Alumni Success Profiles: Isabelle Atunrase

(6 min read)

Read our conversation with Isabelle Atunrase (Business Associate, Class of 2019) about her role as a Talent Sourcer at GoCardless, including changing employers during her apprenticeship, advocating for yourself and being nominated for the BTA Rising Star Award. 

Could you tell us a bit about your current role?

I've been at GoCardless for about nine months now working as a Talent Sourcer. A lot of my time is spent scouring the internet and sending out messages to individuals to find talent, it’s a very people oriented role. At the moment it is really competitive so you've got to stand out with your messaging. Then I do the initial phone interviews with them, if they do well I carry them on through the process all the way to the offer stage. It's a fairly large team of Talent Sourcers and Recruiters, there's over 30 of us, and things change quickly so we have to make sure we’re really aligned. I've also recently joined the Black, Ethnic and Asian Minority group as one of the pillar leads. I work with the wider people team to understand what new channels we can use to find more diverse talent and get training for diverse recruitment. I've really enjoyed working with everyone and the business itself is very inclusive and diverse. 

What has your career journey been since you did your apprenticeship?

I started my apprenticeship at Tandem Bank which was quite broad covering day to day HR operations, there was a little bit of recruitment in there, but not a lot. Once I had a bit of  experience supporting recruitment I knew that's where I wanted to specialise because I enjoy meeting new people from different backgrounds and it’s challenging. Plus the fact that you get to support and help people find their next role and their next opportunity. I really wanted to specialise so I ended up continuing my apprenticeship at Metro Bank as a Recruitment Coordinator. I spoke to my coach, Jen, who said I could move my apprenticeship over to Metro Bank. Jen got in touch with the Chief People Officer to make sure that I got the green light to continue my apprenticeship and my manager at the time was supportive. After Metro bank I had two jobs before GoCardless, a Recruiter role in a small business where I had lots of responsibility, and a Talent Manager role which I didn’t really enjoy as there wasn’t as much day to day recruiting. Then I got approached by GoCardless and I wasn't too sure whether I'd get the job because I tend to underestimate how well I've done in the interviews. So when they did say that I'd got the job and all the benefits and things like that, it was great.

How did doing your Multiverse apprenticeship support your career journey? 

Before my apprenticeship I was just working in retail and I was only there for four months but I hated it, nothing there really appealed to me. Only by chance, I was doing some research into some type of HR role because I thought it was interesting and then I stumbled across Multiverse. I didn’t know that it was going to actually lead to anything necessarily because at the time nobody else had ever really heard of Multiverse because it was still so small. It's been great to meet other apprentices and I've got friends now that did the apprenticeship. They've moved on to work at all sorts of companies as well and I've helped them with their CVs and stuff, so it’s nice to keep in touch.

I think it definitely prepared me a lot for the working world. Before that, I just didn't really know how to act professionally in the office, because it's not something I've had to do before. It was kind of a bit of a shock, I was a bit sassy when I first started and I was taught how to speak to more senior people. It also just gave me a lot of confidence to speak to new people because I was quite shy when I first started. Getting pushed out of my comfort zone a lot in that first role definitely helped me as I've been progressing because in recruitment you just have to be confident and want to talk to people. And I think at the time I was desperately struggling with that so that’s definitely one of the things that stands out from my time as an apprentice.

I think a lot about that time as an apprentice, I don't even know where I'd be if I didn’t do the apprenticeship. I'm very grateful to have done it in the first place. It wasn't easy, there were a lot of challenges, but it's all part of the learning process as well and it's definitely been a big part of my success in getting my current role. 

What achievement are you most proud of since completing your apprenticeship?

When I started my apprenticeship I was actually doing the CIPD course but I dropped it to focus on the apprenticeship. Then over the past year I started doing the CIPD course again and I just finished it this week. It's quite a lot of work because you do a lot of written assignments and role plays and when you're doing your job as well it does get a bit tough. For me, it felt harder to do than the apprenticeship just because you're doing it more on your own and there's not as much support. So that's probably my biggest accomplishment so far as it’s good to have on your CV and shows broader knowledge of HR. It's good experience because I don't know if I'll stay in recruitment forever and it's always good to learn outside of just that niche area because you never know what might happen.

Have you had to overcome any challenges at work? Do you have any advice for others with similar experiences?

I struggled a lot with imposter syndrome and feeling like I didn't necessarily belong because I didn't look like a lot of people that I worked with. I would hear people say racist things and it wasn't nice, but I think I got to a point where I respectfully had to say ‘that's not okay’. A lot of the time people just don't realise that these things are bad because no one's ever told them that they shouldn't say them and they're kind of oblivious to it. Once you correct them they're actually thankful and I felt very relieved once I said my piece. The best way is to talk to people directly because otherwise it gets diluted and it's not as impactful.

Also, because of my background, a lot of people in the teams I've worked with come from university. I felt like that actually made me stand out and I had a different way of seeing things compared to others. I definitely think that helped me get the roles that I've had and progress quickly as well. I used to think that being young in these sorts of companies would be a disadvantage, obviously I had certain things to learn that others already knew but I think as long as you've got the passion to succeed that can take you a long way; I wish I knew that before. Also, you have to make sure you stand up for yourself. Just because you're an apprentice or a young person doesn't mean that your opinions don't matter or that they're not valid. I think before I thought that if I didn't think something was right or if someone was putting me down, I should just keep quiet because maybe no one wanted to hear from me. But now I think it's so important to voice your opinions. I've done it a few times now and I remember I was so scared, but I’m so glad that I did.

Another struggle is that I never normally see myself in more senior people especially in the tech and fintech space. I think that's made me more passionate to support in making it more diverse and sharing other people's voices and helping as much as I can. I think when I'm older I want to be someone that a young person might look up to because I didn't have that when I was an apprentice, there wasn't anyone like me. It definitely keeps me motivated to want to succeed and become that senior person one day. 

Having dealt with those challenges, how did you feel when you found out that you'd been nominated for the BTA Rising Star Award?

I spoke to the founder of BTA last year about Black History Month so I knew about the awards and he reached out to me. I don't think anyone in GoCardless has heard of it before but they’re going to share it. It would be good to get more people nominated in the future as well because there's some really talented people in the business, but it's just kind of raising the awareness of this award.

What are your future plans or long term career goals at the moment? 

At the moment it's going well being a Talent Sourcer but in the near future I'd like to become a Talent Partner which is a bit more senior and you've kind of got more responsibilities as well. I tend to be quite ambitious, which is why I've gone from being a coordinator to this role quickly in about three years. Once I know where I'm headed, that's all that gets into my mind at the time.