Nadia | UK
Accessing the Corporate World
Nadia came from a hard-working middle class immigrant family with roots in Bangladesh. Her dad was a minicab driver and her mum worked in a nursery to provide for the children, and especially to ensure their education.
She attended university and studied chemistry, but she didn’t have a clear sense of direction. “I think being always told, you know, education is everything, but then not really having any guidance on careers after that…I feel like I wasn’t sure what to do afterwards.”
Nadia decided to teach for a while, and found a job at a girls school. While she enjoyed teaching, she knew her analytical mind needed something different to shine. She wanted to work in a big corporation and take on bold, exciting challenges that would take her out of her comfort zone. But another part of her was telling herself that she didn’t belong in that environment.
“That’s the part that I struggled with most were the soft skills: Believing in myself, the confidence to speak up,” Nadia explained
Making a Leap Forward
She decided to try for something in the world of data analytics, but navigating an entire new sector on her own was intimidating.
“Before, I had no direction with job applications. I didn’t know how to tailor my CV or what skills I had that could apply outside teaching,” said Nadia.
But then she found Generation. “Generation made me realize you can do anything as long as you put in the time to do it,” she reflected. “They taught me that you don’t have to be someone you’re not. Just drill deep into who you are and make sure that authenticity is seen.”
A New Career And a New Mindset
Today, Nadia works as a Junior Risk Pricing Analyst at Hastings Direct, a position she secured through Generation’s employer partnerships. Her personal transformation goes beyond the job title.
“Every day I wake up and do a job that I had no idea that I was ever capable of doing,” she says. “And that really helps with my confidence on a daily basis.”
Her soft skills continue to evolve in her post-Generation career journey. She’s learned to speak up about her work, to make her contributions visible, and to own her achievements.
“In the corporate environment I work in now, you have to be very loud about your work,” she explains. “If you want to progress and be noticed, you need to make people aware of what you’re actually doing.”
“Generation completely changed my life,” Nadia reflects. “As a whole, it just made me see that I’m capable. It doesn’t have to just be about work, but also in my personal life, I am capable.”
