What's your job about?
icare is responsible for insurance and care across New South Wales. My current placement is in the Office of the Chief Executive (OCEO), which is responsible for connecting the various business areas within icare in order to provide an overview of performance and progress for the CEO, Board and Minster. The OCEO team also works across icare on a project basis by offering generalist capability and capacity. I support my colleagues with conceptualising, planning and completing various projects. The projects I have been involved with so far have included, the monthly CEO report, Senior Leadership development events, quarterly business performance reporting, developing and facilitating business wide workshops and collating business research pieces. I am fortunate enough to always be involved and hands on with work which allows me to develop my skills, learn from my colleagues and genuinely contribute to support both the business and its employees in a meaningful way. I love being able to participate in daily brainstorming sessions with my colleagues and other icare employees to share ideas and thoughts on business related matters. It is definitely rewarding to actually be contributing to important work within the business and seeing the positive results..
What's your background?
I was born in Melbourne, however my family frequently moved interstate until we settled on a property in Toowoomba, Queensland where we have been since 2002. Moving around while growing up gave me the confidence to try new things and accept change positively. After completing year 12, I deferred my degree and worked overseas for 12 months in Germany as an Au Pair. This was a fantastic opportunity for me to live abroad, experience a new culture and have the responsibility of looking after a young boy. There were plenty of challenges whilst I was overseas; however I came home with a great sense of accomplishment and was ready to take on my next challenge of university. Within two weeks of arriving back home, I moved to Brisbane and started my university degree. Throughout university, I lived in an apartment off campus and I quickly learnt to juggle study, a part time job, volunteer work experience and a social life! Despite the tough times, this experience helped me make the most of my study and prepared me for the reality of working full time. After graduating, I moved to Sydney in 2016 with my partner and worked in recruitment for 12 months. Although I enjoyed recruitment, I was interested in completing a graduate program that offered mentoring and more variety of work. The icare graduate program provided the opportunity for that, as well as learning and leadership development. Since commencing in February 2017, I have enjoyed every moment and am grateful for the opportunity.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Certainly, the Office of the Chief Executive team has a variety of different backgrounds and I feel that’s actually what makes us work efficiently. Our ability to bring various experiences and perspectives enables us to think diversely and creatively. Communication and organisational skills are definitely critical for doing a project based role. Communication is important to ensuring there is clarity and understanding of the work being delivered. Organisational skills are critical; more often than not you are working to several other agendas and timelines to your own. Planning ahead, being prepared for changes and having detailed check lists ensures a project is completed on time.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
The coolest thing about my job is knowing that the work I do every day is going towards continuing to make New South Wales a better and safer state. I also get to work alongside likeminded people who are also passionate about making a positive difference in the community. My current role enables me to work on projects that will firstly impact icare employees and then through their work, will lead to better outcomes for our customers, which is just about everyone in New South Wales.
What are the limitations of your job?
The biggest challenge of my role is the ambiguity associated with the projects we work on. There is sometimes very minimal direction or structure provided when commencing a project, yet you still have to ensure you have a full and detailed project plan ready to go. Even if the person you are working with has little idea of what outcomes they actually want, you still need to assist them with anchoring their own problem solving attempts and finding a solution. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming and a little bit like trying to run before you can walk.
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