interaction from my tutors it was available. My long term aspiration remains to complete my Masters and Doctorate via the OU.
My experience showed that to even start a course with the OU required commitment, discipline and determination. To continue with those studies for 5 or 6 years through to the end of an Honours course demonstrates all of the attributes we look for in new recruits. At Telford Mann we invest in people. Far from my own experience, we fully fund and support all of our team’s development, investing over £10,000 in each and every one to ensure that they reach the highest level of professional qualification. To achieve those qualifications requires the same commitment to study and self-improvement which an OU degree demands.
We are a growing firm of talented and aspirational individuals who all want to further their career. We offer state of the art facilities for work and play, whilst at the same time investing in our team’s wellbeing and rewarding success with responsibility. To us the subject studied doesn’t matter too much, we are more interested in the discipline and commitment it takes to undertake an OU course. We offer a diverse structure without hierarchy, whatever your skill set, you are just as important to us as anyone else, whatever your job title. We offer an opportunity and a firm worthy of the City, but without the commute. To continue to grow, we need new recruits and given the skills required, the OU is an obvious place for us to find that talent.
