FreshMinds Talent Blog

We’re extremely pleased this week to have the noted social entrepreneur Craig Dearden-Phillips MBE, the founder and CEO of Speaking Up, talking about his journey so far on our Talent blog. Craig founded Speaking Up in the mid-1990s as a charity dedicated to giving physically and mentally disabled people in the UK a strong and confident voice. Today, it helps over 4,000 people a year and employs 135 full-time members of staff across the UK. A commentator and spokesperson for the third sector, Craig is a mentor to five young social entrepreneurs and CEOs and was short-listed in 2008 for `Britain’s Most Admired CEO’.
James Callander, managing director of FreshMinds Talent

I have been a CEO in the not-for-profit sector for about 15 years. 

It all started when I worked in social care for disabled people. I noticed how poor the outcomes were when set against the colossal sums spent on people’s care and support. What I also noticed was how much better the outcomes were for disabled people who had the ability to represent themselves effectively. Have a voice. Speak up. So one day I made a decision to start a new organisation dedicated to just this. Speaking Up.

My journey began as a start-up with me as the only employee. Unpaid of course - I was 25 so money didn’t matter. It is a great time of life to take risks. I got the start-up funding after a year, and my second employee was a disabled man. Today I lead 150 people up and down the UK, a mix of disabled and non-disabled people.

In 2009 the mission stays the same: we still exist to support people with disabilities or mental health problems (and, occasionally, both) to control their own lives. We do this through mentoring, advocacy and self-help activities. Our strapline  is Voice, Action, Change.  One leading to the next. We work with 4000 people a year and are becoming a well-know charity and social business.

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The recession hit me last week. In fact, it came right at me when the holiday company I’d booked an eagerly awaited break in the sun through went into administration. And they didn’t even tell me!?

Thankfully, when I did find out, I had my practical hat on and my holiday went ahead as planned – although not without several heated conversations, mind you. It served its purpose and I have been left with the feeling that I’ve come off rather lightly from the recession so far - not that I’m counting my chickens…

Nevertheless, my near miss has left me starting to contemplate the wider ramifications of this down turn for me. First, I have a much keener sense of my social conscience, as a result of which I’m training to be a volunteer mentor to a look after child. Second, my day job and arguably my broader career prospects have changed. Necessity has meant that I’m now a furious networker with a black book double the size it once was. I used to get away with being a whole lot more subtle about the way I went about my business. Yet now live by the philosophy that if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

I am also loving the deliberate and increased exposure I have to the public and third sectors. Now perhaps these aren’t quite as sustainable and robust as we once thought given the issues coming to light around public funding, but I’m relishing my sudden change in direction. I think it’s going to stand me in really good stead, if for no other reason that the diverse perspectives and personal interests I’m collecting.

However some things don’t change. My raison d’etre remains to advise and assist others around that all–important career move. And it can seem more like a complete u-turn for some in this environment, but increasingly I’m thinking what a great opportunity an enforced move can represent. We’ve all speculated as to “what next?”, and I like Toby Blume’s (CEO of the Urban Forum) philosophy that despite its immediate challenges, the downturn will provide a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fundamentally rethink our lives. On a social level, yes, but it equally applies in career terms too. Industry expertise and functional skill sets are universal currency and can be tailored to suit. Where one institution has failed, another will thrive through learning from its predecessor’s mistakes. Where profits were once generated as sales went through the roof, so costs can be cut to yield a massive impact on the bottom line. And just look at how social enterprise is thriving.

So for every action (however misguided!) it would seem there is an equal and opposite reaction. Even in this economic context. We really should see this downturn as fueling rather than dampening our ambitions – and come out the other side raring to go even faster. And a whole lot further too.

Read more here

• Banking in post-recession Britain
• Up from the Rubble: Post-Recession Planning
• Six Promising Post-Recession Sectors

About the author

Phillippa joined the recruitment team at FreshMinds in 2003 having spent four years at a niche management consultancy recruitment firm. She is particularly well known for her ability to help senior candidates change career direction, and when she’s not working she admits that football takes up a disproportionate amount of her time.

