Don’t Give Up Your Day Job: Holly Wright, HR Business Partner

Welcome to Don’t Give Up Your Day Job, a blog series where we will be asking our Stage & the City students a series of questions in order to find out more about their jobs. People often think that in order to attend one of the courses, they need to have a performing arts background or have an arts-related job, but that’s far from true. We want to show you that people from all walks of life can still enjoy the arts, it doesn’t matter if you work as a police officer or a marketing manager!

What’s your name and what do you do for a living?

My name’s Holly Wright and I work as an HR Business Partner for the Ministry of Defence.

How long have you worked in that industry?

I have worked for the Civil Service for 5 years and in HR for 4. However, I used to do a bit of HR when I worked for Nando’s as a recruitment and development manager 6/7 years ago.

What made you want to choose that career?

I love working with people and I joined the Civil Service HR Fast Stream (Graduate Scheme) in 2013 which gave me a masters in HR Management. I specialise in talent management, development coaching and recruitment – a passion which came from when I worked in Nando’s. Nando’s has a strapline “it’s the people that make the chicken” and they were really good at looking after their staff – hence why I decided HR was for me. I love working for MOD as I find the military fascinating.

What made you decide to sign up for a course with us?

I signed up for the musical theatre course when I first moved to London to work for MOD, I wanted to make friends in London and develop my confidence. I used to do musical theatre when I was younger and loved it, but I was so nervous when I first joined as I have 2 left feet!!

How long have you been a student and what do you love most about the course?

I joined when Stage & the City first started – so what… 2 and a half years ago? I love the course because everyone is so friendly and we’re all like one big family. It’s a really good course to break up the week and cheer you up after a hard day work.