Blood, tears, toil and sweat will be shed as graduates have been taking drastic action to get noticed. Publicity stunts include one young History graduate from the University of Manchester walking around London with a billboard style CV, while others have refused to shave until they succeed in their quest for employment.
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One such person was Sean Purcell, Head of Learning and Development at Striding Out, who was promoted from lecturer to Curriculum Manager at the age of 22, and then again, at 24, to Acting Area Head.
We decided to ask him about his experience of being a young manager, and share with us any tips he could glean from his experience.
“I became Acting Area Head in 2007 and then a year later I went to head up a department of around 70 staff, with a turnover of over £1.5 million and hundreds of students.
The biggest change for me was that although there was a slight reduction in time spent in the classroom, that free time didn’t get anywhere close to being enough for my additional responsibilities. I now had the responsibility for target setting, team meetings, observing my past peers and their performance, and dealing with discipline of students who, to be honest, weren’t that much younger than me. And not to forget - all the extra paperwork!
However, that is part of becoming a manager and you just knuckle down and do it.
Where my problems began were with long term staff members, some of whom had been there for a very long time, who took almost any change to college policy as a personal slight....and my fault. As a ‘them and us’ situation started to develop, questions about my age, which had never come up before, started to emerge and it began to get personal.
From my point of view it felt like a cheap shot, but it had the opposite of the desired effect as it made me acknowledge the divide and work even harder to fulfil my vision. Eventually in each environment I demonstrated my value and broke down initial barriers and negativity through being consistent, action centred and operating with integrity.
Success as a young leader does depend on the buy-in of your staff - if they feel threatened by your sudden placement or promotion then age can become an easy target. To combat this, I would recommend:
And what if you find yourself with a manager who is younger than you? What can you do to create a more effective relationship? MD of Striding Out, Simon Ireland-Davies ACC, CPCC gives us his tips and advice.
1. Question your own prejudices. Think about when you were younger and being judged on your age. Have you fallen into the same trap?
2. Consider the cultural references you use. Cultural references can strengthen relationships but if you’re talking about films and TV programmes they’ve never seen then you are effectively talking a different language.
3. Avoid the temptation to change the way you speak to sound like them. You’ll end up sounding like an idiot.
4. Think about the values you share. Most of us build connections through shared values. Those connections have nothing to do with what age you, rather they are more about you as people.
If you want more information on leadership and management training or coaching please contact Sean Purcell on 0203 303 0468.]]>
The main barriers to the young people securing the job were identified as the following, with the most common cited first:-
The types of support provided to young people at our 250 career support events, with the most common ranked first, included:-
Candidates were looking for the following types of jobs:-
It was felt on average that between ‘5 to 14 candidates’ per coach may have left their job early if it had not been for the support of the coach providing guidance or facilitation where necessary.
The coaches found the candidates left their FJF placement early, for the following reasons, with the most common cited first.
As a result of the support package, the coaches found the candidates developed many skills and attributes. We've highlighted the top five below.
Skills - Interpersonal Skills, Communication Skills, Decision Making Skills, Relationship Development and Effective Team Work
Attributes - Developed self-confidence, Gained clarity and focus, Being resourceful, Developing a positive can-do attitude, Taking responsibility.
Our MD Simon Ireland-Davies ACC, CPCC is interviewed over at Clearly So, the global hub for social business, social enterprise and social investment. You can read his interview here:
http://www.clearlyso.com/sbblog/?p=1708
Meanwhile, Social enterprise Striding Out, founded by Lambeth Business Award winner Heather Wilkinson, has teamed up with Lambeth based community learning centre and social enterprise Living Space to help get 100 young people into one hundred sales apprentice positions.
Striding Out’s Future 100 Campaign is placing 100 sales apprentices who will be trained in sales, marketing and other related fields, into companies that pledge to support a young person by employing them in a sales and business growth role.
And Striding Out is delighted to be working with Living Space as the venue for the Future 100 apprentice training days, recruitment events and Employers’ Events, where employers’ can find out more about taking on an apprentice.
Living Space has a social mission – to provide high quality training and employment opportunities for young people aged 16-25.
For information on the Apprentice campaign please visit:
If you are a young person living in London who would like to find out more about becoming a sales apprentice, visit http://www.yournxtstep.co.uk/ to find out about our recruitment events.
