What Should I Be | Transcript

TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW

(Note: We apologize if any words or phrases, within the transcript, may have been omitted or
modified due to any challenges encountered during the process of transcribing the interview.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:00:05]: Hello. My name is Julia Widdop, and I'm an interviewer with What Should I Be. If you'd like to get more information on What Should I Be, please visit our website at www.WhatShouldIBe.me, where we have complete and free access to a wide variety of interviews with persons from careers from all over the world. Today I'm speaking with Kate Fairley, and she is the Director for a website for insurance brokers in Australia. So, Kate, tell us a little about what a website director does.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:00:47]: Everything pretty much. Because it's a startup, I'm looking after the development, the graphic design. Some elements of the website coding, but also the accounts, the sales -- pretty much, yeah, start to finish. It's all me.

Julia Widdop Interviewer: 00:01:07]: Everything, okay. And is this a big association of insurance brokers?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:01:15]: I'm aiming to be, but there is a large -- the National Insurance Brokers Association, which is the key body in Australia. So, they're my main competition really, but I've also been able to speak to them and make them an ally, so they're featured on the website at the moment because I don't have a lot of brokers onboard. So, as I get more brokers, their advertising will decrease. But yeah, because it's really a partnership at the moment, which is really good.

Julia Widdop Interviewer: 00:01:54]: Oh, that's great.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:01:55]: Yeah.

Julia Widdop Interviewer: 00:01:55]: How did you come up with this idea?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:01:59]: I just wanted to think about a way that we could communicate with generation Y. My last role in the insurance industry was at an underwriting agency. We had a hospitality facility, so for motels and accommodation, and we actually used to provide there a lot in underwriting. So, when we'd get a risk to decide what the premium would be or if we wanted to write it, we'd go onto Trip Advisor and have a look at the reviews left by consumers. So, you know, whether they'd made a comment about a leaking tap in the bathroom or something, that could be a tripping hazard, which is a potential liability exposure. So, it's quite an interesting tool to use in commercial environment.

Julia Widdop Interviewer: 00:02:52]: And what's it called? Truth advisor?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:02:55]: Trip Advisor.

Julia Widdop Interviewer: 00:02:56]: Troop.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:02:58]: Trip.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:03:00]: Trip. Trip Advisor. Oh, okay. Okay, and then you would read the comments that the guests left, and that's how you would decide what their premiums should be.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:03:15]: Yeah. Well, yeah.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:03:16]: Or partly.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:03:17]: Yeah. Yeah, because we had a very specific facility with Adroit. So, if they were a higher quality motel, then they were eligible for the facility.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:03:29]: I see.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:03:29]: So, then I came up with Get Informed and applied that to insurance brokers. The part of Get Informed is that it's not just a listing for insurance brokers. Consumers are also able to provide a rating for their broker.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:03:45]: And how would you say your previous jobs led you to get into this field that you're in now?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:03:55]: Well, I started out in the industry not actually knowing what insurance was really. I was twenty-one I think. Yeah, I was twenty-one when I started with the Adroit Insurance Group as just a receptionist and I didn't even know what insurance really was, let alone insurance broker. But as I had developed into the role and understood the process, I really grew to love the industry and just what it can do for people. Insurance is amazing. It's not guaranteed. You shouldn't necessarily have your house burn down and then be able to just replace it, but insurance gives you that ability. And then not only that, but on a smaller scale, like you can pay extra for accidental loss or damage; and if you drop your iPhone down the toilet, you can replace it.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:04:50]: Yes.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:04:50]: So, I think it's just such an amazing thing that we have at our disposal. And I don't think it's utilized by, or understood by, enough people, so that's what I found when I was working as a receptionist, and then I moved into an account brokering role from there to an underwriting agency, and then, yeah, to where I am now.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:05:15]: Wow. So you started in the industry at twenty-one and now you have your own website/agency it sounds like.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:05:27]: Yeah.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:05:28]: Great.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:05:30]: It's pretty fun.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:05:32]: Yeah. What kind of education did you need for this?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:05:38]: Just an attitude, I think, is the key. Straight out of high school I took a gap here, and worked and saved money, and I went to Europe to the Contiki Tour thing. That was good. And then I started a Law degree, because that's what I got into out of high school. In Australia, you've got primary school and then high school. You finish high school at the age of about eighteen or nineteen. And then, from there, you go on to university. So, yeah, I took a year off. Basically a gap here and worked, but then I started my Law degree. But after a year I didn't really think that it was right for me. I didn't really want to do it, so I just quit. Basically.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:06:32]: You just quit college even?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:06:34]: Yeah. Yeah, I just thought: "I'm going to take a break and figure out what I want to do in life, and then I can always go back to Uni later." So, that's actually what I did. It was really hard to find a job to start with. I did. I had no idea it was going to be that hard to find a job with no experience and no qualification, but eventually someone hired me. It took six weeks, I think, of unemployment and torture.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:07:03]: That's not too bad these days.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:07:06]: Yeah. Yeah, it was pretty hard to go through then, but I think it just, you know, builds character.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:07:13]: So what would you say? Let's say that somebody did finish or they did plan on finishing college. What could they shoot for? What kind of major should they take and what kind of entry-level position should they shoot for?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:07:31]: Yeah. Well, right now, I'm actually studying a Bachelor of Commerce. I went back to Uni when I was in my second job in the insurance industry. I was just a little bit bored, so I took up Uni part-time as well as working full-time.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:07:53]: Okay.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:07:55]: Yeah, now I'm in my final year and I'm majoring in eBusiness. And it turns out that that's actually what I'm setting up. Get Informed is an eBusiness. And I'm not really sure if that was fate or just coincidence.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:08:08]: Oh, so you can major in eBusiness?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:08:11]: Yeah.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:08:12]: Oh, I had no idea.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:08:14]: Neither did I. So, yeah, when I was looking at what the majors were, because I just thought: "I'll do a Bachelor of Commerce. Business, because that's pretty general, and then that'll help me in whatever I decide to do in the insurance industry." And then I was looking at what major to do when I saw they had eBusiness and I thought: "That's the way everything is going," back in - what would it have been - 2005. The world is going all electronic, so I should do eBusiness.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:08:44]: Yes. Oh my goodness, that's a wonderful idea.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:08:48]: Yeah.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:08:49]: So your college -- what college is that?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:08:53]: Deakin University.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:08:54]: In--

