Exploring career paths for careers week
As part of careers week, we’re taking a closer look at the different journeys people take in their working lives.
Career paths aren’t always straightforward, and sometimes the best opportunities come from being open to new experiences.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the career journey of one of our employees at Westward - Jack, who started as an apprentice and worked their way up to a leadership role. His story highlights the variety of opportunities in the housing sector and how gaining experience in different areas can shape a fulfilling and rewarding career.
Meet Jack Beer | head of customer experience
Like a lot of people coming out of school I didn't really know what I wanted to do for a career. At the time tuition fees had increased and I didn't feel that university was appropriate for me because there were no subjects that appealed to me as much as starting my career after I finished my A-Levels. Looking back, I had also grown tired with classroom learning and felt ready to take my first steps into the world of work. Coming out of school, I just knew that I wanted to work hard and do as much as I could to pick things up as quickly as possible in whatever opportunity presented itself to me.
Initially I joined a local authority and completed an apprenticeship in customer service. Part of my role at the local authority meant I worked alongside housing associations such as Westward. Apart from that, growing up, I didn't really have any knowledge of housing associations or what they did. As I learned more, the sector appealed to me because it demands you to think on your feet and work with customers to solve real life problems. Some favourite moments of my early career were when I was given the opportunity to go the extra mile for a customer to help them to solve a problem. I saw the housing sector and Westward as an opportunity to do that more.
At first, I joined Westward as an income officer working alongside customers who had fallen into arrears and tackling other financial issues they may have been facing. This linked quite closely to the work that I was doing at the local authority however I was struck by the wide-ranging subjects available at Westward and in the housing sector. Westward as an organisation is not massive but the diversity of subjects that employees work on is huge. That meant at the start of my career at Westward, I had the opportunity to learn more about lots of different areas which all have an impact on how well we are able to serve our customers. I remember spending time shadowing surveyors, finance and our development team. This not only broadened my knowledge of what departments within Westward did but also helped me to understand how my career could progress in the organisation.
Ultimately, I have always enjoyed talking to customers and having an element of involvement with the people we provide a service to. My next step at Westward was into our customer enabling hub, our first point of contact for most of our customers. Working within the hub gave me a better understanding of our neighbourhood and repairs services. I also supervised a team of customer enabling advisors who were responsible for responding to inbound communications from customers and helping to resolve issues our residents were facing in their homes. After the hub I moved back into our income team as manager and then on to customer insight & engagement manager.
On reflection, I was very fortunate to join an organisation such as Westward almost 11 years ago. Throughout that time, the support from colleagues has been as good as I could have hoped for. It is rare for any colleagues I speak to day-to-day to not be helpful, friendly, good humoured and overwhelmingly well intended. I am grateful to work for an organisation where colleagues’ main focus is providing the best possible service for our customers. On occasion, where there are disagreements on the best route forward, working with colleagues to understand conflicting priorities and plot a course are some of the most enjoyable conversations in my role.
I am currently head of customer experience at Westward, a role I began on 1 January 2025. I lead on Westward’s management of complaints and work closely with the executive team to ensure the organisation meets the requirements of the housing regulator’s consumer regulations.
Since joining the organisation, the main highlights I look back on have been working with customers to improve the overall service they receive. Understanding the challenges our customers face, gathering feedback and then putting in place plans to tackle them is the work I find the most rewarding. I am again, fortunate to be in a role that allows me to do that every day.