60 Seconds with Aoife Kearney 

Tell us about your role and your organisation.
My name is Aoife Kearney and I am a Placement Digital Advisory Trainee at Kainos.
My role involves solving problems, building relationships with my team and with customers and collaborating with other teams to turn insight into the pipeline. Our work changes the way our customers work today, by providing solutions to real problems and developing the impact they have tomorrow.

Give us a brief overview of your career journey so far.
I joined Kainos through the Early Careers Programme and I am currently a few months into my Kainos journey. From day one, everyone has been extremely welcoming and eased all the nerves that I had when first joining, which has contributed to the friendly atmosphere both inside and outside of the office.

Describe yourself in 3 words.
Resilient. Reliable. Organised.

What is one skill that helps you most in your role?
Time management! I currently have a very busy life both within and outside of Kainos, so time management is essential for me to achieve a work-life balance. In terms of Kainos, for the last few months, I have had a daily To-do list on my default browser on my work laptop to make sure I complete all my tasks on time. I also block out my Outlook calendar if I need time to do specific tasks to create a schedule. Outside of work, I try to plan my activities and meals for the week the weekend before to make sure I have enough time to fit everything in – including sports training and social activities.

What advice do you have for women in your sector/industry/type of role?
Don’t be afraid to get involved in other aspects of the company! From my experience, the best thing you can do when joining a new company is to get to know people on your team and outside of your team. No matter what company you are joining, you will always experience some degree of nervousness for the first few weeks. I believe the best way to overcome this is to join different groups and attend social events within work – then the office won’t feel as daunting when there are a few friendly faces. I personally, got involved by joining the Kainos Tag Rugby team on my first week in the company, which really helped me settle in.

Are there any exciting plans in the year ahead in your organisation that you can share with us?
We have recently had a handover of the CEO role, this was really exciting and I look forward to seeing what plans our new CEO Russell Sloan has for the company. 

Who has been your biggest career inspiration and why?
My older sister because she completely changed her career path to do something she is passionate about.

If you had to pick your soundtrack song to get you through the working day, what would it be?
You're Gonna Go Far - Noah Kahan.

How can you fellow WIB members keep up to date with you and your organisation?
Connect with Aoife Kearney on LinkedIn
Connect with Kainos on LinkedIn