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:08:56]: I study off campus.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:09:02]: Oh, okay, so it's even -- do they give degrees worldwide, or how does that work?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:09:09]: Yeah, they actually do Post-Grad. They're linked in India because I did an India Study Tour in November last year. I imagine that you could do it anywhere in the world. I know one of the girls who was on the India Study Tour was actually completing her degree off campus, but she was in London.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:09:29]: Wow.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:09:30]: So--

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:09:32]: Okay. And so, what is the Study Tour? That's just so you can meet with all the other people in your class?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:09:41]: It was really -- so, as part of your university degree, you do units and then you do twenty-four units over three years or six years - however long it takes you -, and then that equals your degree. So, you're actually able to. The India Study Tour can account for one or two of the units, so basically it's an entire three-month course, but you can knock it out in the tour period, which was eighteen days, and then supplement that with assignments.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:10:14]: Wow, because it's so intense?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:10:17]: Yeah, because you're there and you just--

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:10:19]: You're living it.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:10:20]: Yeah, we're living it basically. And yeah, soaking up all the culture and atmosphere. And yeah, so it was basically like doing -- because we did International Law and also like electronic commerce on the Internet kind of thing.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:10:40]: Did you get to see one of those big call centers in India?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:10:45]: No, we didn't actually.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:10:46]: Oh, I want to see one of those customer service places, you know?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:10:50]: Yeah, that would've been really fascinating, but no, we didn't. But we did see the Taj Mahal, so that was awesome.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:10:57]: Ooh, yeah, that sounds nice.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:11:01]: We visited three other universities over there, so that was interesting to meet the other students and see just their culture and their focus. It's amazing the love of family that they have and their respect that they have for their parents. We don't even have that in Australia, let alone in the US. You know, you see stuff on the Tele. Like these kids in India that you're asking them why they don't have a smartphone. They're like: "Oh, because my parents say I can't have one." So, in Australia, you just go out and buy one. You wouldn't actually listen to your parents, and they do.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:11:40]: I think that's good.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:11:42]: As an eighteen-year-old I mean, like as an adult, because these were university students.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:11:48]: Yeah

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:11:52]: No. No, not even in Australia.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:11:57]: Okay. So, kind of -- well, what are the things you like best about the insurance field?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:12:05]: I just really love that you can help people when they're in need really. A lot of the time insurance is just paying money for what ifs and knowing that it's never going to happen, but when it actually comes time to have a claim and someone's really distressed it's at the worst point in their life. They're really vulnerable because they've just been burgled, or they've had a massive storm rip through their home, or they've been flooded. Being able to help them and say, "It's going to be okay. It's all covered." That's the best part of insurance, because you get to tell them that it's going to be okay.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:12:43]: In a practical way.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:12:45]: Yeah, absolutely. It's not just the best friend who's patting him on the shoulder, saying, "Don't worry."