I am very conscious that I am in the middle of a battle ground. You see, before joining FreshMinds, I spent most of my undergraduate life in the low budget offices of my student newspaper, and the subsequent two years pursuing a career in journalism. But for the last 18 months, I have been equally submerged in the world of blogging (both here, for our sister blog at FreshMinds Research, and on my personal blog View from the Terraces) - the 21st century’s egalitarian answer to newspapers, magazines and old media.

Like the infamous grey squirrel, the rapid growth of new media is threatening to make traditional journalism an endangered species. And the red squirrels in this strained metaphor know all about it. I was lucky enough to be invited by the trustees of the Phillip Geddes Memorial Prize to a lunch at the headquarters of the Financial Times last Friday. The message from some of the grandees of old media there on the day was that good journalism has to be a product, and a product that customers pay for. Lionel Barber, the editor of the FT, joked that he was “fully behind Gordon Brown in tackling inflation” after doubling the price of the FT to £2 in little over three years. But he also made the point that all his publication’s content was paid for - including all the online content on their website, in stark contrast to the likes of Guardian Unlimited and Times Online.

The crisis has reached a head in the States, where the emergence of a host of now world famous political and celebrity spotting blogs and bloggers (The Huffington Post, Perezhilton, Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo, to name but a few) has undermined the country’s network of powerful local newspaper titles. In May this year Paul Harris at The Observer wrote a poignant article about the plight of Philadelphia, which was in danger of becoming the USA’s first major city to be without a local newspaper. The Daily News and once great Inquirer were both bankrupt - and faced with annihilation, have since decided to circulate the Daily News as a supplement within the more illustrious Inquirer.

In the article, Harris describes the “race no one wants to win: which major US city will be the first to lose all its daily papers? Los Angeles, Boston, Detroit, San Francisco, Miami, Denver and Newark are just a few of the other reluctant participants.” But there are bigger fish on the brink of extinction. The New York Times (which also owns 17 other titles including the Boston Globe and International Herald Tribune) lost £51 million in the first quarter of this year alone. Even the Wall Street Journal has been subject to uncertainty since slipping behind USA Today as America’s most read newspaper. Here in the UK, my local paper back in Bath has gone from a daily to a weekly - a process that is being repeated across the country in countless cities and towns.

Protecting good journalism needn’t be at odds with new media. Blogs like this one should ignite interest and hopefully encourage you to go back and read the salaried Harris’ original article (do it, it’s just here). Then there are blogs, like The Huffington Post, that are actively reinvesting advertising revenue into investigative journalism. But ultimately, this is more than just a battle over how to put money into journalists’ back pockets. It’s about whether, in the age of web 2.0 and 24 hour news, old media and new media titles alike can convince consumers to pay for their content. A penny for your thoughts…

Read more here

• Will Philadelphia be the place where the American newspaper dies?
• Huffington Post launches investigative journalism venture
• Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News owners file for bankruptcy protection

Last week, our managing director James Callander was in Frankfurt speaking to the International Association of Department Stores (IADS) about how to recruit, retain and manage Generation Y. Ever since our Work 2.0 research last year, we love this topic, and I genuinely believe that the companies which will thrive through this recession are the ones that are best able to leverage value from their people. One of the key findings from Work 2.0, and central points James made to the IADS, is the value Generation Y place on visible career progression.

So what does that look like at FreshMinds for the hundreds of temporary workers that we place or that work internally on our research projects every year? Many, as you would expect, go on to be placed by our Graduate and Executive Hire permanent businesses - or for that matter see their interim contracts go permanent. Many, many more get jobs with investment banks, top strategy and management consultancies or FTSE 100 companies. But the odd one or two follow even more glamorous and interesting career paths.

