In her position as the Deputy Lead Assessor on the College’s Scheme for Registration, Ruth Bennett MCOptom plays a key role in helping young optometrists take the first steps in their career. But her own early days as an optometrist were inspired by a figure more influential than any assessor.

“My grandfather was an ophthalmic optician. None of his five daughters became an optometrist, but I was his oldest grandchild and his aspirations moved on to me. He was absolutely delighted when I studied optometry and it has certainly worked for me,” Ruth says.

She grew up in Northern Ireland before moving to England to study at Aston University and then taking up a pre-reg position in a hospital.

“I had supervisors who were very different to each other and stimulating people to work with,” Ruth says.

“I got a full-time position in that hospital and stayed on for another few years, but I started to get restless. 

I wanted to do more and eventually studied for a master’s degree in Manchester, which was amazing. That developed my critical thinking but, because I was working and studying part-time, it was also the start of what we would now call my ‘portfolio’ career.

“Optometrists spend all their time in darkened rooms. I started my master’s in January and realised that I basically hadn’t seen daylight for months. I swore to myself then I was never going to work full-time, nine-to-five in a dark room again and I have largely stuck to that with a variety of roles ever since.”