Claudine Cullen - My Career Journey with Ambition

At Ambition, we believe careers should grow with you. Whether that means exploring a new specialism, stepping into leadership, or finding the flexibility to balance work and life, we’re committed to helping our people thrive.

Claudine’s career journey is a great example of what’s possible here. After initially joining to head up our former PA and office support team, she later transitioned into a completely new sector with the full support of the business - an opportunity that transformed her career and took her into a Principal Consultant role within our Legal BD & Marketing team.

In the video below, Claudine shares what her 12 years at Ambition have been like: the encouragement to try something new, the flexibility that supports her as a working parent, the inclusive culture, and the ongoing development opportunities that help her consistently improve every day.

Her experience reflects what we strive to offer everyone at Ambition: a place where you can grow, feel supported, and genuinely enjoy the team around you.​

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Transcript

They've enabled me to move teams, to learn a new area, learn a new sector, which has been brilliant. And my career has gone from strength to strength, having done that.

Hi, I'm Claudine. I'm a Principal Consultant on the Legal BD and Marketing team. I've been with Ambition for about 12 years, and in my current role, I focus on recruiting senior level BD and Marketing professionals across the legal sector.

How has your career evolved since joining Ambition?

So, when I joined Ambition, I came on board to set up the PA office support team for the London office, which I did for a couple of years, and then made the move across to the BD and Marketing team for change of sector, really.

I wanted to do something different, and I was given the opportunity, and it worked quite well with my own personal circumstance at the time.

How has Ambition supported you in progressing your career at a senior level?

So, the support that I've had from Ambition over the years has been great, enabling me to succeed and do well in my career at the level that I'm at - Principal Consultant.

They've enabled me to move teams, to learn a new area, learn a new sector, which has been brilliant. And my career has gone from strength to strength, having done that.

They also provide a lot of support just in that flexibility piece, which I think for myself is really important. Not having that extra worry and the extra stress as to how I can carry out my job as a working mum just makes things and life so much easier.

In what ways has Ambition helped you balance your role with being a parent?

So, Ambition supports me as a working parent by enabling me to work part-time. I do four days a week, I do Monday to Thursday.

I know that on my non-working day, I've got the support of the whole team, knowing that I can relax, enjoy my day with my children without the stress or worry of having to log on, check things that need to be done.

Obviously I'm always flexible, so if I know that there are certain things happening on that Friday that are quite key, whether it be an offer or something like that, then I'm always available.

They give me that flexibility that I need, and I can also flex my days I'm in the office, which has been really beneficial, especially around childcare, school holidays, things like that. So yeah, it's been brilliant.

What's the culture like at Ambition?

So, the culture at Ambition, it's a really nice environment. It's really inclusive. People genuinely care. It's not too big in the respect that you can get to know everybody. You can get to know people on different teams.

They like to cater for everybody in terms of people from different backgrounds. So, over the years, it's changed to become much more inclusive.

So, even the fun activities, it's not just focused around one certain thing. It can be sporting activities, it can be quizzing activities, it can be out for food and meals and things like that.

What do you enjoy most about working at Ambition?

So, I'll say it's the people. Sounds really cheesy. Everyone also says it’s the people, but it is.

We've got a really good team across the whole business. And also, on the Legal BD and Marketing team, we've got a very supportive team.

We get on well. We want everyone to succeed and do well.

And also for me, I'm a mum of two, so, I get a lot of flexibility, which is really important as a working parent.

What training and development have you had access to in your role?

So, we've had some great training with Ambition recently. We had a company called Scene Change who came in and delivered the training, and they were fantastic. The best training that we've had the whole time I've been at Ambition.

What they enabled us to do was to take what we do on a day-to-day basis, and elevate it, take it to that next level to really help enhance what we're offering candidates and what we're offering clients, and how we’re working together as a team.

Why did you choose to get involved in Ambition's ABI committee and what impact has it had?

So, being involved in the committee has given me the power and the confidence to have conversations around DE&I with clients and with candidates.

It has enabled me to connect with candidates on a higher level. And I've had to have challenging conversations with clients as well around situations that have happened with candidates that had I not been part of the committee, had I not had the knowledge or the understanding, I might not have been able to have had previously.

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​Inspired by Claudine's story? Join us!

Whether you’re just starting out in recruitment, an experienced consultant ready for your next challenge, or a professional from the wider services sector looking for something new - we’d love to hear from you.

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