To continue our month-long Champion Women campaign, our next interview is with Bhupinder Kaur, EDI project coordinator at Stonewater. In this interview, Bhupinder takes us through her career journey, referencing her proudest moments but also her downfalls. Throughout the interview, Bhupinder emphasises the importance of staying positive, especially when facing adversity, and taking everything as an opportunity to learn as you never know where it may lead you.
Bhupinder Kaur: My journey
I was born in Kenya and came to the UK when I was 15 years old. It was difficult as I missed 4 years of secondary education and then had 1 year to complete my O Levels. Despite this, I passed my O Levels and went on to study a BTEC in Business and Finance. I originally wanted to go to university and complete an accounting degree however my parents were quite traditional. Instead, I got married and started a full-time role at the council.
I started my career in the public sector working in the unemployment benefits office. This was an important role as I encountered vulnerable asylum seekers coming into the country, most of them not speaking the language. They wouldn’t know where to go for benefits and this is where I stepped in, helping guide them to the right places. While it was quite a basic role, it was extremely important. I was then promoted to team manager, where I helped move the office to a job centre plus office. This also involved transitioning the footfall of customers from in person to online as well as re-educating customers. Unfortunately, I ended up losing my job and was prevented from moving sideways into a similar role. I, therefore, become a floor manager. I went from managing my own team to helping redirect customers on the office floor which felt like a downward step in my career. As a result of feeling unfulfilled and unsupported by management, I resigned from this role and due to my prior experience, took on a role working in housing benefits.
This leads me one of the proudest moments of my career. After working in various roles, from admin to managing. I began working on a project to manage a new grant scheme. We received funding from the DWP to set up a new scheme to help vulnerable people with food, gas, electric and white goods. This was a completely new challenge for me as it was a new policy and a new scheme. I interviewed my own staff, set up my own team and trained them. This was a very big achievement for me, and I was proud with the way I handled this new project.
I was then ready for the next challenge and to be promoted however, I was then passed over for a promotion. This is where I did sense some discrimination as I was told I lost to another candidate by 1 point. It was also difficult to justify why the other person achieved the role and therefore, I felt quite disheartened by this in my journey. I carried on with my role as a team manager, which was tough as you are managing your team, your own work and then also the project deadlines to bring a new system in. I eventually took voluntary redundancy.
I think 2017 was my downturn year where I couldn’t get a job in a project or team management role even with all my experience. I had been knocked back which influenced my confidence. In the end, I had to start taking temporary work which I saw as starting from the bottom again. Through temping, I felt I had to work my way up again and this is where my time at Stonewater began. I originally started working on a contract and then returned to my current position as an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Project Coordinator.
I am really enjoying my role as a project coordinator in EDI at Stonewater. I am learning so much through this role and through my manager, Cordelia Johnney. She has been in EDI for more than 20 years and she aspires for me to become an EDI specialist. I am getting a lot of support and learning about things such as disability, neurodiversity and the LGBTQ+ community. I have been able to meet lots of different people through going to conferences and participating in the Maturity Matrix for example. There is so much more I want to learn to be able to help people. I have always had this nature to help people as these are the roles I have always undertaken. I want to help people bring their whole selves to work and to talk openly without being afraid of not being listened to.
Upon reflection of my career journey, I have learnt to stay positive throughout. I have had ups and downs in my career and maybe taken positions I wasn’t sure I wanted to do. I have always thought that a role will lead me somewhere, even if it’s a different direction to what I originally thought, which is how I have ended up becoming an EDI project coordinator. I have had to keep an open mind and just learn from every opportunity I have come across. Throughout my career journey, I feel as a person, I have grown so much. I talk about things a lot more openly, things I would have never spoken about before. This is thanks to my manager and Stonewater for being an inclusive employer.
