Skilling up: Q&A with Claire Nolan on her career at Close Brothers Asset Finance

Career history

• 2013: Customer Service Advisor, CBBF – Hessle
• 2018: Junior Asset Auditor - Hessle, Hull – North East & West up to the Borders
• 2020: Asset Auditor – Hessle, Hull – North East & West up to the Borders

Claire, you joined Close Brothers Asset Finance in 2013 – tell us how your career progressed in that time.

When I joined Close Brothers Asset Finance – just over nine years ago – I was first employed as a Customer Service Advisor for the Broker Division in Hessle.

In 2018, I decided that I wanted to try something new and moved to the Asset Audit team as a Junior Asset Auditor. In 2020 I progressed to the role of Asset Auditor.

Before that, I worked at the Comet Group on a Business Administration apprenticeship programme. While working for Comet at the head offices in Hull, I also had the opportunity to upskill and complete my AAT Accountancy courses level 2 & 3.

Why did you decide to move to the Asset Audit team? What appealed to you?

Despite thoroughly enjoying the customer service role, I was keen to progress my career. As soon as I read the job description for the Asset Auditor role in the Northern region, I believed the role suited my skill set and recognised it as a fantastic opportunity to stay with a company that I enjoyed working for and decided to try a new challenge.

In my first position as Customer Service Advisor for CBBF, I would typically spend my days answering customer queries on the telephone or via email, calculating settlement figures. Part of my remit was to complete the daily banking queries and I regularly completed the asset audit queries that came into the Hessle branch, which I really enjoyed. This gave me a good understanding of what the role would consist of prior to my application.

After building up the courage, I decided to apply for the role and was delighted to secure the job!

What support and encouragement did you receive from colleagues? How did the company facilitate your progression?

Before submitting my application, I contacted Peter Houghton (Asset Audit Manager) who was the hiring manager for the position.

The conversation with Peter proved to be extremely helpful as we were able to discuss the role in more depth, giving me a greater understanding of the intricacies of the job and what the expectations would be of me.

He also suggested that I contact his team to hear personal accounts of what the job would entail. This was great advice as I went on to speak with the entire team, who were extremely helpful and friendly, making me feel instantly at ease.

As asset audit was a new area of expertise for me, I was initially brought in as a ‘junior’. This offered me time to learn the finer details of the position while limiting the pressure of a ‘leap’ to a new role.

My manager put steps in place for me to progress and learn over a period of two years, enabling me to be a fully qualified and confident Asset Auditor by the end of this period.

During these two years, I spent a great amount of time with both my manager and the rest of the team doing ‘on-the-job’ training. Needless to say, it was quite the change from working in an office 9-5, to working at home and spending my days out on the road, but I loved the variety of the site visits and meeting customers.

What transferrable skills and knowledge were you able to bring to the new role in the Asset Audit team?

It was really helpful that I was already familiar with Close Brothers Asset Finance and had an awareness of the regulatory requirements of banking and our values. It meant I could hit the ground running with the new role.

My experience in customer-service focused roles positioned me extremely well to be an Asset Auditor – I was very familiar and comfortable with the importance of providing excellent customer service by acting with fairness, transparency and professionalism and found I was able to build a lasting rapport with clients.

Working in the Hessle branch during my first role with Close Brothers meant I had a working knowledge of the ALFA platform, so I was able to show the audit team some effective new ways to search for information.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

Constantly being on the road and visiting a huge range of customers means our team is essentially the eyes and ears for the business on a ground level. This is an element of the role I really enjoy.

The role of an Asset Auditor is massively diverse and one day is never the same as the last; you could be in a factory one day and in a quarry the next!

I also realise I am extremely fortunate to be in a role I thoroughly enjoy and to work for a company that genuinely cares for its employees and takes an active interest in employees’ wellbeing and personal development.

What motivates you?

Knowing the asset audit team helps make a big impact on protecting the loan book and flagging up any potential risks motivates me hugely. I also enjoy visiting the different types of customers and hearing first-hand their accounts of how Close Brothers has helped their business to grow.

How do you continue to upskill and focus on your continuous personal development?I am constantly learning new things during my days out on the road. Having the opportunity to visit a wide variety of customers allows me to find out more about different industries.

There are always opportunities to reflect on what I’ve achieved, to share what I’ve learned and set new goals. For example, I presented on the topic of different Emission Zones and how this would impact Close Brothers from the perspective of risk. I really enjoyed the research and it resulted in an interesting discussion with colleagues.

What advice would you give to someone in our business who would like to upskill and move into a new area?

I would encourage anyone who is thinking of applying for an internal vacancy to go for it, research the role and speak to people in the same role – you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!