About Me

Star Duck Administration is run and managed by me, Sue Hayman.

Educated at Degree level, I have 25 years of experience working in the public, private and charity sectors. I have also lived and worked in both Canada and Australia.

Administration – Having learned to touch type at sixth-form college, strong administration skills have been the basis of every role I have undertaken. Specifically, though, I was a PA to the Managing Director of a national wholesaler for 5 years. 

 
Recruitment – 7 years. I started my career working within the HR department of a national IT company and 6 years working as a recruitment officer placing temporary and permanent staff from warehouse operators to management. 

 
Charity sector – 5 years working for an employability charity where I began by running personal development courses for young people (The Princes Trust) and through promotion I managed contracts, staffing, sourced new funding, finding and setting up new offices and facility management. 

Public sector – For nearly 3 years I worked for the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner. During this time, I was a Volunteer Coordinator for the Independent Custody Visitors. This included recruitment, training and mentoring of volunteers of all ages over a large geographical area. Part of this included involvement with the Home Office and Counter Terrorism. In addition, I carried out research and prepared geographic and crime statistic reports. 

NHS – for 2½ years I carried out 2 separate contracts as Business Administrator for the Community Mental Health Team and the Depression and Anxiety Service respectively. For both roles this involved front line dealings with patients, managing staff and assisting the Team Managers with the running of the departments as a whole.

Editing / proof reading – I am a published author through both a publisher and via self-publishing. I totally understand the need to read and re-read documents with attention to detail. I am also a proof reader for a fellow author. 

Sales – 2 years for a national IT company in London.

Hospitality industry – During my compulsory one-year work placement as part of my degree (BA Honours in Leisure Management) I worked in hotels in both the Canadian Rockies and the Lake District.

What about me as a person…

I guess it is a little obvious that my work experience to date has not been about working up the career ladder! This does not mean that I am not ambitious or that I don’t take pride in my work. Many of my roles came to a stop due to redundancy with the exceptions of moving locations. At first, I used to find it frustrating that each time I changed jobs I had to start from the beginning to prove myself to my new employer. However, in hindsight, I realise now that it shows my resilience and ease to adapt to changing environments. As cliché as it might sound, I am one of those in life who just wants to live and experience.
 

I have passion in the work I do, and I thrive on variety and challenge. Let me help you with a service which is tailor made to your needs.
 

As you can see from my experience, I am un-phased by change and have a can do attitude in everything I do through resilience, hard work and enthusiasm. 

So that brings me to why I have now taken the plunge and gone Freelance. In September 2017 my mother sadly passed away. Although sudden, unexpected and deeply saddening, it also brought about opportunity. Through her legacy (although not massive) it was enough to make some life changes. Once probate had been completed in June 2018, we (my husband and our animals) threw caution to the wind and left our home in Devon and went on a tour of Britain to find our new spiritual home. After several months on the road, we stumbled across Northumberland and fell in love with the county and its people. The decision was made, and we have now settled in this delightful county, where Star Duck Administration was born, so I now do what I love and what I am good at – administration and organisation – throughout the most beautiful county in England.
 

So why the name “Star Duck Administration”? 

Well, that is the other part of my life. In 2011 the most amazing thing happened - from our incubator hatched an Indian Runner Duckling that was different from the very beginning. Within hours we had named him Star. Why? It would seem that Star doesn’t realise he is a duck and just loves people (which is the complete opposite of the usual runner duck behaviour). Star made national and international headlines from just a few months old and has remained in the public eye on and off since. He, along with Barrie, have raised thousands of pounds for charity through busking on the streets and has made numerous visits to the children’s hospice and care homes. Being a constant companion to Barrie, he loves being out and about, and travels in the front seat of the car always wearing a bow-tie. He has his own Facebook pages and many followers. Wired differently, it is as if he was brought to this earth just to put a smile on people’s faces whenever they see him. 

So, Star Duck Administration has been born in both tribute to my mum and her legacy, along with our duck Star, who has brought such joy to people’s lives.  
 

If you want to find out more about Star, you can visit his Facebook page “Star Hayman” or google “Star Duck” to see the media stories that have been produced over the years. If you wish to read more about how that all came about, you can buy the book I have written which charts the first 2 years of his life (which can be brought on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-Star-Ducks-Rise-Fame/dp/1539945073/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=sue+hayman&qid=1565609296&s=gateway&sr=8-1 - or directly from me): The Story of Star, One Duck's Rise to Fame. 

I have now just started to get the second book written so look out for updates on this.