"People underestimate me because I'm 5ft 2in, but they soon learn I'm tough."

When Eleanore (Ellie) Sims joined tlmNexus as a Customer Integration Engineer (CIE), she knew she wasn't the obvious candidate. tlmNexus also knew it, and it’s the blend of flexible, positive attitudes on all sides that is making it work.

Ellie explains, "tlmNexus had my details from the year before I joined, when I had applied for an account manager’s job. HR manager Emma Wade saw something in me and asked if she could keep my details. When the CIE role came up, she sent me the job description. I didn't meet any of the criteria," she laughs. "But I thought I'd love to interview and I knew I could commit to learning."

Just over a year later, Ellie is supporting customers across multiple military platforms, helping users to get the most from Resolve and DaRT, delivering training, producing documentation and acting as a trusted point of contact between customers and tlmNexus.

It's a world away from where she started.

Her chosen career path was suddenly unavailable

Ellie originally studied Law at university and had planned on joining the Royal Navy. Coming from a military family who had lots of military friends, it felt like a natural route.  "I wanted to join the Navy and champion Human Rights, but a medical condition meant I was not permitted. I had focused so much on that path that suddenly I didn't know what to do."

Instead, full of a zeal to help rescue people, she became a support worker, helping people facing addiction, homelessness and complex personal challenges. "I loved the job, but there were situations I didn't want to be part of my life. It was a slap in the face to learn that some people do not want to be rescued, and I felt, having gone through so much to gain a law degree, I should be earning more money than a caring career allows."

That led her into defence recruitment, first in the UK and later supporting customers in the Middle East and the United States. She made many more military connections during this time. "It was constant sales, targets and commission-chasing. Some months were brilliant and others weren't."

After several years in recruitment and with perfect timing following a redundancy, she received an unexpected message from tlmNexus.

"Emma messaged me and said, 'I don't suppose you're looking for a job?'"

‘You’re not what I am looking for…”

The interview process was honest.  "Mark Chesterton told me, very kindly, 'You're not what I'm looking for. It would take a lot of training.'"

Rather than accepting defeat, Ellie challenged him.

"I said, 'I realise there will be eyes on me. I have a Law degree. I can learn. I don't have the military experience but I have the connections and I know the domain. What do the other candidates have that I don't? I'll go away and learn whatever is needed.'"

A few days later, she got the call. "I genuinely didn't think I'd got the job," she said, “It was a delightful surprise.”

The learning curve was steep; it was like being back at university

The first few months were challenging. Before her first day, she met the team for lunch at Yeovil. "They were all talking in acronyms. I was sitting there like a nodding dog and just didn't understand anything."

Three weeks later she attended her first customer visit. "I came back with pages and pages of notes on everything I needed to learn."

There were naturally moments of self-doubt. "I definitely had imposter syndrome. I had come from an environment where I knew exactly what I was doing. Suddenly I was learning a completely new industry and did not know anything."

Ellie is extremely determined and resilient, and what made the biggest difference to her turning these attributes into success was the support around her. "No one ever made me feel stupid. The team have always been incredibly supportive and patient. Mark would explain anything. It felt like being back at university with a really great tutor."

Ellie says her team at tlmNexus is very close knit. “There are no office politics, everyone helps each other to an extraordinary degree. I faced a personal challenge recently and so many of them went out of their way to support me, both practically and motivationally.”

“I think being easy to work with is a really understated skill”

Today, Ellie supports customers across multiple platforms, helping with training, reporting, documentation, user guidance and change requests.

Yet she believes many of her most valuable skills didn't come from defence at all. "The biggest thing recruitment taught me was resilience", she says, and her earlier experiences working with vulnerable people and in demanding sales environments helped her to develop an ability to communicate with different personalities and adapt her approach to suit the situation.

"I think being easy to work with is a really underrated skill."

Whether she's talking to engineers, managers, software specialists or military users, she focuses on understanding what people need and helping them find a solution.  "People underestimate me because I'm 5ft 2in, but they soon learn I'm tough."

Doing floor walks and building relationships

The part of the role she enjoys most is working directly with customers. "I love the relationship side. Going to military sites, doing floor walks and meeting people. They teach me so much; I had no idea what it takes to make a helicopter fly; I was so naïve. One customer showed me patiently all around a helicopter and explained exactly what’s what. It thrilled my parents when I sent them photos of me in an Apache.”

She particularly enjoys the contrast with some previous commercial roles. "It's nice when someone asks for help and they're genuinely grateful. In the corporate world you can sometimes feel like the enemy. Here it's much more about working together."

That relationship-building approach has become one of her strengths. While many customers have used the software longer than she has, they rely on her to help resolve issues, provide guidance and ensure requests keep moving forward.

“I’ve learned that I can talk about an apple to an orange and get them to understand each other.”

Not knowing can be as powerful as knowing

Looking back, Ellie is proud of how far she has come in a relatively short time, and one milestone stands out. "I passed my probation early after three months, even though it normally takes six. Mark Chesterton called me and said they were really happy with how things were going. I didn't expect it." 

Perhaps the biggest surprise has been discovering how much she enjoys being challenged. "I'm a perfectionist. In the past, if I wasn't good at something, I'd sometimes avoid it because I didn't want to make mistakes."

Now she sees things differently.  "I've learned that it's okay not to know everything. It's actually vital to make mistakes and learn from them."

For anyone considering a career change, she says, "You are never too old to learn a new skill, and for people who think they don't have the right background, showcase the skills that are transferable. For employers, don't always go for the typical mould of person because you'll get the same results. If you bring in people from different backgrounds, you stand a chance of getting different, and hopefully better results."



After all, that's exactly what happened when tlmNexus took a chance on a recruiter who was willing to learn.