Career Heroes - Andrew Shortt

Tell us more about you

I left secondary school with three A Levels and went to Ulster University to study Geography. My teachers and university lecturers really helped me when it came to making career decisions. Whilst at uni my lecturers helped me realise that I wanted a job working with people, so when the job came up in Danske Bank I decided it was worth a go, and I’m really glad I applied for it.

During my time at Ulster University, I got the opportunity to do an Erasmus year studying abroad. I went to Charles University in Prague. I completed my degree with a BSc First Honours and a Distinction in a Diploma in International Academic Studies. Whilst studying at uni, I had a part-time job at Dominos and also worked for a Mobile Zoo.

What kind of work do you do?

As a Team Coach, I provide training, feedback, and coaching sessions to a team of thirteen people. I help to monitor their progress and provide coaching to help with their development within the bank. This can be done in a number of ways, by answering their queries throughout the day, by having one-to-one coaching sessions, working on focus areas, and creating targets for the future.

As part of a team, I also help to answer personal and business customers' queries. This means that we need to work together with other teams to ensure we reach the best outcome for our customers. This helps to make a really good work environment where everyone helps each other out.

How did you become a Team Coach?

My job within Danske Bank is the first full-time job I got when I finished education. I joined Danske Bank in November 2020 during the covid pandemic as a Customer Adviser in our Customer Direct call centre. I didn’t know whether I wanted to work for a bank long-term before I took the job, but I quickly decided that I really loved the job and loved the people I worked with. The work itself included speaking to business and personal customers on the phone and helping to answer any queries they may have.

After just over a year, a development opportunity came up within the training team that I put myself forward for. This opportunity gave me the chance to work with the new recruits and help with their training. This was a great experience and it gave me the skills I needed to be able to put myself forward for the role that I’m currently in.

If you could do-over, What would you do differently?

I don’t think I would do anything differently. I really enjoyed my time at university, I made some really good friends and developed many useful skills that I use today in my current job.

I could have joined the bank straight from school but then I would have missed out on so many experiences. I believe these experiences helped me to gain confidence to get to where I am today.