Senior Sales Adviser
Chaucer Insurance

Helen A

00:00:03 My name’s Helen A and my full job title is a Senior Sales Advisor. It’s sales of car insurance where the customers do it online, and then they come through to us, and then we’re just there to advise if they’ve got any questions or queries regarding their quotes. I’ve been working in sales now for approximately three months, and I previously worked in insurance claims for four years. So I’ve sort of gone up the ladder if you like.

00:00:30 I always wanted to do like policing or forensics, that sort of thing. And wanted to go into Criminal Psychology. So, completely different from what I’ve ended up in really. When I was 6 years old I was already into sort of murder mystery books and things like that, so I wanted to do lots of investigating stuff when I was young. I’ve always wanted to go into sort of investigating role into the police, and I still would like to go into the police, it’s something that, you know, I’d always thought about. So it’s not necessarily sort of a closed thing, but I’ve just sort of gone off into a different direction really.

00:01:06 When I was doing my GCSEs I chose to do Sociology. I think the teacher I had at the time sort of introduced me to it, because it was a new subject they were teaching at the school at the time. And he was a good teacher, and he made it really interesting. So – and that’s the subject I ended up doing really well in at school. So then I developed and did that at college and University as well. And then I thought I’ll come out of University and go into the police, and I thought I had it planned out for me.

00:01:35 When I went to University I got into sports. I started to play rugby, I thought it would be a challenge. I knew people that already played rugby, and I’d been watching them play and I just, you know, started asking about the rules and things like that. So I went along to a training session once with a friend, I really enjoyed it, and just started to play from there really. And we did the rugby tour as well, we went to Barcelona for a rugby tour as well. So it was a nice holiday.

00:02:02 Well after University I came back home and lived with my parents, and I just really had to think about what options I had.

00:02:12 I went to apply for the police, and I just missed out, and then you have to wait six months before re-applying. You had to have a certain percentage to pass the assessment for the police, and think I missed by about one percent. But they said I could re-apply in six months, so I did that, and then the next time I failed by two percent. Did feel very disappointed, because that’s the sort of plan I had out in my head, you know, just thought it would be an easy transgression from University straight into the police, and then I was where I thought I would be. But, that’s life. So I’ve just kind of concentrated on the career I’ve got at the moment, and then I may consider it at a later date, but I’m just concentrating on my insurance career at the moment.

00:02:58 The high point in my career so far – think would have being made up to Senior in Insurance, because I feel I’m quite a people person and I help – I like to help manage people because I feel I’m quite approachable, and I like to be recognised for that. So I like being able to manage people, as well as do the job that I’m doing.

00:03:19 I think the biggest support I’ve had through my career life is probably my parents. They’ve always encouraged me, whatever option I’ve chosen to take. They wasn’t particularly keen on me going to University, they thought I should just go and start work and start getting my experience, but they supported me in my decision. And every job I’ve applied for, they’ve always taken an interest in what I’ve been doing. So it’s probably my parents who’ve been my inspiration.

00:03:45 ENDS