A day in the life of Lyn

Name
Lyn

"Barclays Kenya is an exciting place to work. Every day presents different challenges and the fast-growing business is helping me grow my skills."

Role
Human Resources Director, Barclays Kenya

Works in
Global Retail and Commercial Banking, Emerging Markets

Location
Nairobi, Kenya

My working day

Despite its somewhat turbulent political climate, Kenya’s economy has improved dramatically in the last five years, leading to rapid growth in the financial sector, and making competition for skilled people stronger than ever. It’s a challenge for Barclays and in HR it’s down to me and my team to ensure we continue to find and employ the best candidates.

In the morning, 09:00 to 11:00
The morning is always the busiest part of my day. I’ll typically be in meetings with senior managers from 08:30 discussing issues from recruitment challenges to new country-wide policies. I’ll speak with recruitment consultants who are seeking candidates for our vacancies, and will go through any new emails or phone messages.

Around lunch, 11:00 to 14:00
I’m Vice Chair of the Kenyan Institute of Bankers and once a month we meet over lunch to discuss issues affecting the industry. I’ll also try and meet with my team around this time of day, going through proposals and checking whether they need my input for any of their projects.

Early afternoon, 14:00 to 17:00
The afternoon is usually a quieter part of the day so that’s when I tend to focus on work at my desk. I might also meet or speak with managers from across the Barclays Kenya business to gauge their responses to issues I’m currently dealing with or projects where I need their engagement.

End of the day, 17:00 to 18:00
Early evening is usually when we hold interviews for senior roles we’re looking to fill as candidates – and our colleagues who are recruiting for the positions – don’t often have time during the working day. I’ll also make time to prepare for meetings I’ve got scheduled for the day ahead.

My career at Barclays

I joined Barclays in March 2008 and since then have attended events in South Africa and Portugal, where I met with other HR Directors and Heads of HR from Barclays businesses all over the world. Meeting them helped put the global nature of the Group in context for me. I’ve also taken part in a comprehensive induction scheme to learn more about the business.

How I started out

My previous role was as HR Director for Kenya Commercial Bank, where I spent three years. Previously I worked for oil company Shell in a number of senior HR roles, including as Talent Manager for Africa. My first job was as a Training and Development Executive at Unilever. I graduated from the University of Nairobi with a degree in Sociology.