We’re have some exciting opportunities for new people to join our team as Customer Representatives in Leicester and Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex, so we asked Iqra to tell us why she joined Hastings Direct, how she’s found working at home over the past few months and why she’d encourage others to join her. Tell us about your background and what led you to join Hastings Direct I joined Hastings Direct back in October 2019 as a Customer Representative. Before that, I had completed my A levels then worked at Next as a Sales Assistant for nearly three years and I absolutely loved it. I never thought of leaving Next as I was so comfortable around my colleagues and had made lots of new friends. But I decided to apply for Hastings as a lot of people around me were talking about how fun it is to be part of the team. I applied but I did not think I was actually going to leave Next until I entered the building. It was such a pleasure to walk in and see such happy people doing their jobs and absolutely loving what they do – you could tell this by looking at their faces. After my interview, when I found out I was successful, I was over the moon and handed in my resignation the next day – the best decision I ever made. What does a typical day in Customer Service at Hastings entail for you? In a typical day in customer service, I log in and check my emails for any new updates and, basically, it is about providing good service to the customer – and staying positive always. It’s amazing how much you can do for someone over the phone and the customers appreciate the effort you put in handling their queries. Throughout the pandemic customers have been really understanding and it makes me proud to be helping them. How have you found working at home over the past few months? I have been working from home since March 2020 and, in the beginning, I was absolutely not ready for it! But, wow, this has been an amazing journey and I now love working from home. The support I have had from my leaders and being able to spend more time with my kids and family while still doing my job, is the best thing about it. All of us are there for each other – we have absolutely smashed it! My leaders have always been the biggest support to me, always appreciated my work and they have helped me in achieving all my goals so far. 2020 & 2021 has been very successful for me – I got the opportunity to step up as a Team Leader several times, support the admin team, have been involved in many different projects and now I am a part of the Service Excellence team as a Technical Advisor where I help the colleagues with any technical or complicated queries. I am really proud of my journey so far in Hastings and look forward to what this year has for me! What advice would you give to someone looking to develop their career at Hastings? Hastings is a fun, fast paced place with tons of opportunities to progress from role to role and department to department. There is respect for work-life balance, a great culture and career progression is available. If you are looking to progress and want to be recognised for all your hard work – Hastings it is then! What do you love most about working for Hastings Direct? What truly makes Hastings a great place to work is the people you work with. The Hastings team always puts their colleagues first and leaders recognise the hard work and the effort you put into the role – there’s never a dull moment at Hastings! There is always so much going on, every day is a new day. We have Customer Representative roles available in Bexhill-on-Sea and Leicester. If you’d like to be part of a team working together to support our customers, click here to find our more and apply.