Hazel

Here at Get Ahead our people are everything. Our ever-growing team has a wide range of highly skilled professionals with different backgroundsexpertise and even different personalities to ensure that we can find exactly the right Expert to match our clients’ requirements.

Here’s 60 seconds with our expert Hazel

Name: Hazel

Area of expertise:  Event Management, Spreadsheets, Research, Document design, Proof-reading, General admin  

When & why did you join Get Ahead:
I joined Get Ahead in January 2023 to be part of a team of virtual assistants, rather than always working solo, for the sense of community and collaboration; and to be part of a larger organisation with a common focus and well-structured presence. 

What did you do before you joined Get Ahead:
Working on a solo venture as a Virtual Assistant. Prior to this, I worked, employed, for 10 years in a local business as PA/Office Manager and Operations Director.

Prior to that, I worked in various industries in office roles for 12 years, from senior administrator to distribution co-ordinator to loss assessor, giving me a wealth of experience and a diverse collection of skills. 

Career highlight to date:
My career highlight to date has to be the part I played in helping my previous employers’ business grow over the course of 6 years, from when I joined the company in their 20th trading year, replacing a previous office team member who was off to new pastures.

When I started working with them, we were a team of three in the office (two directors and myself) with a part-time warehouse person, turning over just under £1M per year. Initially, I helped to develop systems and processes that enabled the directors to focus on increasing their sales opportunities and productivity, leading to increased turnover, and hiring of additional staff in my third year there. Another two years after that, the growth had continued and so had the development of the logistics side of the business, which I was by that time managing, and the annual turnover had increased to over £2.5M; the team still growing with two more office team members and by this time two full-time warehouse staff. 

Plans for the future:
I plan to continue working with other businesses in providing support that leads to freeing up time and enabling business owners, directors, and managers to spend their work time on the things they are passionate about, do best, and are the core functions of their business.