The FreshMinds team aren’t the only ones who might recognise the name James Anderson, or see something familiar in his face. James was a Mind, working largely on strategic projects for FreshMinds Research’s clients last year. Unfortunately for us, he’s no longer available. He’s found a new job at Holby City’s student doctor Oliver Valentine.

What’s more, he’s thoroughly enjoying this latest challenge. Interviewed last week by What’s On TV (now that’s not something many of our Minds can say), James suggested that his new role has inspired him to consider a career as a “real doctor”. And you know what, with a first class honours degree from Warwick University, he probably wouldn’t have much trouble picking it up.

We’re rightly proud of the quality of people we have at FreshMinds, from our full time staff to all the freelance analysts, consultants and experts we bring in to work on specific projects. And whether it’s finding those freelancers full time jobs, or celebrating events in other parts of their lives (I’m going to see another of our former Minds performing in a cabaret on Sunday evening), we’re always delighted to see them succeed.

Read more here

• Holby’s James: ‘I feel like a real doctor’

It’s a funny old term, “green shoots”. Yet economists, business men and government officials are steadfastly clinging to the notion that the end of the recession is in sight. So is there truth in the idea that the economy has green fingers, or is it just wishful thinking?

There are certainly some positive signs out there. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) recently reported that output across the economy rose in April and May, and that March really was the trough of the recession. One leading economist at NIESR went as far as to suggest, “I certainly expect the official figures to show either that the recession is over or that it is close to over.” Similarly, there was more positive news from the London Evening Standard last week, which reported that several financial services firms have lifted their recruitment freezes, and that City recruitment is up by 14 per cent.

But is it all good news? Well, while there is no doubt that there have been some positive signs in the last couple of monhts, it may still be too early to say when the recession will end.  It all rests on the current debate around the type of recovery that the UK will experience. Proponents of the “V shape” recovery model will see these signs as the start of a rapid upward slant in economic fortunes. However, those who follow the “U or W shape” recovery models are more cautious. They would point to the fact that although City recruitment is up by 14 per cent, it is still 64 per cent down from before the recession.

Of course, how much you see and feel these green shoots will depend largely on your own experiences. How confident are you feeling?  It would be great to get opinions and anecdotes from our readers - just add your comments to this post.

Read more here

• Recruiting on the increase as City jobs freeze eases
• Is a UK economic recovery in sight?
• The recession may be over but the pain has just begun

Regular readers of the FreshMinds Talent Blog will know all about FreshMinds’ work on the topic of Generation Y from our survey last year entitled Work 2.0.  You may have also read my defence of this misunderstood generation, as I have argued over the past year against the stereotypes that Generation Y are needy, privileged and work shy.

But inevitably since Lehman Brothers‘ collapse in September last year there have been a whole set of new, discursive discussions around the world of work and the major players within it. Alongside these discussions, a new group or demographic - let’s call them Generation Z.

If we are to believe writers such as Bruce Tulgan, whose negative portrayal of Generation Y in his book Not Everyone Gets a Trophy suggests that they are “the most high maintenance workforce in history”, then it follows that Generation Y are not going to be happy about the emergence of a new generation to steal the limelight.

Recent research by online virtual world site Habbo has helped us paint a fuller picture of Generation Z.  First thing’s first, to be technical Gen Z are people born between 1992 and 2005. As a result, much of the research is up for debate as its teenage sample matures.  However, while traditional perceptions characterise Generation X as self-reliant, and Generation Y as self-indulgent, Habbo’s research paints a a new picture altogether for the new Generation Z.

Unlike their older and much maligned forbears Generation Y, today’s teenagers (Generation Z) do not seek fame or fortune.  Instead, research suggests they will be characterised by career stability in their adult lives, ecological responsibility, and social justice.  The findings by Habbo also point to a much more conservative outlook in the new generation more generally.  The recession is going to have a huge impact, and Generation Z are going to be much less likely to take risks, and are far less likely to travel or want to work abroad.

