Name
Mairéad Regan

Current position
Group Director of Human Resources, UTV Media plc, one of the leading media companies in Ireland and the UK covering television, radio and new media, which currently employs approximately 950 staff. Mairead has been with the company for 11 years and has a seat on the Boards of the Northern Ireland Screen Commission, the Grand Opera House Trust and also chairs the Skillset Northern Ireland Skills Panel. She is married with two young boys, aged 7 and 5.

Your first Job
Consultant with company then as CIPFA Management Consultants, which became CAPITA Management Consultants

When
September 1986 !!

Where
The company was based in London and I was one of two new recruits to open the new Northern Ireland Office in Belfast.

The Pay
I think it was around £8,500.

The Perks
As the company was based in London I was over monthly – and managed to get to a show each time I was there ! Projects were resourced from our London office too – so there was a pool car that I got to use at the weekends.

The People
Initially I had only one other colleague in Northern Ireland – but by the time I left we had recruited a team of 35. It was great to see the business grow and be there from the start.

The best
I was thrown in at the deep end on many projects which was great experience. I also got involved from the start with both our internal HR systems and practices and working with clients on these – and found that HR was the role for me.

The worst
Having come directly from university into consultancy I did not have much practical experience to call on!

Memorable moment
Being formally given responsibility for our HR and Training Division.

Life Lessons
The importance of being prepared to ask for help and realising that I wanted to be part of a company rather than doing short-term assignments and not being there in the longterm to see the impact of our recommendations.

My advice to first time job hunters would be to get as much relevant practical experience as you can and sell this to future employers: tailor your CV/application to the specific role; research the position – talk to others in the role, go on their website, demonstrate a genuine interest and commitment to the role.