Janet Collinson

I got into HR by chance. I started my career in accounting and then moved into credit control to fill in for someone who was ill. Somebody told me that I was great at working with people and suggested I went to work for his wife who was looking for a personnel manager. I got the job and have never looked back. I like the combination of working with both the business and people sides of organisations.

The most challenging and fun job I have had was at Logicom. I joined when the company had just gone through a management buyout and only had 100 staff. I recruited about 20 people a month and within 18 months we had a workforce of 402. Working with the managers and building up pictures of what the ideal people would be like for each department was great experience. It was also exciting to be able to create the culture of a new organisation.