Developing Talent

From the very first day you join us, you’ll begin to develop your knowledge and transferrable skills – some which will be new to you but we’ll help you to enhance the knowledge and skills you already have too. We embrace people’s talent and we tap into the richness and diversity of talent of our people to help us be a thriving, independent, regional building society.

How do we develop your career?

Our approach to learning and development is one that gives our people choice – of content, resources and paths; Want to develop your skills? Want to progress to senior roles? Want to increase confidence? Want to have a broader knowledge base? Want to widen your professional network? Want to complete professional or academic qualifications? Want to experience other areas of the business and operations? All of this and more is available to you, all you need is the passion and commitment to be responsible for your own learning.

We’ll support you through this with regular support, feedback coaching and mentoring. Our senior leadership team and Executive committee are only one phone call or a knock on the door away, ready to share experiences with you and your fantastic colleagues are available to chat to and share your thoughts whenever you need to – we’ve got real expertise for you to tap into.

We’re investing in our technology and approaches to allow you to access resources at a time and on a device that suits you – we’re on a path to transforming how we approach learning at work and that ultimately revolves around individual preference. We’re embracing this principle but will always offer opportunity for you to come together with colleagues and share experiences.

Your Development Guide

For the past 3 summers I’ve been lucky to have the chance to develop my career skills at the Darlington Building Society. I’ve understood the importance of precision, timekeeping and teamwork. With support from my colleagues I’ve worked to overcome my nerves around phone calls which has been a massive achievement!

Izzie Walker

By completing the PRINCE2 Foundation qualification this has developed my skill set and increased my knowledge of the universal project documentation used within organisations, and by gaining this qualification helps to demonstrate my credibility in this area. I have also completed both the Intermediate and Advanced Excel qualification which have developed my knowledge and skills of Excel capabilities and improved what I deliver in my day to day role.

Susan Gowland

Undertaking the Building Societies Association (BSA) MSc programme through Loughborough University has enabled me to enhance my skills and knowledge over the last twelve months giving me the ability to think more broadly across the organisation and challenge from a wider perspective on areas which are not my specialty for example finance. I also have a greater understanding of the Building Society business model and with 17 different Building Societies being represented on the programme I have built up an excellent network of relationships across the sector which will be invaluable for the future. This programme gives me a fantastic opportunity for further personal growth and future career progression.

Darren Ditchburn