Tell us more about your Job? How did it come about? How would you explain your work/ your ethos?
I am a salesman, always was and always will be and I believe that everybody in business is in sales, from factory floor to CEO.
Having negotiated my way through various sales roles, from construction into software and then into ICT. I evolved into a senior sales developer focusing on partnership, and success came mainly through working with third parties.
With ten years under my belt in a senior sales role in Virgin Media, I felt I needed to broaden my skillset beyond, and to focus more on strategy and future growth. It made sense to look at relevant courses available to facilitate my ambition.
I found this course and completed it with a strong outcome. Then in January 2020 my time with Virgin ended, and my new career in a more commercial role commenced in Independent News & Media, launching a new and exciting consumer comparison and switching site for utilities and broadband called www.choosy.ie and hoping to disrupt the market.
How is a typical day as the Head of Commercial at Choosy from The Irish Independent?
It's fantastic. Very much a start-up mentality, a small agile team, full of energy, very digitally focused, and driven. Huge experience on the team and coming from a telco background operating retail and direct sale channels previously, it's great to work with people comfortable in the online world.
At the moment a typical day is spent in front of my computer working on growing the website, doing deals with partners, mostly over Zoom/Teams (Covid 19), but everything is done with a view on improving the site and service for our customers and in making it a commercial success.
Why did you choose to study at Dorset College Dublin? What was it about the course/ college that you liked?
The course content was very relevant to me, covering a broad range of appropriate topics that I felt I could do with improving my knowledge on, for example E-commerce, Digital Marketing, Strategy, International Business and Governance. The city centre location of Dorset College was important to me, as the proximity to my job was key to allow me work and study at the same time. I quickly learned after the course started that the standard and quality of all the lecturers was fantastic. All proven business leaders, and people I could relate to. I also found the diversity of the student base, coming from all around the world brought exciting and different angles into class discussions, presentations and project work.
Looking back in time, how has your experience at Dorset College influenced your professional development?
Having time to reflect, I feel participating in this course has benefited me greatly, not just in my career but also in the voluntary sector, where one year ago I became Chair of International Volunteering organization www.vsi.ie which was a great honour and one I do not take lightly.
Dorset College is...
A fantastic small college located in Dublin City, that does not try to be everything to everyone, chooses its course catalogue very well and focusses on getting the best possible outcome for all their students.
