Realising potential at ClearCourse

Regular readers of our blog will know just how important our ‘Working Better Together’ philosophy is to us here at ClearCourse. It’s part of everything we do, and it relates to technology as much as it does people. 

One hugely important aspect of Working Better Together is how, by working together, we can help improve and develop people’s careers. 

As a growing company with more than 30 software and payments solutions in our group and one that will soon hit 1000 employees, ClearCourse is continually evolving – new roles need to be created, and new opportunities present themselves. 

Many of our employees have joined the business after an acquisition – they were part of the team that came with a brand we bought – others have joined at a group level. 

Regardless of how they’ve come into the group, however, they’re all now ClearCoursers – and that’s important, because success comes when we’re all working better together. 

Of course, it’s easy for us to say, ‘It’s great here, there are loads of opportunities!’ So we thought we’d have a chat with a couple of people who are perfect examples of the opportunities that present themselves in a growing company. 

Both Rshelle Black and Kim Smith joined ClearCourse after the businesses they were working for joined the group. Rshelle had spent 17 years at APT Solutions, our membership CRM brand. 

After joining APT as Services Administrator, she moved into various finance roles and ended up as the business’s Chief Operating Officer shortly after APT joined ClearCourse in 2019. 

“I’ve always been someone who has taken opportunities when they have been presented,” she explains. “I’ve come across people in my management roles in whom you see so much potential, but they’re nervous about taking chances and prefer to stay safe in a role they’re happy and comfortable in. And that’s fine; you need people like that in a company too – but I always like to seize those opportunities for growth.” 

Seeing opportunity in change

For any brand joining a group such as ClearCourse, there’s going to be some change, and that’s something that delighted Rshelle – both from the perspective of what it meant for APT, but also the opportunities that could open up for her personally at group level. 

Rshelle had spent the year post-acquisition establishing systems and processes within the operational side of APT, and then an opportunity at group level presented itself. 

With a number of similar businesses within membership services, how could common processes across the brands be streamlined and made more efficient? 

To tackle this challenge, Rshelle moved into the ClearCourse Head of Operations role in January 2021, was appointed Operations Director at the end of 2021, and has recently accepted the title of Group Operations Manager. 

“I was approached with an opportunity to work within the TechOps team at group level,” she explains. 

“It’s looking at the processes and possible synergies right across the group. How can we make things better and improve?” 

It’s a hugely important role, and one that Rshelle’s relishing – once she’s had time to catch her breath! 

“It's a fast-paced environment, which is expected for an organisation growing as quickly as ours. You very quickly have to get yourself involved and up to speed. But there are opportunities for everybody, whether you’ve joined ClearCourse directly or indirectly via acquisition. 

“If you've got the right mindset, you can take those opportunities when they come up, and you know you’ll be supported by a great group of people who are all similarly driven.”

Developing careers, one role at a time

The importance of having a group of people you can trust to work with was underlined by Rshelle when she took a call from Kim Smith. 

“What’s it like to work with the central ClearCourse team?” was Kim’s question. 

The answer was resounding. “I had worked with Kim in our Membership Services division, and I told her everyone’s really supportive and friendly, and she should go for it.” 

Kim had joined membership management CRM Protech from university in 2016 as a Marketing Executive, and in the five years until the brand was acquired by ClearCourse, Kim led the marketing and events side of the business. 

“It’s a small business, so I was involved in everything – I led a rebrand, created marketing plans, devised strategies, looked after social media, briefed content writers and managed all of the events we took part in,” she says. 

Kim enjoyed the opportunity to develop the brand – being a small business, if you wanted to do something you had to grasp the opportunity to do it – and she helped the business evolve with a targeted USP and focus on client education. 

All of that naturally played into creating the brand that ClearCourse acquired in 2021. And while going from a small team with what Kim describes as a ‘brilliant culture’ to a fast-growing group may have been daunting for some, for Kim, it was invigorating. 

“I was excited as I knew there was going to be opportunity,” says Kim. “I was offered a role working on the marketing for four of ClearCourse’s membership brands, including Protech, and it was a huge opportunity; I had bigger budgets – and more people – to work with.” 

Creating roles that are needed – and desired

After firmly establishing herself in a Marketing Manager role across those brands in the membership services team, Kim was offered the chance to head up the marketing team – and played a critical role in bringing our new membership support brand, ClearConnect, to life.

Her commitment, drive and talent – and laser focus on detail – soon caught the eye of her ClearCourse colleagues. And with rebranding projects underway for many of the group’s brands, a new role as Group Creative Projects Manager was created for Kim. 

“I hadn’t been in the Head of Marketing role for long, but it was a great opportunity to progress my career,” says Kim. 

“My passion really is around refreshing and relaunching brands, and how we position various products, as opposed to the day-to-day marketing, so it was a pretty easy decision to make.” 

Both Kim and Rshelle share the ability to see opportunities when they present themselves and not only seize them but very quickly take complete ownership of them. 

And for people who share that mentality – and their talent – there’s a whole host of opportunities to be discovered. 

At ClearCourse, we understand that while we’re a payments and software business, we’re only as good as our people. 

By attracting the right people in the first place, creating an environment in which they see career growth and developing roles that can help them realise their personal potential, we can ensure ClearCourse is a place they want to work for many years to come.