Karen Hanton

My first job after coming to London was as a temp clerk in the personnel office at Whiteleys department store, part of the Allders Group. From watching the manager I decided that her job looked great and that was what I wanted to do. In those days personnel was mostly to do with welfare, recruitment and industrial relations. It was a much simpler version of what HR is today. I’m a hard, diligent Scottish worker who always puts her hand up if anything needs to be done. This persuaded Allders to keep me on and I later joined its management training programme, specialising in HR and training. I liked the fact that personnel reported to the managing director, which meant the function was very much connected into the overall business performance. That’s where I got my taste for general business.