Profile 1
Darren Uren
Lead Customer Service Trainer

I was just amazed by how friendly people were. And then I realised it was a management trainee coming up. I applied for it. And again, heard off other people when I said I was applying for it, that it was such a great place to work. And I obviously got the job and I was happy with it.

Hi. My name's Daren Uren. I've been working for Admiral Insurance for three years and I work for the central training department in the HR Function. I joined Admiral on the 16th of January, 2006. I schooled in Swansea, I know I live in Cardiff now, but I was schooled in a Swansea Comprehensive; a Welsh speaking school, proud of it. Then I went to University in Keele.

The management graduate scheme works a 12 month scheme. You mainly go round all the main departments from Sales, Renewals, Customer Services, Claims and you'll get experiences, again, shadowing managers and other roles, and just learning new things and how management works within Admiral so then you can apply for positions. In my opinion, the best thing's about the management graduate scheme here is the flexibility. You know, if you see something in a particular department you want to look more into, there's nothing stopping you saying can I go back there, can I speak with this particular Ops Manager or Managing Director and they say we'll gladly try and help you through that; get you that experience that you want.

Working at Admiral has given me a chance to learn a lot about management theory, they've run courses on management theory more than anything, seeing how that works for particular individuals on different levels and in different departments.

The advice I would give for considering the graduate schemes here is go for it, it's definitely an experience. You won't get bogged down, you won't be just another number you'll be considered for your talents. Like I say, we've seen three different sets of graduate management schemes go through and seeing the different talents and how they've been applied is amazing. It's not just a particular type of person that comes out of it. We do breed diversity of different people.

Profile 2
Garren Pieniazek
Outbound Sales

I came to Admiral as a stop gap. I thought six months at most and eight years later I'm still here so they must be doing something right.

My name's Garren Peiniazek I work in the outbound sales department. I've been with the company now since April 2001 so coming up to eight years. I went to a school in Llanelli, a Welsh school.

Actually I didn't have a clue when I was in school wanted I wanted to do. The only kind of aspirations I had revolved around football and guitar, those were the only two things. It was either become a professional footballer or be in Oasis, something like that. I actually didn't have a clue what I wanted to do. But I was naturally quite good with numbers, with maths. I took business education as well as part of my A levels. So those two things kind of fitted, but you know when I left school I kind of went to University straight after school not knowing what I wanted to do; I kind of went for the sake of it.

I can't see myself leaving Admiral. I've been supported very well; they've given me lots of opportunities. As I say when I joined here, I didn't really know what I wanted to do career wise. I've kind of been able to have the opportunity to develop a career for myself so I see my long term future within the group.

I went back in to part-time further education when I was 23 and I've gained a Certificate in Business Administration, a CBA, a Diploma in Business Administration, DBA and a Masters in Business Administration, MBA. I'm also studying at the moment for a Masters in Marketing and a post grad professional Diploma with the Chartered Institute of Marketing. I was starting to get opportunities within Admiral for progression, I was given some projects, extra responsibility and I thought further education would supplement that.

The company are very supportive with further education because, I think, they foresee that it would add value to the group as well.

Profile 3
Rachel Tosca
Media Finance Assistant

My name's Rachel. I'm a Payroll Administrator and I've worked for Admiral for nearly six years now. I went to school in Saint Cyres in Penarth. When I was in school I enjoyed maths and English and didn't like Welsh at all because I'm not very good at languages!

Before I started working for Admiral I only had my GCSEs from school which were ten years previous to coming to work here. Since then I've been to the college and done a book keeping course. And I've gone to University for three years and did my Accounting and Finance degree.

I went in to further education because I had my daughter and I wanted more of a career, to make her proud when she grows up with what I do.

Admiral were really good when I was studying at University. They let me go part-time in my term time and then I had the pick of my hours and go full time in the summer and whenever I had course work or exams due they'd give me the extra time off so that I could study and get my exams organised. So they were really, really good, really helpful to me and gave me whatever I needed at the time. They were always, you know, supporting me.

I think working here and doing my degree has just given me more sort of a rounded education to be able to move into different areas within Admiral still so what they've supported me through is now something I can use and progress with the company.

Admiral is a fun place to work. We've got no dress code so you can come in in your jeans or shorts in the summer, it really doesn't matter. We've got The Ministry of Fun so we have lots of fun competitions and games and really good prizes. It's just a relaxed atmosphere to be able to work in.

Profile 4
Sue Longthorn
Customer Service Director

If I can think of a better way to do something, then let's do it. And at the age of 20, I couldn't quite believe that the company would put that much faith in you. But Admiral did. Brilliant.

I'm Sue Longthorn, I'm the Customer Service Director and I've worked for the company since May 1993, the year we launched.

I went to a little school in the Bridgend area. My favourite subjects were definitely Art, English. My least favourite subject I would say was maths; I wasn't any good at maths.

Starting at the very beginning of Admiral was a lot of fun. There were just 50 of us, based over (I think) two floors. And here we are today with the whole of Capital Tower and a huge building in Swansea.

We got to do just about everything and anything to make it work; brand new company, all hands to the deck. So you were very close to the Sales team, the customer service team, even though I was specialised in the accounts area, we got to mix with each other. And it was a great challenge - you got to learn everything.

It's been amazing. As I said, I started in 1993 as customer accounts clerk. By the time I was 21, I was probably one of the youngest team managers they had. I don't think I was that good a team manager back in those days! It was about knowing to do all aspects of the job and being able to show other people. So at the young age of 21 I think my leadership skills were quite developed.

I helped launch Diamond and Bell, two new brands, and after Diamond launched I decided to work in Swansea and joined the Diamond brand so I was able to learn about customer services, claims, sales, renewals.

Back in 2005 we had the MBO, management buyout, so there was a lot of movement in senior management and I decided I'd become the Bell Managing Director. I drew on all the experience I'd picked up in all the other jobs that I'd done in the company and I succeeded. It was really exciting. It was our smallest brand, Bell, so it was a great starting point for me and within I think, it was a year or ten months, I was asked to become the Admiral Managing Director which I think I said no to about four times. Absolutely petrified! Up until then I'd been managing Bell which was the smallest brand, so I thought it was a good way to learn the job, because you can learn to become Managing Director.

Last year we restructured and now I'm the Customer Service Director and look after all the group's customer service.

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