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In our latest Employee Spotlight feature, Nick shares how his theatrical background, communication expertise, and self-proclaimed 'nerdy tendencies' led him to Fleetondemand, where he's spent the last two years helping users navigate the GT Suite platform and contributing to exciting new developments in taxi service integration.
Let’s get to know more about Nick and his career so far.
Describe your current role and how long you’ve worked at FOD Mobility Group.
I’ve been employed at FOD for nearly two years, and each day brings unique experiences. My role involves assisting our GT Suite platform users with various enquiries, ranging from routine product questions to acting as a liaison between the development team and users for new feature requests.
Additionally, I collaborate closely with the development team, facilitating several key meetings, including our weekly ticket refinement sessions, sprint review/retrospectives, and daily stand-up calls. These meetings provide an opportunity for us to connect and address any challenges we may face together.
Which projects are you currently working on?
Recently, we integrated a major new supplier into GT Suite for our taxi service, and I've been assisting users with the rollout of their taxi bookings in the system. It's been incredibly exciting and fulfilling to witness everything coming together and see the entire team collaborating so effectively.
What made you want to pursue your current career path?
Over the years, I have pursued a variety of roles. Initially, I studied theatre and worked as a professional actor. I ran a theatre company with a mission to make theatre accessible for those who would typically avoid traditional theatres. We also produced several theatre-in-education projects.
Eventually, I leveraged my performance expertise to begin training medical professionals in communication skills, earning recognition as ‘Best Healthcare Communication Skills Training Provider’ for my work in training and group facilitation.
However, after two decades of never working in the same city from one week to another, regularly working in different countries and then becoming a new parent, not to mention the challenges of a pandemic, I was craving greater stability.
My strong communication abilities, enthusiasm for teamwork, and nerdy tendencies made joining FOD an ideal career choice where I can contribute to helping people every day.
What do you find most rewarding about your role?
With my experience in theatre, where collaboration and ensemble work are crucial, I greatly appreciate being part of the FOD team and pulling together to make a product to empower our customers.
What have been your proudest moments at work to date?
During my first week at FOD, in the weekly refinement session where we discuss the support tickets we've raised for the dev team to work on, I hadn’t realised just how much detail and product knowledge was needed to present the issues to the team. And I’ll hold my hands up – I crashed and burned.
Now, though, I facilitate this meeting every week. And I have to say, that feels pretty good.
What’s one professional skill you’re working on?
Having not come from a rental background, I’m always working on improving my platform knowledge. When I look at where I started and where I am now, I’ve got to say I’m proud of how far I’ve come. The ongoing support and encouragement from my teammates has definitely been important along the way, haha.
What is the best professional advice you’ve ever received?
Always listen to someone’s problem before assuming you know the answer.
Describe a challenge you’ve faced this year and how you overcame it?
With a full workload every day, and being a parent to children with special needs as well as a carer for an elderly parent who takes up all my off-hours (not to mention, every now and then, trying to carve out a little time to sit with my wife and watch an episode of Bake Off or something together), finding time for professional development is definitely a challenge.
The best way to tackle this, short of getting my hands on a Time Turner, is by asking questions and learning from the team I work with.
What do you hope to achieve over the next 12 months?
My goal is to continuously expand my understanding of our products so that I can assist our users more effectively and contribute to the team’s success in achieving our objectives.
How would your friends describe you?
I couldn’t possibly use most of the words my friends would blurt out if I asked them this question, but if I asked them to clean it up, they’d probably say that I think my jokes are funnier than most people do, that I’m a bit of a nerd, and that I have some ADHD tendencies.
Can you describe the top 3 items on your bucket list?
First of all, next year marks a significant milestone for my wife and me - our 10th wedding anniversary. To celebrate, we’re hoping to take our very first family holiday outside the UK (the last time we left the UK was for our wedding in Jamaica).
This is especially meaningful for our family because our son, who has autism and ADHD, finds changes in routine and noisy environments quite overwhelming.
Our daughter also struggles with his reactions in these situations, so the thought of braving a packed airport and flying during school holidays feels like a pretty daunting task. But we really want to give our kids those family holiday memories, so it’s something we’ve been looking forward to for a long time.
Secondly, during my struggling actor days and while building my previous business, my wife was always there supporting me. When we started a family, I changed careers, and now I really hope to progress to a point where my wife can step back from her job and focus full-time on her writing. I want her to have the time and freedom to pursue her passion and give it her all.
Lastly, I’m not looking for a career change, but the ex-actor in me can’t deny that if I were ever offered the role of The Doctor, I’d 100% spend a year or two flying the TARDIS. (Sorry, FOD, I’ll be back once my run on the show is over - I’m sure of it!)
If you could meet anyone famous past or present, who would it be and why?
I think Steve Wozniak would be an amazing person to get to know! What a nerd hero! Someone who, while in college, used a homemade tone generator to call the Vatican, then went on to co-found Apple Inc. and, to this day, advocates for education, technology, and creativity. A beer with Woz would be so cool!
Share a random fact about yourself.
The moment I clock off work, I try to read with my kids every night. My son and I have just finished all the Harry Potter books (I’m telling him they were written by Emma Watson) and have now moved on to Magician by Raymond E. Feist. Meanwhile, my daughter and I are currently reading the Unicorn Academy books (FYI, not quite on the same level as Potter).
For those interested, my favourite author is RR Haywood, particularly the Undead series. (NOT child-friendly, though!)
What are your top three favourite songs of all time?
I don’t like this question, so I’m going to cheat, haha.
In no particular order: The first act of Hamilton, the whole Reanimation by Linkin Park and the soundtrack to either Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 or SSX2 (two PlayStation games from my uni days!)
What did you want to be when you grew up and why?
As a child, I wanted to work in a toy shop. And I ended up working in two! (Neither of which had a giraffe as their mascot, FYI.)
