Lucie Gordon is RBC Brewin Dolphin's first female head of office in Newcastle. After spending 15 years in the financial services industry with Standard Life, she joined RBC Brewin Dolphin and spent four years as a business development manager before becoming head of intermediary sales for the group in 2016.
What was your first job (and how much did it pay)? My first job was working as an admin assistant for what was then the DSS or Department of Social Security in Jarrow. I was 16 and I remember the office was above Presto supermarket in the shopping centre. It certainly was an eye-opener as a kid working in that environment and I learned so much about life.
I think my first wage was paid in cash and was around £56, which was a lot back then for a 16 year-old. It was only supposed to be a temporary role before starting college in South Shields, but I ended up staying for eight years and making lifelong friends. That’s the thing about being a civil servant; being around for decades in the same role is perfectly normal. I was in a team meeting one day and I thought to myself; there’s me in five years, there’s me in 10 years and there’s me in 20 years. I knew I had to leave then. I started to scan the Thursday night job pages in the Chronicle and found my first sales role with Standard Life and never looked back.
