Jim Holland reflects on a career which has taken him from the Navy to creating Carma, an environmentally impactful business.
Careers are never straight-forward, even if you’re qualified and experienced
After 13 years in the Royal Navy as a Weapons Engineering Mechanic, I found myself back in my hometown of Barnsley. To be honest, leaving Barnsley in 1989 was the best decision I ever made. There were simply no opportunities. But here I was, medically discharged, returning to my old stamping ground. This was arguably the worst decision.
Part of the problem was that despite my degree in computing, my HND in electrical and electronic engineering, and my wealth of life experience, there was still little to no opportunity here. So I grabbed the bull by the horns and did what came naturally to any self-respecting matelot with an entrepreneurial streak and cash in the bank: I bought a town centre pub!
And I had a great time – particularly for the first six months – meeting new people, making new friends, and hitting the challenge head-on. I relished the new environment. I had 22 bar staff, six doormen, and four DJs. What could possibly go wrong? But what at the outset sounded like a great endeavour, an adventure of a lifetime, soon turned into a nightmare when the bottom fell out of the economy pre the 2007 crash. The pub started to lose money. I was drinking – to reconcile my mental health – and very quickly my personal circumstances started to deteriorate. I sold the pub, but not before making a catastrophic dent in my fortune. I now needed income and quickly. However, there was still a distinct lack of opportunity in Barnsley, and the only jobs I could get were manual labor jobs. I took them all too readily because I needed income.
Staying in touch can be a career lifeline
I had maintained strong relationships with old oppos in the Royal Navy and felt blessed when my former Petty Officer, Steve McCann, rang me to make a general welfare check. He couldn’t believe I hadn’t landed myself a decent role despite the experience and qualifications I had gained in the Navy. Steve quickly asked if I would be prepared to move, and I said yes, even before he had told me where I might be moving to! He went on to tell me that he was working at Vodafone with a team of Unix engineers and that his boss was looking to recruit some more. I quickly told him I was interested and sent in my CV. Within 10 minutes, his boss, Mike O’Connor, had rung me and said he was very impressed by my CV; however, he couldn’t see any reference to Unix on there and asked me what my Unix experience was. I quickly said, “Hand on heart, Mike, I have just Googled it. There are only 48 commands; how hard can it be?” He laughed and asked me to attend an interview in Newbury two days later.
Three weeks later, I started my corporate career as a Unix engineer at Vodafone UK in the service operations department. 18 months later, when I got promoted out of Mike’s team, I still knew very little about Unix; however, I had invested that time in understanding how the business worked and leveraging my people skills to get things done, which hadn’t gone unnoticed by the senior management.
We all need a place to belong
Looking back now, I realise what I was missing when I first went to Barnsley after leaving the Navy was my forces family, my purpose, and my identity. Vodafone gave me these back in spades: like-minded people working in a large organisation with a clear vision and measurable objectives. I was in my element and flourished.
I spent eight happy years at Vodafone in various roles, met my wife, Sally, there, and I’m now the proud father of four daughters who I adore. I never thought I would leave Vodafone, but I was gifted an opportunity at Sky UK, an opportunity which meant my wife could stop working and focus on the most difficult job in the house, bringing up the, as then, three children.
I spent two and a half years at Sky, one year as head of quality and compliance, and 18 months as head of sales. After leaving Sky, I took a role at Stansted Airport as head of commercial, on a mission to grow the airport from 25 million to 33 million passengers in seven years. Three years into this mission, in 2020, Covid-19 hit. I was very quickly furloughed and made redundant in September of that year.
