KINNECT’s knack for nurturing hidden talents propels Nick from AEP to Account Manager

Changing career several times during your working life is all too common these days, but rarely does it happen while you’re working for the same business. For Nick Munro, a hidden talent for customer relationship management (plus encouragement from KINNECT) has taken his career from Injury Management Consultant to National Customer Manager.

An Accredited Exercise Physiologist (AEP), Nick joined KINNECT in 2017 as an Injury Management Consultant after working in private practice with clients from a variety of backgrounds from Department of Veterans Affairs referrals to Medicare and private patients.

“At that time, it was difficult to get full-time work as an AEP – most work was contract or you had to find inroads by working for yourself, and there weren’t too many options to work at a hospital or health care facility.

“I wanted stability and progression, but a main driving factor was the need for a change in working environment. My previous role was in an unhealthy, unprofessional work environment that I was keen to leave. I found a role advertised to be part of the opening of the new Gold Coast office and applied immediately,” Nick explained.

His initial role balanced two days a week of workplace rehabilitation consulting and return to work cases with up to three days of pre-employment assessments to meet demand as the Gold Coast office grew its client base.

“It was exciting to be at the start of a new office. There were only four or five us, plus occasional visits from Kevin Conlon (KINNECT’s Chairman). Then Jess Hopley (Chief Financial Officer) and Clark Hopley (Chief Customer Officer) moved over from Western Australia,” he recalled.

Finding and developing new talents

Nick progressed to Senior Consultant level quickly. While he Initially worked under a regional manager, when KINNECT introduced Team Managers for each office, he was asked to begin supervising colleagues. This was a fortuitous change in the organisation as the Team Manager role allowed Nick to demonstrate his promising business development skills to KINNECT’s leaders.

“In 2019 Clark Hopley and Courtney Hargrave approached me to do some account management work. I split this with my Team Manager role for some time and then took on a full-time Customer Relationship Manager role just before COVID started,” Nick said.

The COVID crisis put his new role on hold while he returned to Senior Consultant duties. When restrictions lifted and the economy regained momentum, he moved back into the Customer Relationship Manager role full-time.

Today, Nick believes that it’s been the support and training that he’s received that has made his career transition successful:

“Honestly, I’ve been supported really well from a development and progression perspective.

“As new Team Managers, we were brought into strategic meetings so we could understand how the business was working and how we were contributing to the business’s growth. We were also invited into a lot of high-level professional development sessions on growth and leadership with Kevin at quite an early stage, which other businesses don’t do. Plus, I completed an early iteration of our Emerging Leaders Program.

“Kevin and the other leaders have always given me great simple but strategic advice when I’ve had to face difficult situations, and my managers have also given me the freedom to grow into my role,” he said.

Growing a broad skillset as the organisation expands

Nick appreciates the breadth of knowledge and skills that his role now affords him as he moves up a level in his new role as National Customer Manager.

“To move up into higher positions you can’t just limit yourself to one skill set – you have to take a multidisciplinary approach.

“This role allows me to get a base level understanding of most of the roles in the business: you get to know the health and safety side of it, the legislative side, the business side, as well as specific skills like project management, cost analysis and negotiation,” Nick explained.

As a self-proclaimed “people person”, his role suits him well: “It’s the relationship building with customers where, especially if they’re from a big business, having that interpersonal relationship is crucial,” he said.

While Nick admits that it’s rewarding to close six-figure deals that will lead to important health outcomes, it’s the flexibility of the role that offers great job satisfaction: “I can work from home and set my own hours for being in the office when I have meetings.”

Nick feels that the biggest benefits of working at KINNECT are the ability to access the leadership team who are always happy to have a chat, together with the variety of tasks and challenges that KINNECTers are faced with each day.

Nick’s advice for other AEP’s considering joining KINNECT?

“Don’t discount workplace rehabilitation!”

Nick believes that the sector gets unfairly ignored at university where students are given limited exposure to it as a career option. This, he believes needs to change from an undergraduate level up as the demand for return-to-work and occupational health management services increases.

Nick suggests that undergraduates “Try it through a work placement. It’s taught me a bucket load of skills – particularly time management.

“Working for an organisation like KINNECT also gives you the opportunity to grow into roles outside your initial career path in areas like account management. There’s lots of different streams in our business that you can create a career in.”

A Day in the Life

Nick happily describes his days as varied. At any point he could be working on:

• Sales and business development where he’ll be following up leads and preparing quotes for pre-employment, injury management or health surveillance programs.
• Customer relationship management tasks, finding solutions to challenges for clients, particularly regarding pre-employment projects.
• Continual improvement projects where he will consult with others in the business about change processes and improving systems.
• Finance tasks, liaising with the finance department regarding accounts, invoicing and overdue accounts.
• Customer onboarding which involves doing Carelever demonstrations and ensuring new clients are set up in Carelever.

If you’re interested in joining an organisation who will help you reach your career ambitions, why not join us? For information about current vacancies,visit our Careers Centre.