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Katy Gallagher

Higher Statistical Officer, HMRC

Degree details

  • Master of Mathematics (MMath)
  • PhD in Singularity Theory

What was your best experience while studying your course at the University of Liverpool and why?

I loved my time at the University of Liverpool, so much so that I stayed there for 8 years! I enjoyed meeting new people, making friends and then having the opportunity to study a variety of modules. By having the freedom to choose what modules to study I was able to find areas of Maths that I enjoyed most. This led me to stay on after my undergraduate degree to study for my PhD in Singularity Theory and work with my supervisor Victor Goryunov. Graduating with a PhD is my proudest achievement and gave me many opportunities such as attending conferences in France and New York!

While you were at university, what were the beneficial things outside of your course that helped you to get ready to begin your career?

I helped with the Further Maths Support Programme which involved weekly study sessions for 16–18 year olds. This involved catering explanations to individual students, a skill that has translated to my current role as I have to explain the results of analysis to various other teams and make sure it is in a format that can be easily understood by anyone.

As I neared the end of my degree and began to consider what to do next, I found the Careers and Employability team to be extremely helpful. I was able to have someone check over my CV and give me advice on how to improve it. I also attended various talks on application processes such as interviews and psychometric tests, these gave me an insight into what to expect.

In which ways did your course help you to prepare for your current role?

My course helped me to prepare for my role by giving me the opportunity to study different statistical modules such as introductory modules which introduced me to different statistical models and applied modules such as medical statistics which demonstrated how they can be used in real world environments.

Although my PhD was in Pure Mathematics and I now work as a Statistician the skills I gained from working on my PhD have been invaluable to my current role. The analytical skills I developed I now use daily and the presentation skills I acquired have been crucial to delivering the results of various pieces of analysis in a format that can be understood and used by other teams.

Can you please share an insight into your current role, what do you enjoy the most?

I am currently a Higher Statistical Officer in HMRC working in KAI (Knowledge, Analysis and Intelligence). I am part of the team that carries out analysis on the Error and Fraud in the Tax Credits population. This involves an annual publication on gov.uk and carrying out analysis which can then be used by other teams to reduce the amount of error and fraud.

There are many elements of my role that I enjoy. I work on variety of projects which means every week in my job is different so there is no chance of getting bored. Being able to work on a project from the start to the end and then presenting the findings to my colleagues. Also having the opportunity to learn new skills such as coding which I only had a limited knowledge of before starting in my role.

What challenges did you face as a recent graduate in a new workplace? How did you overcome these?

My biggest challenge when starting was a lack of confidence in myself and my abilities. I felt like an impostor and I was waiting for them to change their mind. After a few weeks I spoke with other new colleagues and found they also felt the same about themselves. I realised that they would not have hired me if they did not think I would do the job well. I also worried about asking too many questions, especially since I began my job remotely due to the pandemic. The quick questions that you would normally turn to the person next to you in the office and ask now required an email, call or message. I quickly realised that everyone was happy to help, as I was for others. It is better to ask questions and do something right, rather than waste time worrying or guessing and making a mistake.

Do you have any top tips to share with future and current students (in terms of preparing for work?)

When I finished my degree, I found the process of applying for jobs to be quite daunting and disheartening at times. Few people are successful on getting the first job they apply for so I started to look at every application and interview as practice, if I wasn’t successful in getting the job then I just made improvements to my application or interview technique. I found this took pressure off myself and I was more relaxed when it came to interviews.