From student loans to secretarial services

Topic:

Hot topic

Date published:

Wednesday, 27 February 2019

Author:

Siphiwe Moyo

Leaving university left me with a lot of questions. What career route do I want to take? Will I have enough experience? Will I use my degree? There can be a lot of pressure on deciding what the right thing is to do but, what I did know, is I wanted something interesting, somewhere offering me support and a job I could imagine myself doing.

When I saw the PSGS graduate scheme advertised, I thought it would be great to get the experience. I didn’t expect to go into pensions, I had never even thought about pensions in general. I am only twenty one and have a fair bit of time ahead of me yet…

So I went for it. I followed the link to the company website and filled out an application. As easy as pie! I was contacted, and we arranged a date. I’d had interviews before and this wasn’t different to what I had expected. It was a two-stage interview with a short presentation and written assessment. I was made to feel comfortable from beginning to end and it wasn’t stiff or awkward. I left thinking I really could see myself here and, luckily, I was offered the job!

Settling in to the nine to five

I have been working along a training plan, focusing on specific schemes and Pension Protection Fund (PPF) tasks to build my pensions knowledge. I’ve had the opportunity to provide secretarial support at meetings, attend seminars held by professionals, update scheme governance documents and support member related queries. Every day brings new challenges and I am enjoying seeing how all the different elements function within a pension scheme.

I have a monthly catch up with my mentors, James and Laura. They did my interview and have been guiding me through, seeing how I am getting on and if I would like more help or training. I also regularly check in with Kirsty, as I help her on two schemes with member cases and budgets. I update my graduate training programme before each catch up to showcase my development and document my workload. These sessions really keep me focused and make me feel very supported, especially as I have had no previous experience working with pensions.

Making a difference from the start

A highlight so far has been working in an environment where you can see you are making a difference in the work that you’re doing. For example, I have been involved in a PPF case from the very beginning and have developed project plans, created budgets for advisers and met deadlines for scheme documents. Being involved from the start has made me feel confident there are opportunities for progression and a career for me in pensions.

After enjoying the seaside buzz living in Brighton for the last three years, it was important to me to work in a central place. The office is close to public transport, there’s always somewhere nice to go for lunch and I can run errands during my break if I need to. I have found settling into my surroundings and the team easy.

The graduate scheme has been a fantastic experience so far. The team have been very helpful, resourceful and I know I can always ask for help and someone will do their best to not only support me but also teach me about the topic.

If you are a uni leaver and interested in a graduate programme, you could just click the link to the application like I did here and come and join me!

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