A New Life: Leaving banking to follow the spa revolution was simple, Aisling Donnelly tells Tony Clayton-Lea
From wealth to health - it could be the new motto for Co Galway-based Aisling Donnelly, formerly co-ordinator to the financial adviser at Permanent TSB Galway, but now pursuing a career in the rapidly growing spa industry as sales and marketing manager at Absolute Spa, which is scheduled to open at the city's Marriott Hotel this month.
Donnelly worked in the banking industry for seven years. When she gave birth to her third child last year, she used her time out while on maternity leave to take stock of her career and decided to get out of banking.
"I had been finding, over the past few years, that working in the banking area had changed significantly, compared to when I worked in the area originally," she says. "It hasn't changed for the worse, but it's changed from what I liked most about it, which was that it was a very people-oriented business, with very much keeping in mind that customers' requirements were satisfied.
"Latterly, the banking business seems to be a very sales oriented area. I know I'm in sales here at the spa, but it's a very different type of work ethic, I think," Donnelly says.
The changes that Donnelly witnessed within the banking arena didn't suit her personality, she also admits.
"The days of meeting and greeting the public, and treating them as your number one priority are gone. People are now encouraged to bank over the internet, to go for automated lodgements.
"I know that cuts down on the queues, but I somehow think that banks are missing the point. I'm not so sure if that's the right idea," she explains. "Personally speaking, I like the idea of meeting people, and at the job I'm in now, there's plenty of that."
Choosing the right type of job was easy, Donnelly says. She has always been interested in the health industry, particularly in the area of holistic health.
"I've always liked reading up on the background of essential oils and other areas like that. Working in a spa environment intrigued me, so when I got the opportunity with the Marriott, I took it up."
The differences between Donnelly's new and former jobs are immense, she remarks. In banking, as co-ordinator to the financial adviser, she would have had a set diary from which she would meet up to six people a day in relation to sales or products, such as income bonds.
"You were given targets for each day, and you had to come in on those targets."
In her new job, she works completely on her own initiative. "The biggest difference for me is that I can decide my own time. In the bank, I had to be there by a certain time and could leave only by a certain time.
"Here, I can pop home if the kids are sick, and I can work on the laptop. That's a huge difference in that it suits my circumstances. I am in an office pretty much every day, but I'm in control of my time."
Over the past few months, Donnelly has put together the marketing and sales plan for the next year. "We've been given a budget and I've had to work within that - the likes of promotions, launch nights, everything. If it goes wrong then it falls back on me."
So there's still a degree of pressure, then?
"Yes, but it's a different kind of pressure. The marketing side of it is planned, so from there it goes out to a PR company, which makes it something of a shared responsibility.
"Banking is obviously quite corporate, and it could get quite intense. Working in a spa is far more relaxed."
According to Donnelly, it wasn't difficult to make the decision to change her career - being on maternity leave, away from the day-to-day demands of a corporate environment, relaxed the decision-making process.
"Once I made the decision and spoke to whoever it was I had to speak to," she says, "then it was a massive relief, even though it was a permanent job, with all the associated perks such as VHI, pension, and so on.
"Leaving behind the security of things like that didn't really bother me, either, because it was my decision to do that. And besides, if you want to set up those kinds of things then you can," she says.
Although she heads up the sales and marketing department for the new spa, Donnelly still feels it's crucial to undertake training in certain areas of therapy and wellbeing treatments.
Her social skills, she readily admits, are very much in place, as is her sales experience.
"I feel I have to have a better understanding of what it's like to administer treatments to people; this in turn will give me a better understanding of the running of the spa.
"If I'm going to be working alongside a team of therapists, then it's important that I know what they do in their line of work. You can't give an opinion about their work practices unless you understand the job. I've learned that from experience working in banking - unless you do the same job then you can't tell what's easy or what's not easy."
From wealth to health - any regrets? "Not at all. I loved working at the bank, and they were a great company to work for, but I don't regret leaving. I've made the decision and I haven't looked back.
"I'm a happier person - I come home in the evening and I'm nowhere near as stressed as I used to be. I feel now I have a clearer mind, and I also feel I have genuine job satisfaction and a sense of achievement."