There are lots of talented women working for Capgemini worldwide. One of these women is Service Management Consultant Manager, Alyssa Kiel. Alyssa's hobbies include traveling, cooking and camping, and she was a competitive swimmer for much of her life. She no longer swims competitively, but she still loves to be in the water. She also has four wonderful nieces and nephews and two older brothers, all of whom she's very close to.

Alyssa initially thought a large organization like Capgemini might feel intimidating, but she found that hidden behind the matrix-like structures and codified processes is a world full of supportive mentors, inspirational colleagues, and a wealth of opportunity.

Find out how Alyssa uncovered these opportunities and expanded her career, eventually ending up in a place she had never expected. 

An exciting career journey of progression and development 

Alyssa's current role is as the Agency Relationship Management Director for one of Capgemini's clients. As part of her role, she manages a team of 23 agency relationship managers and they ensure the smooth delivery of IT services that Capgemini customers require. In this capacity, she gets to interact with CIOs of many different organizations, understand their challenges, provide solutions for new requirements, and handle any issues and escalations as they arise.

Alyssa joined Capgemini as a Business Relationship Manager. As part of this role she built and nurtured client relationships, helped them with their projects, and managed any issues and escalations.

"I really enjoyed that role and, in fact, I became known as the 'fixer' for the reason that I would be moved to accounts we were having trouble with and I would help to turn them around. I really enjoyed building and strengthening relationships, hearing and understanding our clients’ issues, and being central to turning things around and delivering solutions," she explains.

"My manager at that time was an incredible mentor. She saw something in me and gave me opportunities to develop and flourish. To help me turn relationships around she spent time with me, coached me on developing my career, and introduced me to many Capgemini leaders. Basically, she really helped me to flourish. Mentoring is something I’ve seen a lot of at Capgemini. Essentially, if you work hard and demonstrate potential, leadership will try to introduce you to the right people so you can move up in your career."

Alyssa enjoyed her job, did well, and was made a People Manager, looking after six direct reports. She loved the new aspect of mentoring colleagues and helping them achieve their goals and it helped Alyssa build a new set of skills. When her manager got an opportunity to be a Service Delivery Manager on a different account, Alyssa was made the Director of the ARM team, managing 23 direct reports. She is now ultimately responsible for customer satisfaction from an IT perspective and, for her, it has been quite an exhilarating journey.

"I couldn’t have hoped for better," she adds.

Capgemini's culture of support helps employees achieve career goals

For Alyssa, Capgemini represents a large, established company with incredible opportunities.

"I mean, just the fact that our training facility is a 19th century chateau in France (which I was lucky enough to visit) blows my mind. Having a presence across different countries and in many different sectors means that there are amazing opportunities to find your niche, do what you want to do, and network at a global level. That’s really been important to me," she explains.

"And the ecosystem will support your goals. I’ve personally found some great mentors (shout-out to Melba Batey – my first boss – at Capgemini). There are also lots of structured and unstructured learning opportunities and I’ve also found that the management is very supportive. If you know what you want they will help you get there. That makes a huge difference."

Making a difference and seeing the results of her work at Capgemini

What Alyssa loves about working at Capgemini is the tremendous amount of learning involved.

"Because my client’s business has some very unique challenges, the work never gets boring. There are so many complex processes in place, and each process is an opportunity to learn. I really enjoy discussing ideas with CIOs and solving their particular issues," she says.

"Also, unlike in my last job, which typically involved 6-8 week-long projects, we are talking about long-term relationships here. So, you can really make a difference and you get to see the results of what you are doing. You see the impact you are making every time you change a process or upgrade to a new technology and that to me is very, very satisfying."

Finding support from her team and Capgemini's training resources

The thing Alyssa finds the most challenging about her role is having to be aware of everything that’s going on with every account she is handling. She needs to have all this at her fingertips when she talks to her executive client leadership and she initially found that a little tough to handle.

"I realized that the only way to survive is to build my team and rely on them and that’s been a huge change for me as I’ve always been someone who would just get things done by herself. But you know, within the first couple of months in this job, I realized that that’s something you just can’t do in this role – it’s just not possible. So, I had to rely on my team and that’s been one of the biggest lessons for me," she says.

"Now I’ve built a team that I trust, and I’ve learned to focus on my top talent and give them opportunities to grow. This shift in mindset has helped me as well as my team – for they get opportunities to rise in their career."

Alyssa also found a wealth of information available through Capgemini’s online training resources. She completed a year-long Embark Leadership training and completed her People Management certification this year. She also got the opportunity to be part of Capgemini University’s global learning program and it was one of the most incredible experiences of her life. It was an opportunity to meet some of the top leaders of the company, in France, and it was her first time there.

"So you can well imagine, it was an inspiring, thrilling experience," she adds. "Capgemini definitely gives you the resources and support to help you grow to the next level."

Sharing fantastic advice for those considering a career at Capgemini

Finally, Alyssa shares some fantastic advice for those who have either just joined or are thinking about joining Capgemini.

"I’d say there is an incredible amount of opportunity in this company. If you join and then find that you don’t like what you are doing, then are a million places you can go, especially since this is such a big, diversified organization," she says. 

"This is a place where, if you figure out what you want and where it is you want to go next and you make the effort and speak to your management about it, then we have the kind of people and resources who will really work to make that happen."

Discover hidden opportunities like Alyssa at Capgemini

Capgemini UK's support network and online resources help women at all levels of their careers progress in the business.

If you want to progress and develop in your career, search and apply for current job vacancies at Capgemini.

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