Not Bad for "Just a Bus Driver": Why You Shouldn't Let Being in an Entry-level Role Hold You Back

Today marks 5 years to the day since my first day in the office at Tyrers Coaches. I left for home with a thundering headache that evening and wondered what I had let myself in for; but half a decade on, I don't regret a thing. The posting has been everything I hoped it would be and more. Physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging - but above all an incredibly rewarding experience with which I continue to grow.

A little over 5 years ago, Tyrers Coaches placed a job ad for an Assistant Operations Manager. At the time, I was working as a bus driver for Stagecoach. I loved the job I was in (I'm one of the strange few that actually enjoys 'stage-carriage' driving it seems) but was drawn by the opportunity to join a local family firm with which I had travelled as a kid at primary school back when they were "Tyrers of Adlington". I had been a manager in the retail sector for years and having served as a police officer I felt I might have the transferable skills to succeed. I didn't have the faintest idea on operating a passenger transport business, but I know a thing or two about people. "Nothing ventured - nothing gained" I figured, so I applied.

I didn't get the job. I wasn't expecting to in all honesty. I could have been head and shoulders the best interview for what it was worth, but I was "just a bus driver". I knew that in all likelihood, any interviewer would be asking themselves the very same questions I had asked myself a thousand times over already. If I was such a good manager, why was I working as a bus driver? If I was as good a cop as I thought I was, what was I doing here? The truth is I didn't really know the answer to those questions...and I can't say that I do now either. All I can surmise is that I wasn't happy doing either of those things. I was, however, a very happy bus driver. And like so many before me, I found myself somewhere unexpected in the pursuit of happiness.

A couple of weeks after my unsuccessful interview at Tyrers, I got a call from one of the Directors, asking if I would be interested in a smaller role at the Bolton depot. "Operations Assistant". I hadn't a clue what it entailed, but it was mine if I wanted it and there was no way I was letting this opportunity pass me by.

As with any role in a new company, my first day was full of acronyms, abbreviations and terminology I'd never heard in my life. I don't doubt that for the first few months I was more of a hindrance than a help, but I approached the role with the same enthusiasm I do anything - Roald Dahl's famous words ringing in my ears...

"...if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good." - Roald Dahl

The way I see it, if you're being paid to take on a role, the least you can do is become an expert in what it is you're being paid to do. This ethos has carried me through my entire working life - I learn how to do the job to the best of my ability, then I work on what I can do to get better at it. It can carry you a long way. Even if you're "just a bus driver". I'm not perfect by any stretch. I make mistakes - some of them pretty big ones - but I care about learning as much from the bad days as the good ones as that's how you continue to grow as an individual.

In 2018 I stepped out of the relative comfort zone of Operations and entered uncharted territory, launching our in-house Driver Academy in the new role of Driver Training & Development Manager. The aim - bring in "fresh blood" from outside the industry, just as I was, and give them the tools to get the job done. The academy was a runaway success which has yielded some of our best hires - not least one of our first trainee drivers who now holds the post of Engineering Support Manager. Our Trainee PCV Driver programme has attracted a lot of attention from industry press; featuring in RouteOne Magazine 3 times (twice on the front cover) and taking us to the finals of the 2019 RouteOne Awards in the Operator Training Award category.

Fast forward another 2 years or so and my passion for developing people has led me further down the rabbit hole of driving new policy and ultimately into the role of HR Manager for one of the leading independent passenger transport operators in the north of England. Throw into the mix studying for a CIPD Level 7 Strategic People Management qualification and you find me where I am today.

Not bad for "just a bus driver", I'd say.

All made possible by a determination to not sell myself short and by a progressive business not afraid to take a chance on someone without the supposedly all-so-important "industry experience".