I studied International Relations and Communications at Florida State University, and graduated during the first lockdown in May 2020. Given that the future was so uncertain at that point in time I wasn't really sure what direction I wanted to take my career in, so I was applying for every opening I could find. I got hired at Beazley in June 2020, as an Account Administrator in the Atlanta office.
What was your first role at Beazley and what were your responsibilities?
My first role at Beazley was as an Account Administrator supporting the Property team. I started by helping prep high value home applications and later moved into helping underwriters rate potential risks. Towards the end of my time in the team I was also helping get other colleagues trained up on the different systems and processes we used to help support underwriters.
Why did you decide to apply for an internal secondment?
I found a mentor in the company and we started to talk about my career development and what my next steps might be, and I knew I was interested in using my communications background somewhere in the Culture & People team. I occasionally browsed the internal vacancies list and found the posting for a 12 month secondment. The department is pretty small compared to a lot of the other ones at Beazley, and openings don't come up very often, so I knew I needed to take advantage of the opportunity. From there, the application and interview process went pretty quickly and just shy of my one year anniversary at Beazley I was offered a secondment position as the Internal Communications, Culture & Employee Engagement Assistant.
Tell us about the secondment and how you have developed your skills?
I wasn't sure what to expect with this secondment and to be honest, I don’t think I understood just how much the team was involved with when I was brought on board. We're a fast-paced team and juggling multiple projects at once, so it's really important that everyone understands how what they're doing helps the bigger picture. Once I understood what my responsibilities entailed, I noticed how much more empowered I felt to start making decisions, sending communications and working with new groups of people. It's also allowed me to learn a lot of new skills, like working with our Project Managers to help develop our internal SharePoint sites and sharpen up my writing.
What have you enjoyed most about the secondment?
My favourite things about my secondment has been the vast amount of people I've been able to meet in this role. In my previous role, I didn't have much opportunity to meet people outside of my department and as a result I don’t think I understood the size of Beazley. Every day I get to talk with people from all across the business and learn a lot more about what cool projects and initiatives they're working on.
What would you like to do next in terms of your career?
I would love to continue on with a career in internal communications. I've also been really lucky to be able to help out some other teams in the department with their projects, and would think it would be cool to maybe explore going into one of those teams as well.
What are your favourite things about working at Beazley?
I love the company culture at Beazley. Every single person I've met at Beazley has been so willing to lend a helping hand or sit and talk with me. I think we have a really unique culture that values building each other up, collaboration and giving credit where credit is due.