Credit Management November 2023

Louise Morris FCICM (Grad),
Working capital manager
at Brabner's.
Quality in Credit Management accreditation (CICMQ),
so my CICM qualification helped me succeed in the
recruitment process.”
Another reason for qualifying is the CICM
community: “It’s not just about doing the exams,” she
says, “it's about the networking.” Being able to mix with
people from many different backgrounds, industries,
and experiences helps you learn. “You don't just learn
how to deal with life from your parents. You learn from
other people; it's the same in the CICM community. You
have people with different perspectives to bounce ideas
off and make suggestions if there is a better way to do
things.”
One example she gives is in learning how to manage
teams: “If you trust your team, you're motivating
them and you're allowing them to make decisions and
empowering people to do that, then you get more out
of them,” she says, “and you learn that by speaking to
people in the network.”
Recruiting apprentices
Managing teams means motivating them and that
begins with recruiting the right people. Louise
often chooses apprentices rather than bringing in
experienced staff over others’ heads and understands
the importance of individual personalities: “Everybody
has got to fit into your team,” she says, “It doesn't matter
what qualifications they've got, or how high they've
gone in their career. It takes an outstanding attitude to
persuade people to part with their money,” she explains
“and to get internal stakeholders to agree with what’s
needed for the business.”
But there is another reason she favours apprentices:
“Many jobs ask for experience at entry-level. It's tough
to start a career when you've just left school and find
people who are willing to give you a chance. It's great
that you can get someone who's motivated and willing
to learn.”
“It’s not just about doing the exams,
it's about the networking. Being
able to mix with people from many
different backgrounds, industries, and
experiences helps you learn. You don't
just learn how to deal with life from
your parents. You learn from other
people; it's the same in the CICM
community.’’
The future is bright
Louise is keen to attract more young people and
particularly women into the industry. Since guidance
was limited when she was young, Louise volunteers at
Brabners’ open days and talks to young people about
the support staff opportunities in the legal sector.
“Nobody said to me there’s a job out there where you
can ask people for money; they always said do you want
to be a lollipop lady, a nurse or a teacher.”
But Louise believes that credit management is an
attractive career for people today with the advent of
AI and the automation that comes with it: “It gets rid
of those awful labour-intensive tasks so the team can
do more challenging things. People want to be valued,
and you get that,” Louise says, “by investing in them,
teaching them new things and empowering them.”
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / November / PAGE 53