A flair for sports: Before Barclays career stories

In homage to the delayed 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games taking place this summer, we catch up with some aspiring Barclays colleagues who started off with a career in sport. Meet Ashley and William in our next set of ‘Before Barclays’ career stories.

“Sport is something close to my heart, and it means a lot that I work for a company that also values the positive impact both mentally and physically sport can have on a person’s life”

Today, Ashley Bullock is a Corporate Business Development Manager in Barclaycard Payments, but before that he taught Physical Education (PE) in primary and secondary schools.

“I loved helping children to fulfil their potential and give them confidence and knowledge to help them succeed both personally and professionally,” said Ashley. “Seeing a pupil score their first goal and the smile on their face is a reward money can’t compete with.

“There are numerous skills I’ve learnt from being a PE teacher, from the ability to read different personality types, to how my words and actions can motivate, and being able to quickly adapt to changes and different environments. In particular, I was also a supply teacher – which could sometimes mean a quick change from teaching a science lesson to then needing to teach cooking!”

Ashley joined Barclays in 2016 attracted by the company’s values. His teaching background has come in useful for the role; he explains: “I have trained hundreds of colleagues at Barclays, and I like to think my colleague training is fun and engaging. Whilst teaching I managed my own tutor group, and using those skills, I am currently mentoring a talented colleague in Barclays and I hope to help her achieve her career ambitions.”

Barclays has always supported sport and run a number of initiatives to inspire people of all ages to live a healthy and active lifestyle. Ashley adds: “Sport is something close to my heart and it means a lot that I work for a company that also values the positive impact (both mentally and physically) sport can have on a person’s life.”

Ashley would like to continue supporting the big pool of talent we have at Barclays through training and mentoring.

“In sport, I still compete and plan to race at the World Championships next year, with a focus on the 2024 World Orienteering Championships in Edinburgh”

William Gardner is Commercial Strategy Manager at Barclaycard Payments. Prior to that he worked as an orienteering coach in Melbourne, Australia, working with people from across the running and orienteering community to advance their sporting careers and goals.

William shared: “I trained as a semi-professional orienteer, at the same time as competing for the British national team. I loved the freedom to train whilst having the opportunity to support others in their sporting careers. I trained people of all ages in local clubs to improve their fitness and navigation skills, planning and organising running events and organising training camps. Seeing the improvements that people made through the training, and their resulting enjoyment and pride, was great to witness.

“Additionally, I supported junior athletes who were looking to attend the Junior World Orienteering Championships and getting them their spot on the plane, which was a rewarding challenge to tackle.”

William added: ”I think the biggest takeaway from my past career, was the importance of getting things done, even if when you don’t want to. To get to the place where you want to be, you have to do the interesting, fun things that you enjoy, but you equally have to do the things that you don’t enjoy.”

William wanted a change in career and was offered a role at Barclays. “I was attracted to Barclays because of the opportunities to grow and develop. In sport, I still compete and plan to race at the World Championships next year to represent the team in Denmark, with a focus on the 2024 World Orienteering Championships in Edinburgh.”

Thank you to Ashley and William for sharing their ‘Before Barclays’ career stories. Unsurprisingly, they’ll be following the athletics at the Olympics this summer.