Nibal Aloush from Joseph Rowntree School in York completed the Career Ready programme in 2023, where she completed a paid internship at Aviva. Learn how her time with Career Ready has prepared her for her future.
Nibal started the programme feeling low in confidence, but the opportunities she got through the Career Ready programme helped her develop her skills and self-belief.
“Career Ready helped me pin down my options and work out how to get there. For example, I was stuck between doing a combined business and law degree, a solid law degree or a degree apprenticeship. But Career Ready helped me figure out the best option for me.”
Insights into the working world
Throughout the programme, Nibal got opportunities to learn more about the world of work, develop her own skills and have her mentor’s support along the way. For example, the masterclasses she attended taught her several things about her career.
“The Success at Interviews masterclass taught me the importance of teamwork, how to make a good impression, what my values are and how to compare them to the values of any companies I work at in the future.”
She also got to visit different workplaces on the programme, including Aviva and Caddick Construction.
“Seeing different workplaces helped open my eyes to how different companies operate, and I was surprised because they’re not necessarily run how we think they are from the outside.”
Her mentor, Elsa, played a key role in preparing Nibal for her career, giving her guidance and motivation.
“My mentor really helped me when it came to writing my CV – I was able to show it to someone in the recruitment team in Aviva and he said it would be one of the CVs he would shortlist, which was really encouraging!”
New experiences and new skills
Her internship at Aviva York gave Nibal the chance to experience the world of work for the first time and improve her skills.
“My internship helped me get out of my comfort zone, explore the outside world and meet new people. Over the weeks I was there, I got to really understand what it’s like working full time in an office and learned how to better manage my time. At the start of the internship, it took me 2 weeks to create a slideshow on health insurance and pensions, but by the end when I created slides on equity release, it only took a day.”
Nibal worked in the Pensions and Health Insurance teams at Aviva, where she learned a lot about the job, but also picked up tips about her own financial wellbeing.
“I have learnt so much about pensions, the usefulness of starting to pay towards them early and ways Aviva can help manage them too.”
After her time working at Aviva, Nibal is now determined to return to work there after finishing her studies.
“I really enjoyed the environment and the workplace in general, so I am very set on going back to work at Aviva. My plan is to go to university, study law and rejoin Aviva as a paralegal.”
Reflecting on advice she’d give a young person joining the programme, here’s what Nibal wants them to know:
“I would tell them to make the most out of it. This experience will help you grow so much as an individual and help you find the best path for you.”
