Jamie Seymour, Operational Delivery Engineer at Severn Trent Services, has been in various roles in the group for over 34 years. His passion for football and the great outdoors has also become a bonus of working in the water industry.
Read how Jamie’s career journey began.
I’m Shropshire born and bred and still live in the county. I’m married with a son and daughter, and in my spare time, I love running, walking, travelling, and spending time with family and friends.
I’m also a passionate and lifelong supporter of Liverpool FC and attend as many matches as possible here and across Europe.
I joined Severn Trent as a teenager on August 13, 1990, and I remember my first day like it was yesterday!
After my A Levels, I wasn’t completely sold on the idea of university and felt that ‘earning and learning’ was a better fit for me. The role of Supply and Distribution Apprentice Trainee in East Shropshire appeared in the jobs section of our local newspaper (yes, that’s right, paper, not online!). It looked like a great opportunity, so I applied, and as they say, the rest is history!
It was a front-line role involving repair and maintenance, leakage, new mains and services, water treatment, and customer visits. It was a great role that allowed me to work with some wonderful characters and provided a fantastic foundation for learning, growing, and achieving in the newly privatised water industry. The role also required me to study civil engineering part-time for the next four years.
I’ve been with Severn Trent Services since October 2020 and currently work as a project manager in the engineering leadership team.
Since joining the group, though, I’ve had many roles: team manager, project manager, technical expert, and front-line in many different business areas, including operations, asset management, capital delivery and commercial, network control, and chief engineer.
I’m pretty sure this is my 12th role!
Being an outdoor person and someone who loves nature, I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten up close and personal with so many beautiful locations through our work.
Lake Vyrnwy is a personal favourite of mine. The scenery is stunning; even on a rainy weekend, it’s a great place to escape the hustle and bustle. I highly recommend a long walk around Lake Vyrnwy or even the half marathon, which I’ve run a few times.
In the 1990s, the sports and social club was very active, and there was a range of companywide events throughout the year, mostly held in Birmingham.
One of my fondest memories was participating in the Severn Trent 6-aside football tournament with a great bunch of my colleagues from Shropshire. I recall it being a highly competitive event held at the National Indoor Arena, which we managed to win. The county teams across the Severn Trent region largely operated independently in those days, so meeting colleagues who lived elsewhere was unusual. It’s amazing how times have changed!
I would back myself a little more during the early stages of my career. On reflection, with more self-confidence, I could have contributed more of my ideas to solving problems and overcoming challenges in the workplace.
As a junior member of the team, I was probably in awe of those with more experience and knowledge than myself. Over time, I’ve learned just how powerful a fresh pair of eyes can be when solving problems and how important it is for everyone to be involved.
I encourage anyone new to our business to get to know as many of its people as quickly as possible. Connecting with new colleagues and building relationships will soon help you feel at home and will also help pave the way for you to learn and develop new skills and capabilities.
We have an amazingly supportive and inclusive culture here, so anyone new can be confident they will receive great support from the brilliant people who make the Severn Trent group such a fantastic place to work.
