In December 2022, I left the Civil Service after 9 years working in central government as an analyst, morphing into a product owner for analytical products.

The Civil Service gave me my first job after I graduated from university where I saw a real future for my career in analysis. It had everything I was looking for in those years — work-life balance, career progression, relatively competitive pay, and people who valued the same things as me. Last year was a bit different. I felt like I was reaching a crossroad in my career, where my background in analysis was starting to converge with my interest in product management. Part of this was just chance — the type of analytical projects I was delivering in the last few years at HMICFRS lent themselves to being ‘productified’ well.

During the summer of last year, I started to think about where I needed to be to get product management exposure in different business environments. Towards the end of 2022, I resigned from the Civil Service so that I could join FSP as a Product Manager.  

I was drawn to certain characteristics of the organisation; the quality and pace of their work, the specialist skills and knowledge of their consultants, but most of all, the overall values which underpin how they deliver value to their clients and their care for every individual’s success. I felt a pull and wanted to be part of the team, so I started to explore opportunities at FSP. Soon after, I was offered the chance to join FSP’s newly formed Product capability. I felt incredibly lucky!

In my first few months at FSP, I’ve been trying hard to get to grips with the world of consulting quickly, while delving into my first client engagement. Moving from public to private sector, and consultancy at that, was making me feel slightly apprehensive. But what I thought would be a daunting step has been made to feel manageable. FSP’s core values of Human, Inclusive, Performance Driven and Ambitious, have contributed to this immensely.

I’m excited to add value to the clients I work with, and myself — delivering and learning at the same time.