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:12:50]: It's going to be okay.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:12:51]: You can actually reimburse and giving them money.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:12:54]: Right. Right. Wow, that does sound like a good one. What are the things you like least about it?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:13:04]: Probably the people who don't understand because they haven't had a claim, and then losing a client because they're just going to. So, an insurance broker has access to a higher level of product, but it's also at a higher level of price. So, when you lose a client to a direct insurance company, where they're saving three hundred dollars a year, you know that that's going to impact them when they have a claim and they're not going to be covered. So, that's the worst part; knowing that they're getting an inferior product and they're going to come back to you in twelve months time or two years time and say, "I'm really sorry. I made a mistake. I shouldn't have left you and now my ten thousand dollar ring isn't covered because their limit is only two thousand dollars." So, it's just, yeah, that's the hardest part. People not understanding the real benefit that you have if you're using an insurance broker. But that's why I started Get Informed. To kind of change consumer perceptions and improve the broker's reputation.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:14:09]: Okay, that's interesting. Okay. What is it like? What's an average week like, or day? Let's say an average day.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:14:20]: For an insurance broker?

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:14:23]: No, for your job. You're a website director, right?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:14:28]: I check emails, and then I check emails and check emails.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:14:35]: It's a lot of emailing?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:14:37]: Yeah. Yeah, it's a lot of your day I guess.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:14:40]: And phone calling?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:14:43]: Yeah. Yeah, and chasing people up and just finding out if they do want to subscribe to the website, because at the moment I'm really selling subscriptions to brokers, because it's only a couple of weeks old. The site's only just gone live.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:14:58]: Oh, okay.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:15:00]: But I've got ten brokers onboard now, which is pretty exciting, and I'm aiming to get it up to one hundred by the 30th of June.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:15:12]: So you launched this on the basis of what you had learned in school about eBusiness?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:15:20]: Some of that. I guess a lot of it is intuition too, but yeah, at university, we did study elements and, in terms of marketing, what messages get through to consumers and what doesn't. So, using different terminologies, yeah, that I did learn in university - in college I guess.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:15:44]: Okay. And do you have a mentor or is someone helping you with this?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:15:52]: A couple of the larger industry representatives. They've given their support. I haven't quite needed their feedback yet, but I know it's there if I do need it. My parents have kind of raised me to be a little bit stubborn and independent, so I don't really even ask for their advice or their opinion. But yeah, everyone's always there if you need it and helpful with giving you feedback, so you just have to ask for it I guess. So, if you're open enough to ask for support, people are always there. You just have to take that first step and acknowledge that you don't necessarily know everything and other people do have valuable experience and advice to give. If I could tell young people one thing that would be it. Just don't be so stubborn. Don't be so, you know, self-obsessed. Listen to other people because they really do have something to offer. Everyone has their story.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:17:01]: Yeah. And what are some of the most difficult or challenging things you've faced up till now?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:17:10]: I think the scariest thing was actually making the choice and backing myself basically. At this point in our life, my partner and I don't have any kids and we don't have a mortgage. We haven't even gotten married yet. So, taking that risk to quit my full-time job and start an online business with no money. That was pretty scary, but Andrew has been really supportive of me throughout this whole process and he's picked me up. It's a roller coaster ride starting your own business because it's all you. There's no one there. It's not like in school or at home, or at another job, where you've got an employer. You've got no one telling you what to do. You just have to make all the choices yourself and believe in yourself basically. And sometimes that's really hard on the down days to still believe in yourself, so I think having a support network of people, friends, and family, and my partner Andrew has been really great throughout the whole thing just to, yeah, get me through the down points.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:18:23]: Keep encouraging you.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:18:25]: Until I get to the top again because, yeah, it's a roller coaster ride and you eventually will get to the top.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:18:32]: And what tips or suggestions could you share with anyone who might be thinking this would be a good fit for them? I'm thinking, you know, the website director because--

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:18:44]: Yeah. Well, starting your own business, you just have to have a direction and a passion I think. I'm so passionate about the insurance industry and I really want to make this work because I really want to change the way consumers feel and think about insurance. So I think if you got a passion for anything, you can make it happen. You just have to have the tools, which is the knowledge and the belief in yourself, and don't be afraid to fall down I guess, because, yeah, if you're really afraid of it, you're probably going to subconsciously make it happen and sabotage yourself. If you don't believe in yourself, you'll fall. But just keep going, I think, is the message there.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:19:29]: Okay. And what kind of tips would you give them about education? Let's say they're thinking website director. That's what I want to do. What would you specifically say they should take or do?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:19:46]: Well, a general Bachelor of eBusiness. What would you have in the US?

