A student finance worker in Wales splits her working day between assessing loan applications from students and serving the community as a retained fire fighter.
26 April 2018
Sarah Rock, 41, from Llandudno Junction has been with SLC for three years and says she can juggle two careers thanks to the flexible working patterns offered by her employer, the Student Loans Company.
After finishing her shift as an Assessor for Student Finance Wales at Llandudno Junction she is ready to leap into action as a fire fighter. Sarah has 23 years of experience in the fire fighting field and also uses her expertise to help with training and assessing.
She explained: “It sounds bizarre, but I trained to become a fire fighter as a result of a dare, 25 years ago. Somebody said ‘you couldn’t do that job’ and I wanted to prove them wrong.
“I’ve attended everything from house fires to car accidents, flooding and grass fires.
“The most recent one was the laundry fire we attended at Llandudno Junction. One of the industrial dryers had overheated resulting in a huge blaze which was visible across the whole of Llandudno and Conwy.
“We were in attendance all night with around 40 fire fighters present at the height of the incident. We managed to save all of the surrounding properties but unfortunately the laundry was destroyed.”
Sarah says her student finance colleagues have been really supportive of her double career. She said: “My colleagues think it's ‘pretty cool’ but having a fire fighter on the team has its downside... I'm forever pecking their heads with fire safety advice!”
Student Finance Wales employs more than 100 people at its Llandudno Junction site and is expanding its team. It currently has vacancies for a number of full-time and part-time customer advisor and processing roles.
SLC's Head of Operations in Wales, Maddie Taylor, said: “We welcome applications from people interested in both full-time and part-time opportunities. Some of the roles involve working across different shift patterns so may suit people like Sarah who want to balance a rewarding job with other commitments.”
For more information about current vacancies or to apply please visit: www.slc.co.uk/careers