Young Enterprise winner has designs on The Apprentice

Luke Pagliaro. Remember that name. I predict it’ll be one that crops up in the future.

Luke was the Managing Director of Stanground College’s Young Enterprise company.

It’s a brilliant scheme, run through schools, which has pupils setting up and running a company during a school year. They sell shares to family and friends and the idea is to be able to pay them a dividend at the end. Of course, it’s a fantastic learning opportunity and one which gives those who take part a really good insight into business.

We’re proud to have been involved in the Peterborough Young Enterprise for a long time and have seen some great businesses – and young business people.

At the end of the year there is an award ceremony and we sponsor the Best Managing Director category.

The top MDs give a presentation about their company and themselves from which a winner is picked. It’s a privilege to meet some of the students and find out what makes them tick.

Luke was this year’s winner. And a very worthy one too.

At 15 he’s two school years younger than a lot of the students taking part. Yet he was confident, articulate and injected real humour into his presentation. He didn’t even have crib notes which I can never do!

Luke came into the office after the event and told us how he’d won a classroom version of The Apprentice and likes the idea of taking part himself in a few year’s time.

Like I said – remember that name!

Customer service professionals needed

A client is looking to take on a substantial volume of customer service roles and we’ve been tasked with finding the right recruits.

There are some great opportunities – and in quantities we haven’t seen for months.
We’re looking for scheduling co-ordinators, co-ordinators and administrators to work in a business to business environment.

As well as strong communication and negotiating skills, problem solving abilities are a must. We’re also looking for people who can think on their feet and creatively resolve issues to deadlines.

If you’re interested or know anyone who might be please get in touch. We’ve organised a couple of Recruitment Events for potential candidates – on Tuesday 16th and Thursday 18th June.

Email us recruitment@annecorder.co.uk or call for more details on 01733 319888.

Job swap for National Temporary Workers Week

It’s over to one of our senior consultants Nel Woolcott for news on how we marked National Temporary Workers Week:

I deal with temps every day of my working life, talking to them, interviewing them, meeting them, advising them…. They’re great people. They contribute millions of pounds to the UK economy and provide a valuable service to thousands of workplaces up and down the country.

And believe me, after a day in the shoes of one of our temps, I have a renewed respect for them on a personal level too.

I agreed – or was I coerced? – into taking on the role of a temp for the day to mark National Temporary Workers’ Week. I was tasked with doing the job of Vivien Jean-Paul, a temp who signed up with us in February and who’s been working at Edith Cavell Hospital in Peterborough ever since, covering maternity leave for the chief operating officer and company secretary’s PA.

Vivien is a high level PA with an impressive skill set. They were big shoes I had to fill!

I’m not ashamed of saying I struggled to sleep the night before. While Vivien was dreaming of her day off at the seaside I was panicking about whether my typing was up to scratch.

Walking into an unfamiliar environment was nerve-wracking, yet some of our temps do that every week. I realised how vital it is for them to be able to think on their feet, adapt quickly and rise to a challenge.

Thankfully everyone was very nice and they gave me some fairly simple tasks which I think I coped with ok. It was obviously a very busy office and a challenging environment to work in. I was exhausted by the end of it! Yet it was an incredibly valuable experience, a real eye-opener and a very positive exercise. While I have always held all our temps in the highest regard at least now I can say, with complete conviction, “I know how you feel”!.

In her shoes

It’s sometimes forgotten just how vital the role is that temps play in the UK economy. Every single week there are around 1.2 million of them working at every level in every sector, private and public.

The temp market is worth an incredible £24 billion annually.
Big numbers aren’t they?

In an effort to highlight the importance of temporary, contract and interim workers, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) holds an annual National Temporary Workers’ Week. This is the ninth year it’s been held and we’re proud to say it’s an important date in our calendar (1st-5th June 2009).

This year, we’re marking the week by sending one of our most experienced consultants out – to do the job of a temp!

Nel Woolcott manages the temp team and, in her decade with the company, has overseen the placement of thousands of temps.

She’ll be going back to grass roots, doing the work of one of our temps for the day. Vivien Jean-Paul is currently working in the Management Suite at Edith Cavell Hospital covering maternity leave for the PA to the chief operating officer and company secretary.

So that’s where Nel will be working – typing, filing, answering phone enquiries, managing emails and organising diaries.

It should prove an interesting reminder for Nel – and the rest of us – just how hard our temps work and how valuable their contribution is to our clients.