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:19:52]: Yeah, I didn't know anybody had eBusiness, so I'm not sure.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:19:58]: Well, or just a general Commerce Degree. So that's all they have and then the specific subjects major and how that applies to the Internet, but yeah. So, if you wanted to -- it depends what element you wanted to do. Whether you want it to be web design or whether you want it to do with the whole thing like I am. I outsource a lot of things, so I get people to do the graphic design and I have a web designer, and I pay them a lot of money. But essentially, I still have to understand what they do, so I think as long as you have a general understanding of a lot of little things, you can pull that together and understand where they're coming from. So you don't necessarily have to be the best at everything. You just have to know a little bit about each thing so you can put it all together and you can talk in their language. I found that especially important with the web designer because he would say things to me and say, "Oh, you didn't tell me this. Oh, you didn't tell me that." I'm like: "Well, I didn't know."

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:21:12]: You didn't know that you needed to.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:21:15]: I didn't know I needed to tell you that, but now I do, so it's all a learning experience.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:21:23]: Wow, okay. And are there such things as Internet internships?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:21:31]: Yeah, I imagine so. Yeah, there's always a large company out there to work for. I mean you've got Facebook and Google. As far as starting out on your own, a lot of people -- you know, it's important to get that customer service knowledge and understanding your target audience. So I've worked in both a customer-facing role as a broker, but also a broker facing role as an underwriter, so I know and understand and I've spoken to both of my customer bases. So I think that's really important. Whether you have a job working at, you know, McDonalds, as long as you've got a basic understanding of your customer base and you can talk to people, and then apply that, because every job you have to talk to people. It doesn't matter if you're locked away in an office. You're still going to have to communicate with people. So I think that's a really important skill for young people to learn, especially conflict resolution, dealing with a range of different conflicts, and understanding how to approach those. It's a really important skill for young people to learn early on so that they can succeed later because, yeah, it's a real struggle if you don't get a handle on that early. I was really lucky that I started at Safeway. So it's a major supermarket chain.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:23:03]: We have that here.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:23:05]: Yeah, so I was able to become a frontend supervisor, managing all of the checkout operators. And yeah, so I got a lot of experience with conflict resolution there with people who were taking goods and not being happy with them. Yeah, and having to manage that situation. You might not think that that would ever happen in the real world, like an eBusiness situation, but it still does. I still have to manage conflict with my web designer, with a broker who might not be satisfied with the service. It's still all relevant, so don't necessarily discount anything. You going through math in primary school and you're not understanding. "Why do I have to do this?" And then you get to the checkout and you're able to do math in your head. That's why you do these things. You might not understand it at the time, but further down the track it'll all be relevant.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:24:04]: Right. Okay. So, if someone wanted to like follow in your footsteps, maybe give them a little tip about how to avoid the pitfalls, and do what you've done, kind of like a roadmap to success, what would you say? How would you tell someone about the steps needed?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:24:32]: Get as much experience as you can, but don't be afraid to have faith in yourself. I stayed in my first job a lot longer than I needed to - the receptionist job with Adroit Insurance Group. I wasn't able to leave there because I felt a sense of loyalty. I didn't want to actually move on from there because I felt they've done the right thing by me and I should just wait it out. But my employers there understood me and knew that I had more to do and more to offer, and they knew that they couldn't offer that because it just wasn't a position in the company, so they actually helped me understand that I could leave and move on. And yeah, they established a sense of self-esteem I guess because, yeah, I was only twenty years old, and all young people have self-esteem issues and I wasn't immune to that. So they helped develop that. And then, in my second full-time position, I was able to recognize when I was ready to leave there as well, because of that experience at Adroit. I understand I have developed into this role and there's no room for me to grow here, so I'm going to move on. I think being able to recognize that in yourself, and don't stay in a job where you're unhappy. Don't stay in a job where you've got no opportunity for development. Just get to that point where you recognize you've done all you can and you've learned all you can, and then move on from there. But don't do it in a nasty way. Don't wait until you're bitter and twisted and you feel resentment towards your employer. Just understand the process and understand that they employee to do a role, but that doesn't mean that you have to stay in that role. You can move on--

