Briefing: What career advice would you give to your younger self?

By Kelly Ogley

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to your younger self? This was a question I was recently faced with when on stage during a panel discussion at September 2024’s Dive In festival.

The three-day event is designed to support diversity and inclusion in insurance workplaces. The panel discussion I participated in this year focused on something close to my heart – the future.

Specifically, the session explored how we can build a more sustainable tomorrow by attracting exciting young talent from all backgrounds into our sector.

I’m conscious I talk a lot about this, but we have to face facts – 50% of the insurance workforce is due to retire by 2028. We’re missing a trick if we fail to tap into the brilliant gifts from all sections of our society.

But back to the panel. It had been organised by Howden’s group diversity, equity and inclusion manager, Vusa Tebe, and the panellists had been tasked with reflecting on the three stages of a woman’s career: idealistic achievement, pragmatic endurance and reinventive contribution.

I’ve never divided my career into bitesize chunks, but most of us can relate to the young idealist in their late teens and 20s. We all know the difficulties faced by the pragmatist of middle age, contending with work and big life events. And I can certainly empathise with those in the ‘fine wine’ phase of a career, where you’ve got a depth of experience to give back to others.

Past, present and future

So, what would my advice be for the idealistic younger me?

I’d probably say get curious. Say yes to opportunities. Give it a go. There’s a lot of focus – quite rightly – on work-life balance, but in this career stage, professionals typically have fewer commitments and more time. Use it.

Friends and family might ask why you are staying after work or taking work home, but this is the time to do it. You are building foundations for the future. And I want to be clear – this is totally different from someone expecting you to work when you can’t or don’t want to.

Enjoy this phase – it is fun, new and exciting.

Then, what would I say to the pragmatic endurance version of myself?

The first thing I would say is give yourself a break. I remember how tired and worn down I felt at that point in my life.

At that period, we might be experts in our fields, but we’re also constantly juggling career demands with family commitments. The key is to prioritise and learn to say no. Make choices and be confident. You’ve earned your stripes. You’ve nothing to prove.

For me, this was the phase where I tried to put both my daughter and work first – subsequently forgetting about myself. I’d miss the hair appointment, cancel a night out or skip the gym. To make things even more time pressured, I signed up for my master’s degree.

It took a while for me to realise that I couldn’t give my best to either my daughter, work or degree if I didn’t also look after myself. I even forgot the importance of fun. Now, I’d tell frazzled Kelly to find ways of prioritising and cutting out anything or anyone that’s not making life better.

Let’s be honest, referring to different phases of a career is a bit too black and white. Women can move through these phases at different times in their lives.

At 54-years-young, I’m comfortable in the reinventive contribution phase. Giving something back is what really matters to me.

I’ve spoken many times about my passion to make insurance a career of choice.

That’s not just about attracting a diverse workforce to ensure our industry has a healthy pipeline of talent. It’s also about shattering some glass ceilings. Ensuring we are supporting and developing our current teams so that our future c-suites are more balanced than they are today.

Without a change of pace, it will be 2050 before we have gender parity.

After the panel debate ended, it occurred to me that we might benefit from some advice from our younger selves too. What would those hopeful idealists just embarking on their career say to us grizzled veterans?

Perhaps just this – give us a chance. If we all pledged to mentor one young person, we’d be one step closer to a brighter, more sustainable future.

Hopefully, a future columnist for Insurance Times will be able to write about the stages of their career without gender even being an issue.