Again, this research is all quite new, and will inevitably change over time.  But nonetheless, Generation Z are going to be entering the workforce in the next five years, and if this research is correct, they are just as likely to shake up the workplace as Generation Y have been doing for the last nine years.

Read more here

• What’s the generation after the millennials like?
• The next generation has landed
• What next for Generation Y?

About the author

Rob heads up our executive financial services offering after joining FreshMinds Talent as a recruitment consultant in 2007. His previous employers include Accenture and global discount retailer Aldi, while his hobbies are a mixed bag of diving with sharks, watching Coronation Street and a passion for his home town of Manchester.

Ben Collis, Head of HR at FreshMinds, discusses the etiquette around interview etiquette. He urges you to focus on the impression you’re making for far longer than just an hour or two.

You often get told that first impressions count. And you know what, they do. When it comes to a job interview, there is no substitute for being on time, dressing appropriately, maintaining eye contact and having a firm handshake.

But there’s a lot more to getting a job than that. Your future employer is getting signals a long time before you walk through their door, and so you need to think about the impact you’re having way ahead of taking your seat opposite your interviewer. First of all, how do you come across on the phone? Whether you’re talking to a receptionist , a PA or any of your potential interviewers, you’ll be making an impression. If you’re impolite or unnecessarily abrupt, it could get you off on the wrong foot.

This goes for receiving calls too. Many people in the current climate apply to loads of roles and so when they receive a call in response, have forgotten they’ve even ever applied. Now that isn’t a disaster. But it certainly isn’t a great start! And in the current job market, you can ill afford to be anywhere other than top of the pecking order.

Next, do your emails say all the right things? The same is just as true for emails as it is the telephone. It’s so important to be professional, friendly and to the point when you’re arranging a meeting or getting information about a vacancy. You style will obviously vary greatly across industries, organisations and people, and that’s where your judgment has to come to the fore. We look for people who are interesting and interested, and have a friendly, engaging edge to their professional interactions. Our people need to be great brand ambassadors, be it to our clients, suppliers or internal team. In more thorough, lengthy recruitment processes, you may find that you develop an all important rapport with certain stakeholders. This can be really useful in gaining valuable feedback, getting an idea of organisational culture and making sure you’re putting in a positive impression even in between stages. This not only could give you a better chance of ultimately receiving an offer, but also give you more of an idea of whether you’d accept it.

Then have you thought about your email address? It may be just a small thing, but it can be a real niggle. What is quirky and amusing for friends, might not be quite right for your every aspirational employer. That doesn’t mean that you should immediately buy a domain name that’s hugely professional and make yourself sounds kike the president of a small Pacific island… a generic Googlemail or other standard email address will do.

What other little touches can make a big difference? A short follow up email after your interview is always a nice way to not only prolong the impression your making but also to ask any questions that eluded you in the headlights of the interview environment. And finally, I often think it’s good to have a quick chat with whoever’s on reception after my candidate meetings. Their insight is often uncannily close to my initial conclusions, which probably says as much about how I interview as the calibre of people we have working right across the FreshMinds business.

Read more here

• How do you solve a problem like getting a job?
• Some musings on money
• How to stand out from the crowd

In last week’s Financial Times, education correspondent David Turner reported that the number of students from lower socio-economic groups attending the UK’s top universities is actually falling for the first time in recent years. In other words, the Russell Group appears to be getting even further out of reach for most working class British students.

Now the way this story has been reported hits upon a crucial - and pretty obvious - point. The government has long aspired towards arresting the Russell Group’s slide towards elitism, and to be fair, with some success under New Labour. However, this latest alarming development suggests there is still a great deal of work to do. According to NUS statistics, just 18.5% of new students going to Russell Group universities this year come from lower socio-economic groups - down 0.4% on last year. For English universities as a whole, the proportion dropped to 29.4% from 29.8%.

With former universities minister John Denham upping sticks and replacing Hazel Blears as Communities Secretary, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills is no longer around to tackle the problem. Instead, the responsibility falls to Lord Mandelson and his new super department for Business, Innovation and Skills. But, without wanting to raise a wry smile, it goes without saying that Mandelson has bigger fish to fry than the student demographics of the Russell Group.