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:26:37]: Yeah.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:26:37]: --and change jobs.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:26:38]: They will always need a secretary, but if you need to move on, you need to move on.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:26:43]: That's right, because as a receptionist, yeah, I didn't really. It took me a while to learn that. It took me eighteen months to learn the lesson I probably should have learned in six months. But yeah, so that was big. I lost a lot of time there I guess, just learning that, but I'm glad that I did. I don't have any regrets about my journey, but yeah, for other young people, I'd encourage them to think about themselves and where they want to go. And don't let fear stop you.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:27:18]: Okay. All right. And so, you probably have goals. You're probably still moving forward, right? You have goals beyond this.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:27:28]: Yeah, absolutely. I'd like to see Get Informed expand beyond insurance. Yeah, I've only lasted eighteen months in each role I've been in, so I'm expecting Get Informed, once it's developed, I'd like to employ somebody else to take it over and I'd like to move on to, you know, Get Informed in the health industry or the legal industry to see how it can be applied there; of educating consumers on a lot of the unnecessary middle men that we have and just really investing as to what value they have to offer. Like even nutritionists and dietitians. There's a real lack of understanding of what each of those professions have to offer. So, I think, yeah, just being able to become a central point of information to people. That's what I'd like Get Informed to be. So not just Get Informed insurance, but Get Informed in general. So, for anyone who's got a question, they can feel confident that they'll get an unbiased, un-monetarily motivated response because I don't really have the financial interest in any of the brokers. They all get charged a flat fee. There's no commission. It's just I want to provide information to people. That's pretty much it.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:29:02]: Okay. Wow. And so, you didn't really know you were going to this point? You didn't have any age when you decided this was what you were going to be it sounds like.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:29:15]: No, it wasn't until six months ago really that I decided that I could do it. I always knew that I wanted to do something big and I had a lot of frustration along the way, even working as a receptionist. I knew that I wanted to be more. I just couldn't see the big picture and I actually suffered a lot of -- I had a lot of depression and anxiety. I went through a really bad patch there, because I just couldn't see where I was going. Life in general. I didn't see the point. I knew that I was more than what I was, but I really couldn't see the end game. But I think just having that faith in yourself and knowing that you don't necessarily have all the answers right now, but just understanding that one day you will and sticking in there. Knowing that life's a process and you don't necessarily get everything straight away. Otherwise what would be the point really? If you have it all on a platter, what would be the point?

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:30:28]: Okay.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:30:29]: Just yeah, hang in there. Yeah, because depression and suicide - I think it's getting worse. I think the problem is getting worse because we've got so much information and we are told, you know, we can seize the day and take on the world. As a young person, they do kind of pump you full with all these things when you're leaving university, saying, "Yeah, you can conquer the world."

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:31:00]: And maybe it's a little much.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:31:04]: It takes time. Yeah, give them a reality check. Like understanding that you're going to walk into an entry-level position and they're going to ask you to do filing. It's not exciting.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:31:17]: Yeah, but you have to do it as an entry-level person.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:31:21]: Yeah, exactly. And I don't think that's really communicated a lot to young people. I think we're kind of giving them a false impression of what the real world is like. You have to do the really ordinary jobs to get to the really good ones.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:31:38]: And what can someone expect to make at an entry-level position in insurance?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:31:45]: It depends on your qualifications. So, if you've done your Bachelor of Commerce, if you've done it the right way, you finish Uni. You finish your twelve, you did your university degree, and then you're looking for an entry-level position. The salaries are actually pretty good. They're around 40 or 50K a year, plus super.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:32:08]: Is that pounds or dollars?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:32:11]: Australian dollars.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:32:11]: Okay, Australian dollars.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:32:13]: So we're on par with the US at the moment, but we're better than you actually.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:32:18]: Oh, okay.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:32:21]: But not by much. We're just about on par.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:32:24]: Okay.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:32:27]: But then, if you don't have any experience and you just want to enter as a receptionist and then move up from there, you can go. In the insurance industry, you don't necessarily need qualification because they will give you the qualifications you need. If you stay in a role for a minimum of twelve months usually, they will actually pay for your qualification to do that. So the entry-level salary for that would be about 35 to 40. So it's a pretty big jump and it's a pretty big incentive for people to finish their university degree.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:33:05]: Right. Okay. All right. Well, can you think of anything else you'd like to tell young people or anyone who might be considering your field?

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:33:16]: Don't be afraid. Yeah, don't be scared and just keep going, I think, is the big message for young people, because yeah, it can be quite daunting - the big world. And you never know where it's going to take you, but just have faith that one day, if it's meant to be, something will happen, and then you'll understand why it all happened in the first place.

Julia Widdop [Interviewer: 00:33:46]: Well, thank you, Kate, so much for being with us today.

Kate Fairley [Interviewee: 00:33:51]: That's okay. No problem.