Mark Enright tells us how an unfortunate accident at work refocused his career and how he’s gone on to achieve things he never thought he would.
About 13 years ago I was a brewer for a large brewery. I’d worked at other breweries around the country and been head hunted as a replacement head brewer to take over upon retirement. Unfortunately, one day I fell from a ladder, breaking my pelvis and chipping my spine. As you can imagine, this had a massive detrimental effect to both my physical and mental wellbeing and meant I could no longer follow the career path I had planned.
A new career pathway
At a loss for what I was going to do at this crossroads in my life, I decided to embark upon a degree as a mature student. I was fortunate enough to be signposted to Capita’s Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) programme and applied for help due to the difficulties I experienced.
At my needs assessment in Taunton, I was welcomed warmly by the office staff and had a comprehensive assessment. I was impressed with what was offered to me and received mentoring that I utilised throughout my course, ergonomic aids I could use in the classroom and a laptop with software that allowed me to continue my studying when in pain – without this I’d never have passed my degree. I ended up achieving student of the year and it was all down to the support I received through the DSA programme.
What next?
Like many others, after finishing my degree I found myself in limbo and went into any work I could find. Eventually I found myself employed in the same building that the Capita Contact Associates (CA) head office was in. After speaking to contact associates staff on my breaks, I found myself stalking the website in the hope a job appeared… and then one day it did.
I was interviewed by Natasha during one of my lunch breaks and was offered the job of customer service agent. I walked into the office on my first day to meet the team and was warmly welcomed by everyone – as someone who struggles with unknown people, it was so nice to be brought into the Capita family and accepted so quickly.
Opportunities abound
The opportunities I’ve been given by Capita since that day have been ongoing. I moved to the quality assurance team, helped with interviews and gaining experience there, I then managed the customer service team before managing customer services team on the Access to Work contract. Meeting more and more wonderful people, I became the IT specialist in the office and was allowed autonomy to help in pretty much every aspect of the business. I’ve worked closely with past management teams, met Capita CEO Jon Lewis and spoken to him about Contact Associates and have been respected, listened to and treated as an equal at all levels of Capita.
I’ve recently completed my Level 3 apprenticeship, paid for by Capita, and have now worked my way up to the temporary role I currently hold – Acting Support Services Manager for the Contact Associates business unit – and I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do for Capita and what Capita can do for me in the foreseeable future.
Feeling recognised for my contribution
At the start of my journey with Capita, I never saw myself as someone who would be taken seriously within the business. I’ve had many jobs where my opinions and thoughts would not be considered, but here I’ve always been treated as an equal and Capita has allowed me to express myself and put my point across.
The best part of working for Capita, though? My colleagues. The core values Capita asks for are intrinsic to a well-run business and everyone buys in to them and that’s what makes this job amazing. I love the fact I can speak freely to so many people in so many job roles about so many things without fear of being wrong or someone having a different opinion. It’s also helped in my personal life; I feel more empowered to put my point across due to the way I’m afforded that luxury at work.
#BeBrilliantBeYou
