Fay Thompson Email & Phone Number

West Region- Inc. Manchester, Birmingham, Wales, Southampton, Cornwall...

When I decided to make the move over to Snowdonia, I shared my plans with my Manager at Omega Red and made it clear that I would like to stay with the business if possible (which I doubted, so I got on with planning the move and applying for jobs). Happily, the role of Account Manager for our West region became available, I applied, got the job and everything fell into place. So I’m based at home, but I get to travel to cover sites and meet customers across the West of Britain, from North of Manchester, down through Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham, Bristol, Swindon, and Southampton, all the way across to Cornwall, along with the whole of Wales. It’s an absolute pleasure to have a job that allows me to build lasting, collaborative partnerships with our customers and help them to keep their people and assets safe. Having worked on the operations side of the business, I’m proud to be able to sell lightning protection and height safety services that I know offer real quality and expertise. We offer cost effective, solution led compliance services across all sectors, from FM, social housing, hotel and leisure, to retail, hospitals, universities and government buildings. We can install and service:- Lightning protection systems- Fixed ladders- Safety line systems (e.g. Latchways ManSafe, 3M Protecta Systems, etc.)- Eyebolts, including abseil anchors- Guardrail- Lifting beams (service only)- Cradles (service only)It’s all about safety – the equipment we install, test and repair really does keep people safe, which keeps me passionate about what I do every day.

Nottingham, United Kingdom

I was privileged to lead the Planning and Administration teams in Omega Red’s Compliance department, ensuring the on-time delivery of test and inspection services and certification for both Lightning Protection and Height Safety equipment. This was an incredibly varied role which allowed me to develop my management skills, technical expertise and gave me a real say in the strategic development of the department. As part of my role, I had the opportunity to implement and lead a cross-departmental group, bringing together representatives from all five of Omega Red’s branches in order to improve outcomes and customer experience. I worked with other members of the management team to develop training for our teams, with an emphasis on customer service and technical knowledge. I was responsible for financial reporting and forecasting to senior managers, working with the sales department to manage the order pipeline.I was lucky enough to complete my BS EN 62305 Lightning Protection Accreditation, further building on my industry knowledge. I completed the IOSH Managing Safely course and applied and developed my health and safety knowledge through completing site safety audits and chairing and minuting departmental health and safety meetings.

Nottingham, United Kingdom

After making the decision to move on from teaching, I started with Omega Red as a Temp Admin Assistant, preparing customer certification and quotes following lightning protection PPMs. Always up for a new challenge, I was given the opportunity to learn to carry out lightning protection risk assessments; gathering and processing information to determine whether or not a structure needs lightning protection, and I found the technical side of the business fascinating. After that, I also started to learn about height safety equipment and certification, which was equally interesting. Making the transition to team leader, taking my first step into management, was a huge challenge for me. I quickly had to learn about recruitment, staff development and dealing with conflict. The hardest part for me was learning to delegate. Luckily, I had a great team who could be trusted to take on new responsibilities and challenges, adding value to our customers by dealing with a range of specific requirements like administering web portals and providing tailored reports. As a team, we worked to optimise our processes and drastically improve lead times for customer paperwork, with the team sending out 300-500 reports per week. The Admin Team were responsible for making sure our engineers had all the right info on site, processing timesheets and expenses to ensure accurate wages, maintaining asset registers and monitoring and applying for various security clearances for our operatives.

Based across several campuses of a large Further Education College, I taught English across different vocational and community courses, from Entry Level 1 to GCSE. My youngest student was 14 and the oldest was 80. With courses from photography, travel and tourism and dental nursing, to hair and beauty, computer science and welding, I worked with a real variety of people and tailored my lessons to different topics. I worked with students who had all sorts of different needs and backgrounds, from dyslexia, dyspraxia and autism to physical disabilities and those dealing with addiction and trauma. The rewards in this role were huge- there is nothing like the feeling you get on results day when you’ve been working with a student who has already attempted an exam multiple times and they finally get the grade need to move on to the next step. Safeguarding and pastoral care were a huge part of this role. There were some students I worked with who couldn’t focus for months, disrupting lessons and doing anything to avoid having to sit still. Over time, some of them opened up about what was going on in their lives and we worked on ways to support them. Often, just sharing the issues helped them improve their focus. A lot of the time, the exam grade was the least important achievement during that year. I had an incredible mentor, who remains a great friend today.I hear most teachers leave the profession because of the huge amounts of paperwork and targets. These definitely affected me but, the truth is, I just never felt like I was doing enough for my students. It’s the kind of job where you can work until 9pm every night and still be full of ideas to make something better for one student who needs something extra to help them achieve. It took over my whole life and neglected my family life as a result, so I made the difficult decision to move on.

Nottingham, England, United Kingdom

This was a small, community-based alternative education provision for pupils who had been excluded from school. I started out as Office Manager - accounts, updating website, databases, liaising with stakeholders, recruitment, coordinating and monitoring projects, designing marketing publications, applying and monitoring adherence to policy and procedure.I quickly got involved with lessons and youth work and eventually was managing an education programme teaching Literacy, Numeracy, PSHE and Careers to young people aged 16 to 18 with learning difficulties and behaviour issues, e.g. dyslexia, ADHD and criminal records. I worked with young people from some really difficult backgrounds who faced very real challenges and barriers to their progress. From learning difficulties, gang involvement, parents with addiction issues, living in care, living with abuse – I learned just how privileged my upbringing had been. I met some incredibly inspiring young people who achieved amazing things.This was an almost full time role which I worked whilst I was studying.

Beeston, England, United Kingdom

This was my first real office job, part time whilst at uni. I got over my fear of answering the phone and started my lifelong love affair with Microsoft Excel. Also, there was a ping pong table.

Barmouth, Wales, United Kingdom

Probably still my favourite ever job. I absolutely loved getting to know the regulars and brightening up their day with coffee, cake and pizza. I still eat here now and it's just as good.On my first day I spilled a whole tray, including 2 glasses of coke, all over a lady's legs. I was so mortified I couldn't even speak. She was very nice about it.

Level 5, Specialist Diploma In Teaching Literacy

This was a qualification taught through Central College Nottingham, focusing on the theory of literacy, from language development.

Pgce, Lifelong Learning Sector

PGCE course covering all aspects of teaching and including a placement at Central College Nottingham, where I later ended up working.

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), English Language And Literature, 2.1

Activities and Societies: I was cripplingly shy at University. Joining any sort of society would probably have killed me. I couldn't even.