A fulfilling career journey: Fiona’s transformation from a psychology grad to a customer experience leader

Fiona’s career began as a participant in the Allianz grad program, having studied science majoring in psychology. Driven by her interest in influencing behaviours, she knew that clinical work wasn’t for her, so Fiona decided to pursue work in the corporate sector.  

“I chose Allianz for its general insurance leadership program, which offered me the freedom to explore different business divisions and access to courses like ANZIIF and LinkedIn Learning. I was aligned to a General Manager as my mentor, and which assured me that my development was prioritised from the very beginning.”

Embracing her obsession with the customer experience

 

After completing the grad program, Fiona joined the Direct team, where she worked closely with colleagues in Marketing and Digital to ensure a consistent omni-channel experience for customers. And now, with her lifelong interest in human behaviour, Fiona has found a home in the Customer Experience team. She explains this perfect alignment,

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    “When the opportunity arose to join the Customer Experience and Culture team, it was an exciting chance to lean into something I was really interested in, challenge myself, and expand my scope of experience to create more impact for customers and their loyalty.”

     

     

In her current role as the Customer Experience Initiatives Manager, she uses her love of analysing and improving the customer journey across various business units to build stronger, long-lasting relationships grounded in satisfaction. 

“Our customers are often contacting us in times of vulnerability and are looking for more than just answers about their insurance policy. While they seek our expertise and solutions, they’re also looking for someone kind, to listen and empathise.”  

Supporting women and cultural diversity in the insurance industry

 

Regardless of an employee’s age or stage in life, Allianz aims to ensure that everyone has access to opportunities to develop their career and reach their full potential.

Fiona highlights many of her own experiences, including through mentoring, accessing LinkedIn Learning and internal e-learning courses, and participating in specialised programs such as the AWS Cloudup for Her Practitioner program.

She speaks about the tangible presence of women in senior roles and expresses inspiration, particular in here own team, where Fiona works alongside other dynamic women with female leader, saying “Women are in senior roles right across the company- being a woman is no barrier to a successful career here. It’s inspiring because you know you’ve got someone else’s career to model your own off. I can think of several female leaders who, through their guidance, interpersonal skills and empathy, have encouraged me to take risks, make decisions and drive my own career forward.”

Fiona is also actively involved in Allianz NEO, an employee-run group dedicated to fostering gender diversity. Recognising national days of significance, NEO provides opportunities for networking and development events, and offers internal sponsorship and mentoring programs.

  • Speaking about cultural diversity in the organisation, Fiona shares, “At Allianz, we’re offered benefits such as Diversity Day, which allows employees to swap a public holiday for a day of cultural significance to them. I have a special place in my heart for Lunar New Year celebrations. It’s a time to get together with family and celebrate the year ahead- it’s more important than Christmas for many people; there are festivals, markets, fireworks display, etc. It’s a great way to feel a sense of pride and connection to my Chinese identity, while also feeling very much Australian. Allianz’s general encouragement for cultural celebrations helps create a sense of belonging." 

A culture of caring about each unique individual

 

Allianz values the strengths and perspectives that everyone brings, ensuring we have a broad range of people involved in decision-making and leadership roles.  

“There is a proactive effort to create an environment where diversity is celebrated, and young people from different cultural backgrounds and abilities, are not only welcomed, but actively included and supported.” 

“When you’re looking for a place to work and can see that an employer has a great representation of genders and people from culturally diverse backgrounds, you know they’re going to embrace inclusion and make everyone feel welcome. Once you’re here, and you look around the place, you can’t help but feel a strong sense of belonging- and that’s a workplace culture that everyone deserves.”

We care about everything that makes you, you

Do you identify as LGBTQ+ or gender diverse? Would you like to discuss accessibility or workplace adjustments prior to applying? If you have any questions about working at Allianz, or if you'd like support with your application, we're here to help!
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