This is Octavia. She’s our Financial Planning Manager; keeping track of each team and making sure we’re all aligned and in budget!
Can you talk me through what it is you do here at notonthehighstreet?
I’m the Financial Planning Manager which basically means I’m involved in the planning of our spending and also the forecasting of our revenue too, as well as reporting on how we’re doing in relation to our budget. I work really closely with lots of other teams, as well as the Finance Business Partners who are embedded across the business (within Commercial, Tech, Marketing etc). They report back on what each team is spending and what each teams plans are for the coming months.
How long have you been here for and what’s happened over your time here?
It’s been a year and 4 months so far and lots has happened while I’ve been here. I came in as Commercial Finance Manager and when someone in our team went on maternity, I stepped in to cover her as Financial Planning Manager. I really enjoy it — it’s always busy but it’s a fun busy. As a person, I’m naturally inquisitive — so being able to have an eye over each team really appeals! It’s fascinating knowing what each team is working on, and what things may hold for them in the future too.
Where were you working before?
I was working at Boden before here — doing financial planning and analysis there. It’s quite similar to what I do now, but was probably a little more focused on routine analysis.
What does a typical day look like?
There is a certain time of the month where what we do is really typical. Around month end, for example, I know exactly what I’m going to do for 5 days. It’ll be a mixture of reporting on what has happened in the previous month and then talking to the business areas about what their plans are and what’s changed in the forecast. After this, for a period of 2–3 weeks, what I do could really be anything. I think that’s what makes my role so exciting; it mixes it up a bit and gives a bit of variety. It’s nice knowing that I’ve got a few days of reporting, but then a few weeks where I could be helping out with anything at all — analysis, planning, and working with lots of different teams.
What was it about Finance that made you want to pursue a career in it?
It’s funny because I’m really not your classic “Accountant”. If I’m honest, when I graduated it was mid recession and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to keep my options open, so going into Finance and getting an accountancy qualification just felt like a really versatile career choice, and a logical thing to do at that time. Over my career to date, I’ve really managed to hone in on the areas of Finance I particularly enjoy. It’s the retail, communicative and commercial side, rather than the nitty gritty technical side of Finance that I’ve been drawn towards.
What did you do at university and what was your first job afterwards?
I studied History, and once I finished I went to do a grad scheme at Deloitte. I did my ACA qualification whilst I was in the audit advisory team, doing financial consulting. It was a really fun place to start your career — it’s really good when you’re fresh out of uni because you’re with this massive cohort of people. Everyone’s fresh out of studying, working really hard but also having a really good time socialising too. For me, however I hit a point when I climbed the ladder a bit higher where I knew it wasn’t the right choice for me — I didn’t want to be Partner so it was from there that I took the role with Boden.
What’s your favourite thing about working here?
It’s really cliche but it really is the people. Honestly, I have never worked somewhere before where even when things get a bit stressful, we still laugh every single day. Everyone is so friendly and so much fun, but also really bright and switched on. When you go and ask someone to help you with something, everyone is just so willing to get involved which is really refreshing. It makes a massive difference to the culture and how we all work together too.
What’s the most challenging part of your role?
I’d say the most challenging aspect is the multi-tasking required. There’s so much going on and changing that I really need to keep on top. Trying to pick up all of the little changes that happen and see how things will affect us is all a bit of a balancing act. It’s trying to balance all of the details, and also making sure you’re building all of that up into the bigger, overall picture. It can be hard, but we have such strong people in each part of the business, that it makes my life so much easier because everyone’s so on top of it.
What’s been your most memorable moment?
It was probably when we did our sponsorship with Luna Cinema. I went to Brockwell Lido dressed head-to-toe in NOTHS branded gear, and spent a couple of hours trying to persuade the general public to take a picture of themselves jumping out of a big, NOTHS branded present box. We had lots of fun, as did the people who were jumping out of the box! It was very fun but very silly. It was really nice giving away special prizes and getting involved in something totally different.
If you could give a potential candidate one piece of advice, what would you say?
I’d say be yourself and don’t say what you think the interviewer wants you to say or wants to hear. It’s the recipe for ending up in a job that’s not suited to you and you’re not going to enjoy. It’s easy to do — anyone can read a job spec and see what the skills required for the role are — but it’s important to be true to you. Especially at notonthehighstreet… our values are within each and everyone of us!
What do you like about working in Richmond?
I’ve worked in North Acton and Fleet Street previously, but I absolutely love working in Richmond. It’s definitely the best place I’ve worked. I was training for a triathlon last year which was such a dream; I could swim in Pools on the Park (an outdoor pool just down from the office), run along the river and then go for a cycle around Richmond Park! It’s just the nicest place to be.
What are you looking forward to over the next 12 months?
It feels a bit weird saying this in August, but it’s got to be Christmas. It’s always so interesting here and I think this year in particular everyone is in for a real treat as we are trying out some really different things. We’ve got some really interesting and alternative branding efforts, which I’m genuinely excited to see come to fruition!
