Updating Results

icare

  • 500 - 1,000 employees

Renee York

What's your job about?

To keep it easy; icare predominantly provides insurance and care services for the people of NSW. My role is currently in the 2 year graduate program, where my first of four rotations is in the Lifetime Care service line, which provides Treatment, Rehabilitation and Care to people seriously injured on NSW roads. Other service lines provide care for those with a dust disease and those injured in the workplace. I am roughly 3 months in and already I have been a part of numerous care projects and also extensive personal development and training opportunities as part of the graduate program.

Project wise, a highlight for me has been working on a new Support and Advocacy Service for our Lifetime Care participants, which will provide them with extra support and assistance through their recovery journeys. Some other highlights have been aiding in coordination of the new integrated icare website, taking a lead on running an internal Care newsletter and being involved in the Law + Justice Committee review of our Scheme. Many of our current initiatives are part of our huge ‘Optimal Care’ project, which is bringing together all 3 of icare’s service lines to ensure a consistent customer experience to all of our customers, which is also a very exciting transformation journey to be a part of as a graduate. This rotation has been a HUGE eye opener to the clinical side of care as this wasn’t my background at all, but as a lot of work is project based I have been able to assist on numerous team projects in a variety of other ways.

What's your background?

I grew up in the beautiful coastal town of Wollongong, Australia and 24 years later I am still there and loving it. Childhood years included extensive dance and sport commitments, which led me to be selected into Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts for dance. Following high school I completed a 2 year dance course in Sydney and then began my 4 years at The University of Wollongong, which were filled with phenomenal experiences, learnings and extensive travelling. 

The absolute highlight was my time spent studying abroad in the USA at Indiana University. Many of my closest friends and fondest memories were a product of this, from studying business in the #1 public business school in the States to its famous basketball history, incredibly beautiful campus and small town vibe. Following exchange, the next highlight was undertaking the ‘40K Social Impact Internship’ in rural India. From this I went on to intern in the 40K head office and then headed back to India for another month to Team Lead a new group of interns. 40K was definitely what shaped my values the most and made me seek a rewarding job where I could make a difference to people and apply my own caring and positive nature.

When it came to graduate job hunting, icare ended up being the only job I applied for as nothing else came close to matching my interest and values and also offered the chance to work outside of your degree specialisations. I undertook the extensive recruitment process of an online application, phone interview, capability simulation and assessment centre and I am now 3 months into my first rotation and loving every second.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

ABSOLUTELY YES! Let me elaborate…..One of the greatest things about working at icare in my opinion is their commitment to hiring people not based purely on their degree and studies but based on more intrinsic factors such as your passions, career goals and personal values and also your experiences outside of academics. The culture created because of this makes it possible to learn any desired skills and build the knowledge needed that didn’t come from your studies. As long as you have the right mindset and motivations and are connected to achieving icare’s vision, then you can really head in many directions with icare and they will invest in you so you can achieve that.

What's the coolest thing about your job?

In a nutshell…..I get to spend every day knowing that we as an organisation are working on amazing things for the people of NSW through insurance and care, which is highly rewarding and motivating. In the Lifetime Care Scheme particularly, the things I have worked on have a direct link to our participants injured on the roads and I get to see first-hand the benefits and positive outcomes we are creating through a very diverse range of projects and initiatives. Being part of icare’s first ever graduate program is also pretty cool. We have a wonderful (and crazy) group and icare allows us to have real responsibilities, encourages us to pursue our own ideas and invests continually in our career development.

What are the limitations of your job?

Within my current Lifetime Care rotation one limitation would be not having the clinical/care/rehab experience and knowledge that a large majority do. There is a lot to know so it can be hard to contribute or offer ideas on some projects without any background in this field; however, this has also meant an incredible learning opportunity for me.

In terms of graduate programs a limitation is that you don’t get to think too long-term in your rotations and you may not get to see out all the projects you work on from beginning to end as it will be time to move on (which is exciting at the same time).

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...

  • Don’t go through uni purely to get a degree with great marks. Go and study or work abroad, do internships, join some clubs, have some fun, take up new hobbies, find some experience in the area you are interested in early so you can test the waters. Trust me these experiences are invaluable.
  • Set some goals early on of what you want to do…or make a uni bucket list. There were so many things I wanted to fit into those years and it definitely takes some planning.
  • Utilise your valuable networks at uni, e.g. staff, classmates and people at university clubs/events/awards nights. You never know who might offer you some work experience, notify you of opportunities or even become a colleague in the future.