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Business with Personality

The job interview

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I’ve probably interviewed near on 100 people for various roles throughout my career, whereas up until a few months ago I’d never had a formal interview for anything!

I’d been extremely lucky to get my first job following a college placement and every position held since then, I got on recommendation, through internal promotion and through the merging of Group companies. The closest I’d come to a formal interview was when I put myself forward to captain a hockey team.

After thirty years as a paid employee, I set up my own business. There lots of questions I had to ask myself before embarking on this adventure, but I knew if anyone was up for the challenge, it was me.

I gave myself the JOB!

After four years of being my own boss, finding out what I was really good at, what I should be doing, the time came where I needed a regular income. It wasn’t just the income I needed, I wanted to be rewarded for my skill and experience and after working largely by myself for so long, I was desperate to share thoughts, ideas and concerns.

So earlier this year I set about looking for the PERFECT POSITION!

It wasn’t long before one presented itself. I quickly applied “Here I AM, I’m just the person you are looking for!” I got no reply.

“How odd” I thought.

Then another role came up, this one was even better than the previous role. This time, I got an immediate response and an interview was quickly arranged.

THE INTERVIEW

I knew that preparing for an interview was important and to me that meant researching the company and carefully reading the role requirements, matching my skills to what was required.

However, my thoroughness in doing this meant that the interview started in abject silence… I had few questions to ask at the interview and many answers to possible questions from the interviewer were already highlighted in my covering letter or CV.

After a little awkwardness, sat smiling at each other, the ice was broken when the interviewer suddenly asked “Which three words would your friends use to describe you?“

I think my face gave the game away before I had chance to speak. The words ‘Sociable, Ditzy and Hilarious’ popped immediately to mind and I’ve a feeling my thoughts were audible. Obviously, it’s NOT how I would describe myself at work and to be honest I’m the first person my friends come to when they want something organising!

The moment had gone, attempting to explain anything just looked like I was trying to dig myself out of a large hole. I didn’t get the job.

This got me thinking. The job advert wasn’t for a FRIEND, so why was I so desperate to make my interviewer LIKE me? Obviously, it’s important to get on with the people you work with, but the applicant profile didn’t include; Someone entertaining, someone who will make us laugh, someone who’s shoulder we can cry on, someone who will make us look good.

Worse than that.. Why was I being so self-deprecating?

Surely this was blowing all my chances of getting my ideal job, one I know I could do easily and really well. I have reflected on this several times and have come to the conclusion that I know what I can do and because I have written it down on my CV, DOESN’T mean the other person knows. Yes, I know it’s written there in front of them and they could ask me to expand (although to be honest, it’s written in so much detail that there is little else to add), but I think we all know, you can’t believe everything that’s written in black & white and to be honest reading someone else’s CV can be quite laborious.

Maybe, just maybe the employer wants to know how my skills and experience will benefit them. Maybe, they want ME to convince them, that I’m the right person for the job.

The problem here is I’m BRITISH. I’ve been brought up to say sorry for breathing the same air as someone else. In my family, appearing confident has always been confused with being ‘Big-headed’ and no one likes a BIG HEAD!

LESSONS LEARNED

Currently I’m sat here on tenter hooks, waiting to hear whether or not I got MY PERFECT JOB (perfect for me, at this time in my life) I went for an interview last week and this one really is the perfect job for me right now.

REMEMBER: There’s not just one perfect job. It depends where you are in life, what is perfect for you depends not only on right now, but will relate to your past and your future. In my last interview I was thrown slightly by being asked “Where do you see yourself in 5yrs?” My head was very much in the present and all the preparation I had done for the interview was about my past. I hadn’t even thought about my future, however I can see how important this is from an employers perspective. Employing someone is an investment, not only in time, but in cost, so surely you will want an idea of how that investment will turn out.

I have learned many things just by writing this blog post but if there’s one thing I will take to my next interview (if I’m not successful) and that’s to ask more questions about who or what they are looking for.

It’s the way conversations should work.

My next blog will be “Waiting it out” that time between interview and hearing whether you got the job or not. It’s like my life is in limbo at the moment and I’ve got at least two more weeks to wait!

Wish me luck!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dreams
Storytellers

Have we lost the ability to dream?

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Without imagination and the ability to dream the human race would have become extinct before it even got going. The world would be a very different place, some would say better, some would say far worse, but we wouldn’t be here in order to have an opinion one way or another and we certainly wouldn’t be sharing those thoughts across an internet!

Imagination

The ability to imagine things that don’t exist, to believe you can do things that have never been done before, to solve problems that seem impossible to solve, to cure illness, to build bridges, to ride horses across the plains of Africa, to fly into space and to land on the moon. None of this would be possible if we didn’t first imagine and then believe in our dreams.

