Nick Cullen Email & Phone Number

Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom

This new post allowed me to combine my previous customer facing experiences from my time in housing management with my communications and marketing skills to provide a service that truly understood the needs of our customers and put them at the centre of our communication.Managing a small team and reporting to the Assistant Director of Corporate Services, the role allows me to focus on the delivery of the Communications Strategy I wrote to provide Operational, Corporate and Internal communications across multiple media channels to varying audiences.With over 600 staff spilt across a large geographical area ensuring our internal communications land and are engaging is key to the success of my role, and my teams. From planning, organising, and hosting a staff conference to capture the attention of colleagues to leading an internal change in operating culture called ‘The PA Way’. This is aimed at ensuring key messages land with all colleagues and ultimately improve the services we provide to customers by thinking about things a little differently. I'm also a long standing member of our award winning Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, and am responsible for our 'Everybody is unique' campaign to celebrate everything that makes our customers and colleagues different.Day to day responsibilities include the development and maintenance of our website(s), managing our social media channels, over-seeing all promotional and marketing initiatives (including the production of our customer magazine) and all corporate literature, stakeholder management, colleague engagement initiatives, event management, contract and supplier management as well as general line management, mentoring and administrative duties for my team.

I'm thrilled to have been appointed to the Board at WRHA and to share my knowledge and passion for all things Comms, PR, Marketing and ED&I with them, and to learn from an experienced team of Members and staff.

Leicester, United Kingdom

The main focus of the role was to use a commercial approach to letting properties within the social sector; something that was very unique at the time and set us apart. By renegotiating our Nomination Agreements with the local authorities we worked with, we were able to use the remaining applicants to create our waiting list and a real demand for our properties - but how to advertise them? The Property Shop was born!This microsite we developed allowed potential customers to view details of a vacant property including images, videos and floor plans. The idea behind the Property Shop was that just because you may be looking for social housing why should you receive any lesser service than if you were looking to rent or buy privately. The Property Shop was consistently the top rated pages on the website and I was delighted to receive the TPAS Award for Excellence in Digital Involvement in 2016 for our efforts with the Property Shop.The role developed further and I was asked to mirror the success of the Property Shop by taking over management of the main website and social media channels. This led to a successful relaunch of a very customer orientated website. The finished result again intentionally pushed the boundaries of the "traditional image" of social housing - we thought it worked quite nicely, but more importantly so did our customers!!

The World!

My wife and I took a 9 month period of leave from work as a career break. Travelling had always been high on our agenda and not "taking a Gap Year" straight after graduation was always a regret. The timing seemed right though and I was able to take a sabbatical from my position at asra Housing Group.It was the most amazing experience for both of us. It sounds cliché but it changed me and I returned to asra a different person. I had grown in confidence (being lost in the middle of Cambodia, or driving from Perth to Sydney across Australia will do that to you!!) and my outlook on life and my career changed for the better allowing me to refocus on certain aspects.I was the first person to ever come back to the company after taking a sabbatical, but I used my new found confidence and drive to make some changes and I acquired the role of Digital Marketing Manager.

Nottingham, United Kingdom

My success as a Housing Officer meant that when an opportunity arose for a Housing Team Leader, I jumped at the chance. The role involved the management of our Housing and Lettings Team and I was responsible for the direct leadership of 7 members of staff.Day to day activities focused on assisting my team with some of the more complex cases they were dealing with, performance reporting and stakeholder management. It also included line management responsibilities; staff motivation, leadership and disciplinary actions when required.The role gave me a voice and allowed me to offer my opinions and experiences to a wider forum, including members of our Senior Management team. I was regularly being invited to be involved in numerous projects across the business as my ideas were being valued and recognised.

Nottingham, United Kingdom

I made the transition into a housing management, customer facing role in 2009 when I became a Housing Officer for asra Housing Group's 'notorious' stock in north Nottinghamshire. The patch of roughly 1,400 homes was plagued with high crime, and deprivation levels were above the national average. It was historically an area that had been mismanaged by previous employees so I set about trying to make a difference.I made it a point of getting to know as many of the households in the area as I could so I became a visible face of the company and someone who, although may not always be able to solve their problems, was a friendly contact who was happy to listen and offer advise - and solve as many of the problems as I could!Relationships with the stakeholders in the area were also extremely poor so I followed the same approach to build connections with the police, Local Authority and local Councillors, again allowing me to be that visible presence and link between our customers and the company.Day to day duties involved new lettings and sign-ups into vacant properties, dealing with neighbour disputes and antisocial behaviour cases including taking enforcement action when required, resident involvement and customer engagement activities such as production of localised newsletters signposting our customers to various information, and dealing with general enquiries.After just over 2 years working as a Housing Officer, I made a real impact on the patch with the levels of antisocial behaviour being reduced and customers feeling engaged and re-connected with an organisation whose head office was 50 miles away.

Leicester, United Kingdom

I was initially employed as a Graduate Trainee, however after 6 months I was promoted to the level of Business Development Officer. My primary function in this role was to assist with the acquisition of land or developments to add to the existing stock levels of the association.Part of this process often involved careful partnership working and negotiations with key stakeholders to attract additional funding and involved the use of our internal financial appraisal model, and stringent cashflow management. A “Presentation Pack” I designed was adopted by the HCA as best practice for all RSL’s presenting a bid for Social Housing Grant.During this role, I was invited to take part in an internal management training course called "Leadership for all". I was the only person who was not already a manager to be selected for one of the 20 places on the course with the 'judging panel' commenting that my drive and passion shone through other applicants and they could see the potential within me to progress my career and become a future leader. The course involved a 12 month programme of project work and assessments on leadership styles, how to motivate staff etc.Although I enjoyed my time working in the development team, I realised that my passion was to be closer to the customer than this role allowed and I felt too far removed from the services we were providing.

Nottingham, United Kingdom

My post in Customer Services meant I was seen as the first point of contact for tenants and the general public for a busy Housing Association.On a daily basis I dealt with enquires ranging from initial application, allocation, ‘sign up’ of new tenants, reporting and logging of repairs with contractors, and basic rent enquiries. I also produced reports and statistical analysis for other service areas within the company.The diverse range of people I met allowed me to hone the customer service skills I learnt during my time in retail and exposed me to a very different experiences and challenges. I was also involved with the Resident Involvement department, and assisted in the organising and running of a number of Tenant Roadshows.This role gave me an excellent background knowledge of the social housing sector and allowed me to progress my career.

Nottingham, United Kingdom

I initially started this post as a Full-time Sales Assistant, but received a promotion to a level of management after a period of 9 months.Duties included: liaising with and serving customers, replenishment and merchandising, as well as, Bespoke Tailoring and Stock Control.I was also charged with the management of a floor of the store which involved being responsible for a team of 7 staff as well as opening and closing the store, banking, and refunds & exchanges. I also dealt with customer enquiries & complaints both over the phone and face to face and understand the importance of remaining polite and customer focused even during difficult circumstances.

Nottingham, United Kingdom

During University I was employed as a Weekend Supervisor of a high-end men’s retail store. As well as the general duties of liaising with and serving customers, store merchandising and aiding with stock deliveries, I was responsible for the management of the store during weekends, from opening and closing, cashing up & banking, refunds & exchanges, to dealing with customer complaints. The position allowed me to develop an excellent working relationship with my colleagues and involved the management of a team of 5 staff members.

Ba (Hons) Human Geography, 2:1

Education record

Studied A-Levels: Graphic Design - A Geography - B

Education record

Studied GCSEs: Graphic Design - A* Geography - A Science (Dual Award - AA Information Technology - A Maths - B English Literature.