How it started and how it's going: Anna Braybrooke and Hayley Oakley
Hayley started her career in education, helping children with disabilities. Anna dreamt of joining the police. Fast forward 11 years and both are enjoying their new promotions to Enterprise Flex-E-Rent Area Managers.
Taking different routes towards their dream careers, they both say that establishing a healthy work life balance and finding inspiring mentors has been key to their success.
Straight out of university, Anna took a sales role, but she thrived being around people more than being on the road alone.
She joined the Enterprise Management Training scheme as a stop gap while she trained for the Special Forces. This was the steppingstone to what she thought was her dream career: joining the police.
Little did she know that from day one, she would love the Management Training role and that six months in, she would never look back.
Anna Braybrooke
“It was invaluable to have my team build me up, and we did all for each of us when we needed it”
Hayley back packed around the world for 18 months after university, visiting much of South Asia and working in Australia for a year.
After working in education for several years, she decided she didn’t want to be a teacher. When a friend recommended she join Enterprise as an employee referral, she began to see her ambitions and career goals take a different route.
“I was not your typical twenty-year-old graduate. I started Enterprise at twenty-seven and from my experience was able to look at the bigger picture,” she says.
Together with an openness to hard work, determination and the hunger to learn, Anna and Hayley believe that business success and personal fulfilment can be achieved by adopting a good work life balance for yourself and your team.
Anna experiences anxiety, so being able to tell her team when she is having a bad day without putting on a ‘game face’, especially through her last six months as branch manager, made a huge difference.
She recalls, “Having an open environment took the pain away. It was invaluable to have my team build me up, and we did all for each of us when we needed it.”
Hayley recognises that her competitive and driven nature means she wants to be the best version of herself, which resulted in her finding it challenging at first to switch off from work. She says, “When I’m in the business I always give 100% and expect my team to do the same. In my down time, it’s important for me to take time with my family and friends to really enjoy switching off so that I can be the best I can be when I’m back with my teams.”
Besides taking control of your career and choosing how you bring your authentic self to work every day, Hayley and Anna say that immersing yourself around people you find inspiring is important to how you forge your career path and achieve your career goals.
Hayley Oakley
“I started Enterprise at twenty-seven and from my experience was able to look at the bigger picture”
Hayley found the transition from Assistant Branch Manager to Branch Manager challenging. To be able to delegate and learn a new skill set, she needed to take a step back to take a more balanced view of the business. She recalls remembering how fantastic her first Branch Manager, Matt Herbert had been.
He reminded her that “as a leader you need to make your job desirable to others. Your trainees have to want to be you.”
Reflecting on her own journey, Hayley has been able to take what she learnt from her managers and mentors and put this mindset into practice to grow and manage her team today.
The best advice Anna received has been to always be prepared for what you want to do next and have a clear picture of what you do and don’t want. Anna was lucky to have an Area and City Manager who believed in her potential more than she did at the time, which helped her thrive and progress to where she is today.
Anna and Hayley’s stories are great examples especially to other women that whatever your career starting point and unique journey, you can achieve your goals and ambitions if you are willing to put in hard work, take risks and always listen and learn from those around you.
"Always be prepared for what you want to do next and have a clear picture of what you do and don’t want"
If you are interested in a career with Enterprise, please visit our recruitment website at careers.enterprise.co.uk
