Emma Norris – Chief of Staff
“It was amazing getting to see where Mum works and what she spends so much time doing! Everyone was really welcoming, I learnt lots and would love to go back!”
I have worked in Financial Services for a long time, starting long before I had my children. Having a mum who spends time in the London office most weeks and is on endless Teams calls when working from home, it is what my children are used to. However, neither have ever shown an interest in following a similar path, lacking an understand of the “what” I do or “why”. When the subject of work experience came up for my 17 year old daughter Layla whilst taking Arts based A Levels, IT in Insurance wasn’t an obvious match. But I am proud of my career and passionate about making what can be a daunting industry, accessible and appealing to those that may discount it too easily. Capabilities outside of traditional and emerging ‘tech’ are necessary in IT and delivering business outcomes from technology. I therefore invited Layla to join me for a week in our London office to find out more.
During the week she met with a wide range of colleagues across the business, joined working meetings, an offsite event and even met with our CIO. What an amazing experience for someone new to the world of work and assessing their options! Everyone was super generous with their time, talking passionately about their careers, roles, and future career aspirations. She heard more about the large transformation underway and how this will drive the business forward. Layla soaked it up, making me proud in how she presented herself, asking questions and showing genuine interest. As the week ended, I was delighted to hear how insightful she found it, her newfound appreciation for my work, admiration for my colleagues but most of all, I was surprised to hear that she would consider a similar career path in the future. The shiny office, London in the sunshine and afterwork dinners helped but the corporate world, Insurance and IT are now on her radar. This is a huge turnaround and shows that exposure to different experiences, environments and people can unlock opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t be considered.
More work experience for our young people, more use of our networks and more Women In Tech in the future!
Ruchi Gupta – Technical Project Manager
It all started with a casual chat over a coffee; discussing what subjects would she like to pick for her GCSE. Clearly computer science was not a choice and more to my surprise it wasn’t in her list because she thought we both (mum and dad) had a very boring life with career in tech. She thought we just took calls and were glued to our laptops most of the day. She built a perspective and that was forming her belief – Tech is boring. And thanks to all the jargon that sowed these seeds.
This statement took my full focus as I knew we have a lot to talk now – Of course there is much more that goes in those perceived “boring” calls. A chat over coffee became a full family discussion now. We talked to her about our work, our challenges, our achievements, almost everything that suddenly started picking her attention. We talked about system and applications that they use in every day’s life and how they are built from conception of the idea till roll out and maintenance. How customer requirements are translated into technical design. We talked about what goes behind planning and driving that delivery through various challenges.
We gave her example and references from bite size family discussions; how every day is a new day at work, challenges of unknown that comes with disagreements and conflicts (that are handled with care and empathy) but finally reach a team agreement and decision, power of relationships and networks, radical candour, emotional intelligence, power of communication and feedback, almost everything.
These discussions helped her connect the broken links that she caught from outside. It was now like building a puzzle.
We spoke about advancement of technology and the role it plays in our everyday life with our career journeys and how it shaped us the person we are today.
It must have sounded like a TEDx talk; we had at home. The motive was not to influence her but to clear the perception and join the dots.
At Intact we have Inspire programme to enable work experience opportunity for students. She came to my office (Intact) for her work experience. As part of the programme she had her week pre planned with some modules and exercises to be completed each day. This included exploring the office, building interview skills, meeting ERG team and knowing more about the apprentice programme.
She also got an opportunity to speak with various team members and leaders. She learned what we do as a company. She worked closely with Data and AI team over 2 days and understood data transformation, role and capability of AI in various industries. Leaders also spoke to her about their career progression, career advice and tips, addressed her inquisitive mind with their experience. She joined a few meetings with me and was introduced to many people she knew only by name so far.
It now made more sense to her. As she studied more, she developed a liking for the subject. As a career, she is keener now on delivering solutions that make a difference in real world. AI and Data being the buzz words make more sense now but with the importance of governance, while everyone is trying to adapt to industry revolution.
It was one of the most organised and welcoming experience for her. Stepping in a corporate office, talking to top leaders that are making an impact in the industry and exchange of ideas was an insightful experience for her. In her words:
“I loved the work experience at Intact. Everyone was so welcoming and encouraging.
As a sixth form student passionate about Robotics and AI engineering, this experience gave me a rare inside look at how data and AI are driving real world business transformation. “ – Arushi
Of course, she was impressed by the office infrastructure in the heart of city of London. But she also saw a different side of me as a mentor. I am happy we did this together and had more opportunity to spend some extra quality time over coffee in the city.
It is important to talk, these discussions and work experiences can change their perspectives towards tech.
To find out more about working at Intact Insurance please click here
