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Wow! What a busy couple of weeks!!! Just finished wrapping up the “Get Up For England” campaign and it has been . . . emotional!

This past week it’s been less of the overly exciting stuff and more head down and work. I thought the time would never come but to compensate for being so busy a while back I overloaded on cool things - twice out of the three times I have been to The O2 when we have had a professional sports star guest going to a gig. Can’t say who I took to the last gig I went to (which was to see Katy Perry - for whom I have now taken a massive liking too) but it is great fun!

Anyway, it’s quite hard not to talk too much about the social side, so I hereby present a short splurge on my the day to day stuff recently:

With wrapping up our RWC campaign and Christmas drawing closer everyone is starting to focus on finance. I have spent a lot of time trying to fully get to grips with the financial systems and budgeting. I actually feel a lot more confident with it all, especially now I know the people at O2 who can help out whenever I have a problem.

Other than rugby budgeting I have become heavily involved in looking at the year ahead and what activity we can do or amend at Arsenal in the winter months, so looking forward to some exciting stuff with that.

So, there it is, my last couple of weeks in a nutshell, speak to you soon, Jonny

My previous blog was a bit of an introduction, but didn’t cover what I actually do and what it’s like to work at o2. As I am first and foremost, an athlete, the most important thing to me is that as part of the Athlete Career Development Scheme, o2 fully recognise that my sport comes first and are completely supportive to ensure that my work fits around my training and competitions giving me about three working days a week.
On applying for the scheme, I showed an interest in Human Resources. I had studied Sociology at University and throughout my degree, became particularly interested in people in the workplace. In the true o2 accommodating way, they placed me within the Policy Team in HR right away, and thus began my year long placement.
O2 are currently refreshing their policies, and part of my role in the team is to refresh some of the family policies by gathering internal and external research and reviewing it with new government legislation.  I have been note-taker for disciplinary hearings, archiving the o2 policies for employment tribunals and attended various training courses for employees using policies. This has all increased my knowledge of policies, but also of the company and its culture overall.
Another aspect of my job is the ‘athlete’ role and my interest in social media (@HannahELawrence, hannahlawrencegbr.blogspot.com), which stems from searching for sponsorship earlier in my career.  I’ve become involved in some of o2’s developments within new social medias, leading so far to: my blog for the o2 careers website; presenting the ‘Digital Journalist of the Year’ and ‘Sports Journalist of the Year’ Awards at the 02 Media Awards for Yorkshire and the Humber; organising a day of fencing with o2 staff at the Bury Call Centre and Slough Office; and athlete video blogs for the o2 intranet.
And so this effective balance of my career development and being an athlete at o2 makes up the ‘o2 Athlete Career Development Scheme’ which is also currently being used by the English Institute of Sport  to help set up similar schemes within other businesses to give other athletes a similarly great opportunity.

Hannah

O2 Money was launched in summer of 2009, since then they have launched the O2 Money card attracting over 800,000 customers. But this is all changing…

People expect to use their smartphones for more, with increasing numbers using them to access retailer websites and compare prices. To keep up with this growing demand, O2 is looking to bring you a mobile wallet - taking everything you carry around in your wallet and putting it on your mobile. This will cover everything from online shopping, sending money to a friend, topping up your mobile, loyalty offers and much, much more. Making shopping easier, quicker and more hassle free.

To get ready for the launch, we have been busy expanding and developing the O2 Money team with expertise from the Financial Services industry; bringing in a new marketing team, a variety of product managers, business planners and sales people over the last nine months. We’ve extensively grown our Commercial and Business Support teams too, creating an upbeat culture and environment which is driven by knowing what the end goal is and how we can achieve it. The O2 Money team is still small, retaining the flexibility and impetus that you would not necessarily find within a corporate of Telefónica’s size.

Here is what two recent starters have had to say about their time at O2 Money:

David – “I’ve been at O2 for 5.5 years, and I can honestly say that I’m having the most fun here that I’ve ever had! Not something you might naturally associate with financial services, but the opportunity that O2 has before it is equally exciting and compelling.

There is a very positive feeling to working in O2 Money. There are some sizeable hurdles to overcome but the mood is upbeat. The management style is relaxed yet focused – O2 Money is everything that High Street banking isn’t!”

Nathan – “For me, it’s all about the opportunity to work on a cutting edge product within Mobile Payments. O2 Money really is becoming a pioneer in this space – not just for mobile network operators, but for everyone else that is trying to take part. It’s easy to see how much the company supports this new endeavour by the quality of the team that has been brought together”

Find out more about O2 Money including our current vacancies