Modern Storytelling

Storytellers have always been seen as entertaining, popular and intriguing. In the past people would gather in homes, villages and town halls to hear stories of fiction or embellished truths, in more recent years these storytellers came into our houses in the form of newspapers, magazines and television programmes. People still gather in cinemas, theatres and auditoriums to hear stories, while in homes, schools and workplaces across the globe, individuals avidly follow the latest blogging sensation, celebrities and friends in the hope of being the first to hear something or see something that others haven’t seen or heard.

Giving each one of us the opportunity to be a storyteller, to be someone that people listen to; to have friends, followers, fans!!

Books

However, do these modern snippets of information, the social media posts, the facts or embellished truths  passed from person to person, grow our imagination?

Marketeers believe that these tiny glimpses into other people lives (real or otherwise) encourage people to imagine, dream and aspire (often to buy a product or service that the believe with improve their lives), but is this the same as the childlike imagination that’s so important for our development?

No.

The imagination we are born with needs to be developed and most young children are lucky enough to start life being read stories that tell them that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! We learn to differentiate between what is real and what is not, but if a story is well written then there is nothing that will suggest what seems unbelievable, could actually come true. Children who read books and lose themselves in a story don’t automatically think that characters can buy themselves out of situations and it’s often the underdog that triumphs, not the one that is the most popular or who has the best trainers.

This is why it’s so important to keep reading fabulous stories, stories or hope, wonder, difficulties and triumph. These stories can be based on real life experiences, but I prefer it when the characters aren’t real but have to be imagined by the reader and the story isn’t limited by a simple lack of imagination .

Help develop our future scientists, olympians, writers, artists and entertainers by joining the Forelock Books challenge to read 500 words per day, throughout March.

 

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Business with Personality

The Dichotomy of the Marketeer

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I have always had a dichotomy in interests, I remember choosing my subjects in school and being torn between Maths and Art, Science and Literature. I kept being pushed to choose one over the other, but I liked both and I insisted on taking A Levels in Art, Biology and Maths, much to the disdain of some and despair of others. I went on to study Art and Graphic Design, but switched to Business Studies after my first year. I’m still not sure why I switched, maybe I thought I was naturally creative and  wanted to put it to some practical use. I wasn’t bothered about coming out with an HND instead of a Batchelor’s Degree, I had learnt everything I thought I needed to know and set off in my career, full of confidence.

Most of my career was spent living the dichotomy, doing the two things that teachers and careers advisors in my youth said just didn’t go together. I worked in publishing and loved the creative side, but was drawn also to the technology, the production, operational, organising and analytical aspects of the business. This was an area in which I  flourished and excelled in, until I suddenly realised that I had moved too far away from the creative side.

It was then that I set up Forelock Books my very own publishing company. I put everything I knew, everything I’d learnt and everything I owned into this venture and loved every minute. It took a huge amount of rational thinking, planning and organisation to create something inspirational and engaging. It’s through this that I have found my niche, I now finally know what and who I am.

I am a content creator, who constantly questions, researches and notices what content grabs other peoples attention, what inspires them and what leaves them cold. I am a MARKETEER, a person who is interested in other people. I’m interested in the differences and similarities in how people think and how they communicate and most importantly how they can be reached.

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Etch
Artisan Recruitment UK Ltd.

Interview with George Boarer

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Artisan Recruitment UK. Ltd recently got the chance to ask George Boarer ‘Young Chef of the Year, 2017’ a few questions about his inspiration and ambitions for the future.

1. How old were you when you decided you wanted to become a chef?

I was sixteen going on seventeen, so at quite late age really. I would like to say that I’ve had a burning passion to cook amazing plates of food since the age of three or four, but that was never the case. I enjoyed baking with my nanny as a small boy, so I guess that sparked it all off, but it wasn’t until I saw an advert for an apprenticeship at a local restaurant, decided to apply.  It was only after I got the position that I realised how much I loved cooking and I’ve never looked back.

2. Who do you admire most as a chef?

That’s a tough question to answer. There are so many top flight chefs. If I had to pick just one, it would have to be Sat Baines. His food isn’t over complicated, more culinary perfection.

3. What is the best part of being a chef?

The best part of being a chef is being able to be creative, making something that seems so normal and everyday make people say “WOW!”

Basically, I like pleasing people, using my skill and creativity to surprise and delight.

4. What is the worst part of being a chef?

I really can’t think of a downside. As long as you stay focussed and ambitious you’ll never see any.

5. What is your ambition for the future?

I want to carry on achieving and pushing my boundaries. Eventually, I will have a restaurant to call my own.

George is currently a Sous Chef at Etch in Brighton, West Sussex.

artisanlogoArtisan Recruitment  UK Ltd.