Name: Claudia Barber
What dates were you at Prior Pursglove College?: 2014 – 2016
Subjects studied: Biology, Chemistry, Psychology and AS Maths
Secondary school: Freebrough Academy
Memories of Prior: Kim, my psychology teacher, was amazing and super supportive, and I loved the work experience placements I arranged.
Current Profession: Corporate Responsibility Advisor
About the journey: When I was at Prior, I wanted to be a doctor and had received an offer from Newcastle Uni to study medicine. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the grades. With my whole life being geared towards going to medical school I was a bit lost and unsure of what I wanted to do. When my friends went off to Uni, I took some time to go travelling in Europe.
The following year, I started at Teesside Uni studying Psychology and Counselling. I wanted to have a career where I helped people, but during this course I realised that Uni wasn’t for me.
I started working at AXA UK in January 2020 as a Customer Service Representative, helping customers with their insurance policy queries. AXA UK is the UK entity of a large global insurer. In the UK, we offer Health, Retail (motor and home) and Commercial insurance.
I sought and took any opportunities that became available to me to continue growing my skills and capabilities, such as completing a level three Certified Chartered Insurance Institute Insurance Practitioner apprenticeship, and trying new roles through secondments, such as spending 2022 building skills as a Data Analyst.
During this time, I applied for a voluntary position as the Chair of an employee network for disability inclusion. This sparked a passion for me where I realised that I could make a real difference in other peoples’ lives through my job. When my analyst secondment ended at the start of 2023, I applied for a role as a Corporate Responsibility Advisor within the wider HR people engagement team, thankfully getting the job!
My team looks after all of our employee volunteering and fundraising, partnerships with national charities, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) work, social mobility, and so much more – basically, how can a company of our size be responsible to the environment and communities that we operate in.
I get to travel to our other UK offices often, spending time each month working in London or other cities, and I meet a lot of great people through charities, volunteering or fundraising. No two days look the same as there is so much variety in what my team does!
Despite not having a degree, working for an organisation like AXA UK has given me the opportunity to develop my skills across a range of roles, and the internal mobility possible in a large organisation has allowed me to find and start a career that I love!