Putting aside the task of digging the UK out of the deepest recession since the Second World War, the NUS figures raise another significant challenge to Labour’s push to encourage more working class teenagers to enter the higher education system. Despite decades of investment into new universities, politicians, students and the wider British public alike are still overly preoccupied by the Russell Group. Here at FreshMinds Talent, the vast majority of people we place (particularly recent graduates) come form a cluster of perhaps 10-15 universities. Now there are some excellent examples of upward mobility in this otherwise quite static system - Bath University, for example, has propelled itself into The Times’ Good University Guide top 20 in the last couple of years on the back of some high quality and commercially focused sandwich courses. Yet on the whole, universities are still judged and graded by much the same hierarchy as existed 10, 20 and in some cases even 100 years ago.

Regular readers of this blog will know all about FreshMinds Talent’s involvement in the Leading London scheme, and this time last week I was frantically organising the initiative’s flagship event. Leading London specifically aims to pick out high achieving students at post-1992 universities in the capital - places like London Metropolitan, Westminster, Southbank and Greenwich. And after attending the party for the winners last week, I have never been more certain that genuine business talent at those universities. What’s more, I can tell you that the vast majority of winners on the Leading London scheme come from atypical backgrounds, whether that be economic, cultural, ethnic or religious. They are proof that certain parts of the system are successfully enfranchising people to go to university who would never previously have considered high education.

Now the likes of London Metropolitan University will probably never be on the same pegging as Oxford or Cambridge. But as long as employers continue to discount these institutions, the statistics from the NUS will tell only half the story. As well as encouraging more working class students to go to university, Lord Mandelson’s brief has to include bringing an end to the choice those students face between picking the “right” and the “wrong” universities to go to.

Read more here

• Find out more about Leading London
• Universities merged into business
• Universities ’side-lined’ by creation of new super-ministry

FreshMinds Talent was on hand last night to toast the success of the 42 students we have hand picked as the inaugural winners of the Leading London scheme. We launched Leading London in December last year with the hope of proving that the top undergraduates at some of the capital’s less well represented universities could meet our exacting benchmarks for academics, business acumen and drive. The winners represent the cultural, educational and ethnic diversity of the city of London, and over the next few months and years FreshMinds Talent hopes to help them take the first steps towards becoming the future leaders of business in the capital.

The winners from London Metropolitan University who assembled last night at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s offices on Fleet Street demonstrated without question that they are more than a match for their piers at any university in the UK. The winners were addressed during the evening by speakers including Lord Bilimoria, Baroness Valentine from our partner organisation London First, and James Callander, managing director of FreshMinds Talent. They also had the chance to meet and talk to representatives from employers including Lloyds Banking Group, KPMG and BT.

Lord Bilimoria, a London Metropolitan University alumnus and founder of Cobra Beer, spoke frankly about his career journey starting as an immigrant to the UK to his current position at the forefront of UK business and politics, and about the latest twist in that journey with the events taking place at Cobra over the last two weeks.

Over the next few days, we will be profiling some of our Leading London winners on this blog alongside our usual posts, so look out for some examples of the extraordinary people we have found through this unique diversity initiative.

Visit the Leading London website for more information (www.leading-london.com)

Read more here

• FreshMinds Talent and London First launch diversity initiative
• Diversity is not a single issue
• More on diversity on the FreshMinds Talent Blog

On the back of Work 2.0, our landmark research into how Generation Y are changing the world of work, James Callander comments in today’s Financial Times on what today’s technologically savvy additions to the work force can do to enfranchise older generations.

James, managing director of FreshMinds Talent, argues that the best way to get the most from Generation Y is to empower them to train more senior colleagues in how to use technology better. To read the article in full, please click here.

To read our Work 2.0 research, conducted in collaboration with Management Today, click here.