One Year On – Amanda Gray

When Amanda, from Bedford, was made redundant from a large brokerage at 8 months pregnant, she really wasn’t sure what she’d do next. So, a little while later when she got head-hunted by Konsileo and offered the perfect job, she thought it might be too good to be true.

“I’m a big believer that things happen for a reason,” says Amanda, “and that usually if you roll with it, it’ll turn out to be all right! But I had two children under 5 to look after, no job to go back to, and absolutely no idea what I was going to do.”

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“I’d been working in insurance for a number of years, and while you’ve got the right to ask for part-time hours after maternity leave, it’s really hard to find a part-time role with a brand-new employer. I knew my girls would only be small once, and I knew I didn’t want to be working 40+ hours a week… It’s important to me to be the kind of parent who can be there to go to things like the sports days and the homework.

“It’s also important to me to work. I’m a qualified beautician, too, and at one point of my life dilemma I thought maybe that’s a path I could go down that might fit in better around the family – but then another lockdown happened and the beauty industry ground to halt. That’s when I got a call from Prina at Konsileo. On the pre-school run!

“She said she had this great opportunity where I could do the job I enjoy, work from home, be around for pre-school pick-ups and drop offs, AND do part-time hours. I couldn’t believe it – I had to have a snoop on LinkedIn to make sure it was all real! It was honestly the weirdest thing. I think Prina must have been some sort of angel. Certainly she gave me my dream job exactly when I needed it.”

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Amanda had informal interviews and chats with the team to make sure they were a good fit and started her new job as a Client Director in January 2021, working three days a week.

“I’ve not worked from home much before,” says Amanda, “so I was slightly dubious about going back to work and not having colleagues to talk to, or shout over the desk to when I had a question – especially at the beginning when I’d be learning the ropes! But being inducted in a cohort was a really good way to get to know people, all the systems are really well set up and intuitive, and I’m actually in contact with colleagues pretty constantly.

“What’s more, everyone here is amazing! They really are the nicest bunch. You can get some egos and a bit of competitiveness in financial services, but there’s none of that at Konsileo.

“My role is slightly different to some of the other Client Directors because I’m doing the day-to-day stuff with the existing clients of five other people, so they can focus on new business. That means I’m doing all of the mid-term adjustments, dealing with enquiries, and preparing all the renewal notices. In my previous role, account handlers were rather looked down upon. Here I actually get respect and appreciation for the relationship building I do – and I get a cut of the commission from all of the colleagues I work with.

“I also get to be the one that’s present for the kids, and that really is a privilege. I usually work 9 – 5.30, but I can juggle things around if I need to. I’m trusted to get the work done, and it doesn’t much matter when I do it. So I can do things like take them to medical appointments, or collect them if they get poorly, and then catch up on work while they’re sleeping. There’s so much understanding, and so much flexibility – and in my experience that sort of give and take is pretty rare.”

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“Working for Konsileo hasn’t just met my expectations, it’s exceeded them,” continues Amanda. “It’s been so, so good. In fact, I’m enjoying the job so much I’m going to go up to four days a week. The kids are happy, I love having a big of quiet time in my own house, and in the last four months I’ve really seen my take-home take off with commission bonuses.

“Konsileo is a bit like a unicorn – this mythical creature that no one’s actually ever met. But it’s not a fairy tale – it really does exist. You CAN have work/life balance, and you can have flexibility and career progression at the same time. I think ultimately that’s a unicorn everybody wants to ride!”

Find out more about joining Konsileo here or contact Chris Sulman directly at chris.sulman@konsileo.com or 07898210760.