Picture this:  you’re about to graduate from college. You’ve double majored in French and Economics. You’ve held a part-time job at a frame shop, and you just finished a year as a clerk at a law firm. You’re passionate about helping others.  How do you get these seemingly unrelated factors to gel into a career? (After all, translator/economist/sales associate/lawyer/doctor isn’t a real job.)

Scotland native Kirsty Frew has the answer. She graduated from the UW in December 2007 in exactly this situation, and she was able to use these skills and experiences to land a position with Progressive Insurance in January 2008. “I never imagined that I would be working for an insurance company,” she said. “But my years as a sale associate gave me the skills that helped me obtain my current position.”

Let’s rewind a bit. As an undergraduate, Frew planned to continue on to law school after graduation. Hoping to add some related experience to her law school application, she took a job as a law clerk at a local firm during her senior year. Once immersed in the world of law, however, Frew realized that the reality of the work did not meet her expectations. Although the position proved to be a valuable and positive experience for her, the most important benefit of the job was the realization that law would not be the best choice for her future.

With this new realization in mind, Frew attended two career fairs sponsored by the UW Career Center. There she met representatives from Progressive Insurance Company, and was encouraged to apply for their Claims Representative position through HuskyJobs, the UW Career Center’s online job board. She did so, and was swept into an interview process that was both relaxed and friendly. “I wasn’t freaked out at all,” Frew said. “The whole process was very up-front. I even met with managers the night before the interview, which made the interview itself far less daunting.”

Frew was hired, and has been with Progressive ever since. “This is my first job out of college and I absolutely love it! The people I work with are amazing. I’m excited to come into work each morning, and I go home at night feeling happy.”

Although Frew says “there are not too many correlations between my [past experiences] and my job now”, we beg to differ; her economics background has helped her to better understand the business aspect of the company, and her French language skills have come in handy when working with international clients. Additionally, her background in customer service has given her the skills she needs to build strong relationships with her clientele, and her passion for helping others sets her apart as an exceptional representative. 

With an open mind and a little creativity, Kirsty Frew was able to combine her various academic and professional experiences into a successful career. She utilized the services available at the UW Career Center to become the best candidate she could be, and she has reaped the rewards, putting her skills, strengths, and interests to work. Maybe translator/economist/sales associate/lawyer/doctor is a job, after all.

— Written by Cara MacMillan