Misa

Misa’s Acturis journey

Interviews and induction

I joined Acturis as a Customer Support Analyst immediately after having completed a BSc in Mathematics from King’s College London in June 2016 and have found it to be an excellent environment to start my career. The hiring process was very quick and within 2 weeks of having applied, I had completed the interview process and started at the office.

There was a 3 day induction in the first week which trained us on the functionality of the application and then I was able to join the rest of the team. There, I was taught how to solve and investigate various issues, through shadowing, dedicated training, and completion of work.

I found everyone in the team to be so willing to help and it was brilliant to be in such a supportive environment while constantly learning and facing new tasks.

Career development

I joined the Customer Support team in the New Broker unit, providing our newest clients with proactive support. Following my training period, I was assigned to become the dedicated contact for my first few clients and it was rewarding to put into practice the knowledge I had gained from my training, to help other new users on the system.

After around two years in this role, I was able to lead the New Broker unit. This gave me the chance to be creative, improve processes, and help provide our new clients with the best service possible. I have always found Acturis to be an environment where colleagues strive to complete work to the best of their ability while continually looking for ways to improve the efficiency of our processes and I thoroughly enjoy working alongside motivated colleagues.

I then moved into a newly created First Line Coordination role, analysing data from our first line support channels to see the kinds of queries we were receiving, and working to reduce this volume while expanding our client base. This has taken the form of making guides readily available to clients, or implementing in-app solutions and it has given great satisfaction to see the results of this work. I also helped reshape our first line training processes during lockdown as we onboarded new joiners remotely. This has helped to consolidate our new joiners’ knowledge from training, and to build confidence ahead of starting to assist clients over calls in real-time.

I now manage a team within Customer Support, assisting our clients in best using the application, responding to high severity issues, coordinating improvements with other teams, and preparing the team for large updates to the application.  My career at Acturis has given me the opportunity to keep learning, take on new responsibilities, and contribute to improvements that make a real difference for both clients and colleagues.

Feedback process

As part of a feedback process at Acturis we have an end of term review with our line manager every third and I find that it provides a great, regular opportunity to receive feedback in order to improve, and to learn where my skills can be developed. We also have regular one-to-one catch ups with our line manager to discuss priorities, receive advice on next steps for a piece of work, and to receive more regular mentoring.

I have always appreciated this focus on my development at Acturis and one of my favourite things about the company is how I have always felt supported in my role.

Company fun

Another great thing about Acturis is the social aspect. Each team has a budget and organises socials, some of which have included laser tag, axe throwing, go-kart racing, a trampoline park, pottery painting and karaoke to name a few. As well as these socials the company puts on a summer and Christmas party each year. In 2020 during the pandemic, our Christmas party was held over Zoom in an escape-room style fashion with an expensed takeaway and it made for a really fun evening!

Acturis has also set up Personal Interest Groups (or PIGs for short) which allow for colleagues to find and organise events with those that share hobbies. I’ve joined the Arts & Crafts PIG and have enjoyed an evening crafting and chatting with others that I wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to speak to regularly in my role – it’s a great way to have fun and build connections across the company.

Acturis also often hires graduates so everyone on the helpdesk is close in age and it helps new joiners to fit in easily and build friendships within the team.