Not going to university was the best decision I could've made
When I completed my A-Levels, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do next. It was very much the norm to go to university and then find a graduate scheme/job. However, my school year was the first of increased tuition fees and I just couldn't justify the debt when I wasn't sure what I'd study anyway! Instead I decided to 'take a year out' and figure out what to do next. I tried different roles in sales, marketing and eventually (accidentally!) fell in to recruitment. I loved it. The rest is history!
It's my job to make sure that candidates know why Phoenix is awesome.
I'm our Group Employer Brand Manager. That means I do lots of work to promote Phoenix as an employer to our candidates. When I joined, everyone I met said 'we do so many great things, but nobody knows about them!', which in employer brand and recruitment, is an exciting challenge to have. Since January 2022 I've been working on lots of projects including launching our new careers website, our Q&A page, social media and generally anything that happens from the moment you consider Phoenix as an employer until your first day with us.
Variety, challenge, pace and flexibility
I'd say that everyone at Phoenix has the autonomy to decide how and when to do their work provided that customer and business needs are met. I find it much more focused on achievements and results than where or when you do the work. Phoenix is an interesting place as whilst it's huge (6,800 colleagues and billions of assets under administration - the UK's largest long term retirement savings business!), our business is still forming after activity such as acquiring the Standard Life and ReAssure businesses. That means in many ways we're still figuring things out and there's lots of opportunity to actually make a difference and shape how we do things. It can be really fast paced at times, and other times it can be a little slower. I find that it's the right balance as with any regulated organisation, it's important to consider risks and due diligence and ensure that what we're doing is always the right thing for our customers (and in my case, our candidates).
Try it!
If you love doing something but don't have the 'typical' experience for the role, try it anyway or find a company who will give you the opportunity to. At Phoenix and in my previous roles I have tried new things either side-of-desk or via trying a new job and I've learned a lot by doing that. I think ultimately trying different things has led me to be really happy in my current job as I've figured out my strengths and what I genuinely enjoy doing. I appreciate that you need the right environment for that and I've been fortunate enough to work for a couple of organisations who have focused on internal talent and development opportunities. This year I'm doing work in areas that I didn't know much about 12 months ago, and learning about more complex topics and processes which may not outwardly be directly associated with my day-to-day job but will help me when I'm considering what's next!
Transforming our attraction agenda at Phoenix
In 2022 I joined Phoenix knowing that in many ways, it was a blank canvas in recruitment and employer brand. Last year after taking some time to understand how things worked and planning what we were going to do first, we managed to end the year with some staggering results that demonstrated just how much of a difference we were making to our candidates and to our recruitment process. This includes achievements such as doubling our applicant numbers, increasing the effectiveness of our advertising by over 500% and outperforming every other client in our recent diversity and inclusivity audit. It has come with challenges but it has also been a lot of fun! The people here have made it an incredible experience so far too.
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