Steve Thompson has worked in HR for Camelot, the lottery operator, for the
past seven years. He joined the company as a training and development manager
in September 1994, three months before the National Lottery was launched. Now
HR director, he describes his big break:
"I was thrown in at the deep end when I joined Camelot as a training
and development manager, before the UK’s National Lottery began. It was an
incredibly busy time as the company had only recently been appointed as a
lottery operator.
I was the 100th person to join the company, and during my first four months
of working there, we increased the headcount to 450 people. I ran mass
induction programmes for 60 to 70 staff daily.
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Until this job, my background was in retail (he was previously training and
development manager at Powerhouse Retail), so I learnt a lot in my first year
about establishing an organisation’s culture.
There was also huge interest in the lottery due to its novelty value, so I
frequently gave external presentations. This was a real eye-opener for me, but
it gave me confidence. I’m not sure that I would have had the same
opportunities if I hadn’t joined Camelot at the outset."