Living Space can be found at http://www.living-space.org.uk
]]>Tell us about Olga Olsson and what you do...
How did you get the company off the ground? Was it working in the back bedroom? Did you need funding?
We love that Olga Olsson is your gran. Who else in your life has beein inspiring?
What's been your biggest challenge with the business?
And the best moment, so far?
Do you have any advice for other entrepreneurs starting up?
What are your plans for the future?
Striding Out CEO Heather Wilkinson is on her travels. Even on holiday she finds herself contributing to the future prosperity of the Cook Islands!
On her visit to the Cook Islands, Heather found herself at a meeting on the future economic prosperity of Cook Islands Tourism, faciliated by the Minister of Tourism and CEO of Cook Islands Tourism. The CEO spoke about the importance of kitesurfing and bonefishing as part of the country's distinguished offering and the Minister spoke about the importance of educating local young people in tourism skills to help retain them in the country and grow the economy for the future. Heather provided some valuable insight to the CEO on how they could improve the marketing of Cook Islands and it's offering in UK, based on her user experience of being a tourist and researching what was on offer in advance of her trip.
Our Leaders' Forum is facilitated by our MD Simon Ireland-Davies.
Simon has over 15 years experience working in senior management for large organisations, in the Financial Services and Telecommunications industries, with companies such as Norwich Union, Swinton and Telewest. He is supported the development of many senior management teams to help develop their leadership style, team performance, and business proposition for customers.
His last corporate role was Head of Coaching for O2 where he led a team of over 250 coaches across four sites, supporting the development of over 6,000 advisors.
Simon is also a professionally qualified Coach, becoming an Associate Certified Coach after studying with the International Coach Federation approved training school the Coaches Training Institute, including passing their prestigous Certification Programme.
The Leader's Forum is a Linked In group and you can apply for membership here
Watch this space for details of events and dates. We are looking forward to meeting and working with experienced Leaders in a structured but lively environment!
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Kyle and Sean from the London office, together with coach Fiona Biggins, spent an afternoon at http://www.richmondbusinessexpo.co.uk/ talking to Twickenham based businesses about taking on young apprentices. Amongst them were Shine marketing (@Shinemarketing) who have left the city for the leafy suburbs. Winner of a bottle of Champagne for being willing to take on eager young people were Expedient Print.
Heather has also updated our Social Responsibility page with details of how we were able to help people during 2010. One of the most fulfilling ways we can help people is to see them flourish in their career and business.
Priya Patel was recruited as an Expeditions Assistant for Blue Ventures."I was looking for a job in vain for 6 months. As a recent graduate I was feeling pretty low but then was advised by my job advisor to look through Future Jobs Fund. A couple of days later I had my first interview with a coach from Striding Out and less than a week later I was employed! They took on board everything I had told them about what I wanted to do career wise and directed me to the most relevant jobs I could never have found by myself – I’m just gutted I didn’t know about them sooner!”
]]>I feel we are going to continue to see sustainability and maybe even growth within a number of key market sectors for social enterprise, particularly within health and well-being, leisure and recreation, education and learning, environmental and renewal, and the creative industry over the next couple of years in line with consumer and political interests.
In all sectors we are going to see an increase in competition for long term public and private sector contracts as social enterpries look to secure solid funding to help them ride over the next two years.
To help them manage and streamline resources we will probably see an increase in mergers and collaborations as organisations cut costs and improve their efficiency as they have to compete on costs to secure public money.
In light of the talent pool available, I think social enterprises have a real opportunity to attract highly skilled individuals to work in social enterprises at the moment. With a lack of corporate jobs available, skilled professionals will consider taking a pay cut and convert to the greener side of business, so it's a perfect time to capture people as volunteers, consultants or employees.
As companies strive to survive, competition will be rife. Having a relavent and refined sales and marketing strategy is of prime importance. Social enterprises will need to be at the top of their game. If they aren't competing on price, then they need to think about what are they competing on...new product or service innovation, customer service, ethical credentials and utilise cause related marketing.
The underlying quesion is do social enterprises have the right business model in place to compete on operations, skilled resources, marketing and sales and are they distinguished from their competitors.
It's important to keep pace... i'd appreciate your comments or thoughts below. If you would like my help to develop your business strategy then email me at [email protected]
Best Wishes
Heather
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