Here is Jess' Story...

• What did your first day look like when you first joined Columbus?

  So when I joined Columbus the first time, I came in as a Senior Marketing Executive. This meant that I reported straight into a global marketing director at that point even though I was only marketing person in the UK team at the time.

  My first day though, I loved it. What we had was an all-day induction/welcome day and quite a few people would also start on the same day, I think there was roughly 15 of us when I started. They did include those who had already just started, so maybe five people who started earlier would also be included in these… but what I loved about it was it put us all in a group of “newbies”, which was nice.

  Another thing that happened was throughout the day you also got a presentation from the head of each department explaining what they did and how they worked, so you got a really good overview on the business from that, but you also got to meet key people from these too. We also did a networking lunch as well, the UK CEO [Mary] at the time came in etc.
  

  As a first day, I learnt a lot about the business and new friends in the process! I was shown where my desk was and then I received my laptop and other equipment. I had my IT induction, and then met my manager the next day.
  

• Did you feel like you were able to make a difference?

  At the time, our marketing had no automation or software as this was solely done via CRM, and I brought a lot of experience from my previous company where I would say “we need this” and “we need that”, so for me it felt like I could make a lot of a difference. I learnt lots within a short space of time because my manager at the time was hands-off and I was allowed to run with things.
  
  I also learnt a lot from Simon as well, as in the old office I sat in with the sales team, so I was close with both Simon and Glenn, and with Tele-marketing internally back then as well (so I learnt a lot from them as well.

• How long were you gone for?

  Just over 5 months I think, but I was originally here for two years. The marketing team had grown and changed quite dramatically, both locally and globally. I went to a company which was a step up from Columbus at the time, I left in the October and came back in the February!

  I did enjoy it but I personally thought that there was too much travel, and I was almost in a different country and time zone every week – I just couldn’t do that…

  So on a one random day on my way to the office, the CEO UK had rang me quite unexpectedly and asked if I fancied coming back! – then the conversation went on from there, and we would both meet up a couple of times to talk about coming back as the overall UK Manager for marketing. I agreed, for I was coming back into an organisation which I wouldn’t have left if it wasn’t for a step-up to a managerial role, so I knew that I would enjoy it still and it was the “step-up” that I wanted.

• What was it that drew you back?

  The people. I love working with my colleagues and the rest of the team. I love the variety in my role that I did, so there was a lot of digital stuff that I did, but also events and other things that pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I learnt much more than what I did in those first two years of originally being at Columbus. I have also been able to bring a lot of positive change as well, so for me that felt really good. I had developed really good relationships with the other global marketing team members as well, because I did a lot of the training for them (on HubSpot, because I had used this previously and no one else had and I lead on those projects).

  I did really enjoy the first opportunities that my very first manager gave to me at Columbus, because I had managed all of the publication partnerships and other things as well, which meant I could go to the “fancy days” out in London, get involved in business meetings and get involved in making decisions. With that, I knew I was going to get that (and more) from when I came back.