I am blessed to have met so many mentors since I started my first formal job in September 1996 as a temporary teacher. So I arrived in Pretoria in the evening of 23 August 2007 to escape the dire economic situation in Zimbabwe. I had modest goals, I thought I would start as a waiter first whilst looking for a job in the insurance sector. Fate had other plans.
I saw an advert for a Business Claims Advisor in Pretoria News and I e-mailed my CV. A day or so later I was driving from Sandton from another interview right by Buccleau Interchange where M1, N3 and N1 meets, I recieved a call from Ms Anne-Marie Matthee from OUTsurance for the telephonic interview. I parked the car next to the road and closed all the windows. After the telephone interview, she told me I had not really impressed her but nonetheless she was inviting me for a face to face interview after lunch on Friday 31 August 2007. I had another interview in Sandton and I was not sure which interview to attend.
I decided to go the interview at OUTsurance. I was interviewed by Glen Rae (who would become my direct boss) and Shaun Marshall. Shaun Marshall told me in the interview that I had got the job and I was supposed to report for my two months training starting on Monday 2 September 2007. I can summarize my first 10 years at OUTsurance as change is the constant thing. The lady who taught me systems in October 2007 predicted that I would only last 3 years because claims environment is stressful.
When I got to my 10 years in September 2017, I resigned and started serving my 4 weeks notice. Serving notice is very difficult, luckily for me throughout my career I got advice from smart mentors. I served my notice to the very last day which was 2 October 2017. I wanted to leave early on that day as I wanted to catch an earlier bus to Harare that afternoon but the GM refused. I only left around 4pm and I went to say goodbye to Anne-Mare and say thank you for the opportunity and I started crying I couldn’t help it. When I went out to my car with Kobaschni Kim Naidoo, I was still crying.
In February 2019 I saw an advert for a 6 months claims contract at a big insurance company in Constania Kloof, Johannesburg and I applied, I told my former boss at OUTsurance that I had put him as a referee. I reported for duty in Constanta Kloof on 18 February 2018 and spent the day there, I only discovered when I got the contract that I was going to work for a labour broker. I refused to sign the contract.
I then went for promising interviews in Highveld and another one in Sandton and started writing psychometric tests. I then told my former boss around mid-March 2018 that I wanted to come back to OUTsurance and I wanted to go to non-motor claims. I then came for an interview and started working on 1 April 2018. The same GM who refused me to leave early on my last day, was the same GM who signed off my return. Imagine if I had given him a piece of my mind that last day mind you I had no intentions of returning to the company then. On the first day of induction, I received a call from the company in Sandton, they wanted me to come for another interview again, I told her no. She then phoned back to say she was going send me an offer and I told her sorry it’s too late you wasted time.
Some of the guys I worked with also want to come back and they asked me how I managed to come back. My advice is that at times things get heated at work but it’s always important to have emotional intelligence. Tell your boss when they have done wrong things, learn to accept criticism and always remember two things (1) you work for yourself and not the company and (2) if you do a good job someone will notice, that someone might be your bosses boss, a customer, a competitor etc. Guard your personal brand don’t slacken, it’s easier to appeal to higher authorities when your own house is in order.
Imagine going for an interview and when they ask you if they can phone your former bosses and you say no, put yourselves in their shoes, would you hire you🤷🏿♂️. It’s true there are toxic bosses but if you feel that the whole company has bad bosses maybe look into the mirror for problems. My last note if it was your own company would you work the way you do?Taking advantage, slackening, lying that you are sick when you are not etc.
Great personal lessons learnt from the article
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