Chief People Officer, Rightmove - 'I believe in the power of silly' | HR Management | HR Grapevine

Jennie Barker's career has taken her from trading floors to global boardrooms, but it's her belief in "the power of silly" that defines how she leads. Here, Rightmove's Chief People Officer talks banking, motherhood, and why fun is no laughing matter.

‘A lottery-win internship’

In 1999, Jennie Barker took an HR internship at Morgan Stanley - a placement that, in today's graduate market, would be the equivalent of a lottery win. At the time, she didn't fully appreciate it; now she does.

"I studied psychology at Durham University and was told by careers advice that I had two options with that degree: be a clinical psychologist or work in HR. I took that at face value and picked the latter!" she says.

Morgan Stanley kick-started her HR career. "I loved the speed and intensity of being on a trading floor. It felt like being on a movie set, with lots of people shouting into phones.” The internship rotated her through several departments, giving her an early understanding of how each part of the HR department worked.

‘A rocket-start to my career’

That first line on her CV opened the door to a graduate programme at Goldman Sachs - a second stroke of luck. But the high stakes of working at a bank of that calibre came with real pressure. "My first placement was in reward, and I remember waking up in the middle of the night anxious that I was responsible for the mail merge that issued letters disclosing every employee's compensation package. It was terrifying if you got it wrong."

Goldman Sachs gave you more experience than you felt ready for. I was constantly stretched, in a positive way, so when I joined Northern Trust in 2007 as Head of Recruitment for EMEA, I could step into that senior role

Her next placement was in DE&I, then a relatively new function. "It was big in the US, where Goldman was headquartered. I really enjoyed that, and it's a big part of my role today - I take a lot of pride in seeing how far that area has come."

At the end of the graduate programme, she moved into permanent roles in experienced hire recruitment and then in graduate recruitment for the investment banking division. "It was a very exciting time. I'd arrive at the office with a small suitcase and fly off to run an assessment day in Milan, Madrid or elsewhere. It sounded glamorous, but the reality was that involved a lot of time spent in airports and taxis," she says.