Developing marketing expertise and dog training skills – meet Digital Marketing Manager Lauren Mott

Since joining as a trainee over 5 years ago, Digital Marketing Manager Lauren Mott has completed her professional marketing qualifications and found time to qualify as a dog trainer. She enjoys being able to spend her breaks with her dogs, as well as be around for her young son.

 Tell us a little bit about your working background before joining People Puzzles?

I joined PP quite early in my career so there wasn’t too much before it, assuming you don’t count the 5 years working in a chippy during School & University. After university I was volunteering for YMCA to gain some relevant work experience. Due to a merger a couple of months later they expanded the marketing team, and I joined in a full-time position working on a website rebuild, social media, events and fundraising.

 

How did you find the People Puzzles recruitment process?

The interview process was smooth. Initially I had a video interview with Claudia and the next stage was an interview with Sarah in her shed, which was the People Puzzles Marketing Office at the time. I had a quick, positive response and before starting I was invited to join Sarah and the rest of the marketing team at a local café for lunch to meet everyone.

How did you find the first few weeks? 

People Puzzles had just taken on a new office space, so I spent my first day with my new colleagues crawling around the floor constructing desks and chairs and fixing cables for monitors.

Did you have any concerns about such a big change when moving to a remote, part-time role?

When I started, I was based in People Puzzles’ Bury St Edmunds office until Covid hit. At that point I moved to remote working. My previous role had been mostly remote, so it wasn’t too much of a change, but it was nice to work from home and be able to keep the dog company during the day knowing I had built a great working relationship with the team.

What is the biggest difference in both your work and personal life working with People Puzzles to when you worked in your previous roles?

The People Puzzles team are so flexible and supportive. It’s much more about output; if I have a personal appointment, need to take the dog for a quick run or collect my son early from nursery, working from home and being trusted to get the job done allows me to do all that too.

Describe your typical work environment now and what is the best thing about it.

My normal work environment is my office at home, with the dogs lounging in the background and a lovely view of fields out of my window. I also get together with the team once a week in the office, touching base and catching up to ensure we are all working together. The flexibility allows the occasional work from a coffee shop or other location to get a change of scenery, which stimulates new ideas.

Do you feel that your contributions are recognised and how is this shown?

People Puzzles is such a lovely company to work for and I really feel my contribution is valued. People Puzzles has done some amazing things to give back to the team over the years including, regular team meals out, going to get our nails done, summer BBQs and to top it off we all went to Spain!

What has People Puzzles done to support you in achieving your professional development goals?

People Puzzles has been very supportive of my professional development. When I joined the company 5 years ago it was in a training role, and I was given time each week to work towards my CIM level 4 in digital marketing. Since then, I have also completed the IDM search marketing certificate and have also had the opportunity to join multiple conferences and workshops. #StillLearning

What excites you most about the next 5 years of your career with People Puzzles?

People Puzzles is growing fast and as a result always changing, exciting ideas are being shared all the time and the company is very open to trialling them. Having the ability to take on new responsibilities and skills means the job is always changing.

What areas are you passionate about outside of your work and how has working for People Puzzles enabled you to pursue these interests?

Before going on maternity leave, I had been dabbling in a dog training ‘side hustle’, so I spend a lot of time outside with my two dogs training scent work and gundog skills. As I’m at home, a quick training session at lunchtime really helps to blow away the cobwebs and keep the dogs improving too.

Your advice to anyone considering People Puzzles?

Go for it! The team are so supportive, the flexibility is great and there’s always a new challenge to get stuck in to.