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Julie Smith

Current role at UCL: I am currently the Director of Operations (DoO) for Arts and Humanities, a role I have held since October 2019.

 As DoO, I am responsible for the leadership and management of Faculty Operations to ensure a high-quality service is provided for all staff and students across all aspects of Professional Services – from finance to HR, to teaching administration, estates and planning.  Working closely with other senior managers in the Faculty, including the Dean and the Director of Education Administration and Student Experience, as well as UCL central service colleagues, such as the Head of Finance. I oversee strategic development and implementation and ensure a holistic approach is taken to the many and varied issues that impact on how we operate.

Please could you describe your career journey

I initially worked in the Finance sector – firstly for a Bank and then the International Stock Exchange.  Having taken a ten-year career break whilst having my children, I returned to work in the HE sector (the hours and culture of which I felt better suited a working mum).  Having worked for four years in my local FE/HE College, progressing from a role as an Exams Officer to Exams Manager and then ultimately Head of Operations (a very similar role to that of DoO), I moved to UCL in 2008.  In a slightly unorthodox route, I started as a G7 Executive Assistant in a Research Institute, went from there to be a G8 Academic Manager in an academic department, then a G9 Departmental Manager in another Faculty before finally taking on the DoO role. 

As you moved through your career journey, please describe your experience(s) in how you progressed to your current role? 

Specific decision points for me were:

  1. To move into a sector that a. I felt better suited my own values and b. would provide better support for a working mum.
  2. To move to a role (as an EA) in a new institution (UCL) that was removed from my skillset at that time, in order to both get into and get to know my new workplace. It was very much about understanding that you can be a big fish in a small pond (as I was my previous role at the time) but needing to become a small fish in a bigger pond to move on.  
  3. In order to make the jump from a G8 to a G9, it was clear to me that the box I specifically didn’t tick was that of having a Masters. This was always stated as a ‘Desirable’ on a G9 advert, not an ‘Essential’ but I felt it would be a useful addition to my CV regardless.  I therefore undertook a two-year Part Time MBA in Higher Education Management, whilst working full-time.  It wasn’t easy but is something that I believe was a huge factor in my progression – for both what the curriculum taught me and the confidence completing it gave me. 

What lessons have you learnt on your career journey? 

  • That you need to make it happen for yourself – find gaps in your own skills and fill them (i.e. taking my MBA or taking a UCL Leadership course) rather than waiting for someone to do it for you. 
  • That a big part of progressing is being open to opportunities and taking them – a good example of this is to undertake secondments, but I also put myself forward for a lot of Task and Finish Groups, Steering Committees and Action Learning Sets type of activities.  This not only exposed me to a far wider range of things that were happening at UCL; it also raised my profile as someone who could add value to the organisation amongst a broad audience of senior staff.
  • Not to let others hold you back.  If your Line Manager won’t support you in a change you want to make, find someone who will.
  • And when you find someone who will, maintain that relationship as you never know when it will be even more useful to you. I was lucky enough to be mentored by my predecessor in my current role and she made a huge difference in pointing me in the direction of things I should do. 
  • To ensure you are doing something that aligns to your values. Saying no when asked to do something that doesn’t, is then incredibly easy. 
  • That you should never self-filter – this is the thing I say most to people.  You have no idea what skills and experience anyone else will bring to a role so don’t decide not to apply for something because you assume there will be a better candidate.  Be confident in your own ability to be that better candidate!

What working achievement or initiative are you most proud of? 

The pandemic, and its impact, was huge for everyone.  For me personally, as well as supporting all of the staff and students at a Faculty level during what was an incredibly difficult and uncertain period, I was asked to take on a role as Lead for Staff in UCL’s Major Incident Team structure.  This involved leading a cross-UCL team which oversaw projects around things such as our institutional plan of approach to staff health, wellbeing and welfare during the pandemic; the 2020-21 Equity and Inclusion Plan in the context of Covid-19, and finally work to understand front line staff Covid-19 and safety related concerns around the planned return to on-site working at UCL.  

It was an enormous task, on top of an already ever-changing workload given the uncertainties at the time.  
The fact we collectively achieved so much, and contributed so extensively, at such a hugely important and unprecedented time meant a lot to me.  I was subsequently awarded a Leadership Award for Outstanding Contribution as part of the 2021 One UCL Awards and this sits proudly in my office today as a reminder of what we all managed to get through!

What advice would you offer to others? 

Make it happen for yourself, be open to opportunities, do something that aligns to your values, raise your own profile, find people who will support you and mostly believe in your own abilities and don’t self-filter!


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