I joined Portico in 2013 as Team Leader at PwC to mobilise their newly refurbished Head Office. It was a wonderful two years working alongside my team where I adapted my hospitality skills from London’s leading hotels. From day one I knew Portico was the place for me as they invest in people through learning and development and truly care about everyone’s career aspirations
After expressing my interest in progression, an opportunity to gain my dream executive MBA became true. In 2020 I attended Cranfield University along with my day-to-day role. My MBA gave me a great understanding of business units and language.
In 2022 I was promoted to a new role of Mobilisations and Project Manager to support our new clients, teams and projects. 10 years counting and I still thoroughly enjoy working at Portico. I look forward to working with you!
Ewa Dabydoyal, Mobilisations and Projects Manager
We need to constantly develop and enhance learning and development opportunities to keep our people valued and engaged. I joined Portico in June 2021 to spearhead the development of Portico Safe, our hybrid offer of front-of-house and security services. I have very much enjoyed evolving the learning and development programme and resources, which aims to build on our colleagues’ natural people skills with core security training. After becoming Operations Manager in 2021, I managed multiple front-of-house and security contracts for corporate and residential clients.
Jose Saez, Portico Safe Operations Manager
I started my career with Portico in 2016, after six years of flying around the world as cabin crew with British Airways. It was my first ‘office job’.
I was nervous to say the least. Appointed as the Team Leader for a team of five at Shearman and Sterling, this was a new role, and I had the chance to make it my own. With a fantastic mentor as a manager, I soon completed a succession plan, this meant when the time came and my manager moved on, I was ready to step into her shoes.
A couple of years later, I continued my Portico journey as an Interim Manager for another law firm. In 2020, Portico won a new business at 22 Bishopsgate: a brand-new team in a brand-new building! This was the opportunity of a lifetime. We mobilised the contract and helped our clients every step of the way. I went on to have a baby and now, with the support of our great Operations Managers and Directors, I have returned to work and I couldn’t feel more at home!
Lauren Devins, Active Commuter Park and Lobby Manager
I began working for Portico as a Receptionist and Welcome Host at Santander in November 2021. I worked hard to integrate myself within the community of the building and to build relationships with the internal employees outside of my Portico colleagues.
My determination to create excellent service moments for every person I engaged with led to my promotion to Business Centre Manager less than a year later. The extra responsibilities I have been given in this role have not only been invaluable in my understanding of the building’s mechanics but has also expanded my core skill set in the guest services sector. Asking questions, going above and beyond and truly listening are qualities which I believe have helped me excel in my position. Both my colleagues and managers have been so supportive in helping me to grow and progress.
From my interview to now, my admiration of Portico has only grown, and I am extremely excited about the possibilities that await the rest of my journey.
Cosmin Tesu, Team Leader at Sky Garden
I started with Portico in 2018 as a Team Leader at Deutsche Bank. I found my feet very quickly and with the mentoring and support of my line manager, attending different trainings to focus on my development. Six months later, I progressed into a supervisor position with greater responsibilities and a larger team.
I remained in my position as supervisor for over three years and during this time I grew massively. I took on extra tasks, put myself out of my comfort zone, visited and cross-trained at other Portico sites and focused on the development of myself and my own team. Having great managers that really want to see you succeed is all you could ever ask for. This led me to where I am now as an Assistant Manager.
There are so many opportunities at Portico: mentoring, cross-training at other sites and an amazing L&D team with different development pathways to suit different needs and ambitions. We love to see you succeed so use the resources you have around you, apply yourself and set yourself goals. You can be whatever you want to be at Portico.
Levi Powers, Assistant Reception Services Manager
I started at Forsters seven years ago as a receptionist. Forsters is a boutique law firm in Mayfair and it was an amazing journey meeting the clients, partners and staff. After two years of learning about the company and its clients, my drive and passion took me to be promoted to Senior Receptionist. Here I continued to be a big part of the team, supporting both new joiners and management. After this, I decided I wanted to progress within the company and with my manager’s support I decided to apply for managerial positions.
After a couple of applications, finally I have landed my current role of Reception Manager, managing a team of three receptionists and two floor host team members at ISG since August last year. As I always say: the sky is the limit and if you have the drive and motivation, your manager will support your development within Portico.
Alex Avila, Reception Manager
My Portico journey started in 2018 with Santander’s head office. Four years (and one baby) later I wanted to start developing my Portico career.
I loved my team at Santander, however, I realised it was time for me to progress and when I mentioned this to my Director I couldn’t believe how supportive he was in giving me so much advice about my possible next steps. I interviewed for a management role at Freshfields and instantly I felt it was the right fit with a wonderful team around me and a fantastic client. Portico want to see every individual flourish. I love that!
The advice I would offer any new Portico person is: ask yourself where you would like to be in the future and then take advantage of the huge number of learning and development courses available to help you get there. We love promoting from within! Set your career goals and go for it!
Elif Allan, Front-of-House Team Leader
