When it comes to freelancers & business, I’ve spent a good amount of time with both the hiring manager and the freelancer hat on.
I’m a former Marketing Manager, now a full-time creative freelancer and I know first-hand the positive impact a good freelancer can have on a growing business. But, I’ve also seen it go tits-up more times than I can count.
Building a business is a constant balancing act, particularly in the early days or during big growth periods, a good freelancer or two to help you ‘fake it until you make it’ can make the world of difference to your business.
This is why I’ve pulled together three tips to make your next freelancing mission a success.
Hiring a freelancer can sometimes feel like a commitment-free relationship, like a friends-with-benefits setup where either party could drop one another at any point, with no hard feelings or consequences to anyone’s feelings.
And while that’s technically true , viewing a freelancer as a disposable resource for your business usually will just mean the relationship is destined to fail. In my experience, the most successful freelance positions I’ve been involved in were subject to a proper recruitment process from the outset.
With the exception of the much-loathed cover letter and CV, I’ve always found that having a proper (& maybe less formal) interview or introductory call, followed by a trial and a two-way conversation about rates, availability and expectations will set you up for success.
This ‘hiring’ process is a great way to weed out anyone who isn’t serious about you and your business. Taking the time to properly vet your candidates means you’ve got a better chance of the freelancer, and the work they do, being a success.
Tip: Don’t treat the trial like an exam or an opportunity to scrutinise every inch of their work. Instead take note of the way they work, the tone of voice, their turnaround time and the way they communicate with you. These factors are going to be far more important to the long-term success of the relationship, rather than a minor typo you’ve spotted in paragraph four.
Rule number one of expanding your team, be it with a freelancer, an actual employee or your very first assistant, is to document your processes and procedures first. And by first, I mean before you even put the job ad out.
Having all the responsibilities, the systems, the tools and the desired outcomes of the position you want your freelancer to fill will help you a) find the right person, as you’ll know exactly what you’re looking for and b) onboard and train them once you do find them.
Take a little extra time to put together a reference bible of processes and procedures that you can arm your new freelancer with. This will mean that from the moment they’re hired, they’ll be able to understand exactly what it is you want from them, when you want it and how you’d like them to deliver it.
If you’ve done your due diligence throughout steps one and two, then you should have no qualms about leaving your freelancer to get on with the job. Chances are, you’ve hired a freelancer to complete tasks that you either a) don’t have the capacity for, or b) don’t have the skills or expertise required. Either way, you’ve hired them for a jolly good reason and the best thing you can now do is let them do what they do best.
In a day and age when we’re all now more than comfortable working remotely and have been forced to trust our employees and team members, trusting your freelancer should feel no different. And if you’ve built an accountability tracker into your processes and systems, then you can easily check in with their work there and make sure they’re on track.
Remember that a good freelancer will generally charge more per hour than an employee on your payroll. So, to get the biggest bang for your buck, keep them focused on (and charging for) their specialist work only rather than any administrative tasks or calls.
Now you’re in the know it’s time to implement these guidelines next time you’re working with a freelancer.
—
Jemma Adams - I’m a brand strategist, website designer and digital marketer serving unique and passionate businesses and entrepreneurs in the food, drink and design space tinybrand.co
For many of us, the season of good cheer comes with the stirrings of looking ahead and contemplating new year’s resolutions. Various studies indicate that 50% of us make resolutions only for 20% of the cohort to follow through beyond February.
Surprisingly, we rush to set resolutions without stopping to consider properly our current status. To my mind, the drop off statistics are explained not by weakness of will, but rather by a lack of an informed resolution choice. It’s a bit like getting in a car for a long journey without bothering to check the fuel gauge.
If we knew where we stood on a few key life headings (exercise, sleep, relationships) before making bold promises, we’d be able to set the right direction and stay the course well beyond the arbitrary 12 months.
Before you rush to make pledges for 2022, why not check in with yourself meaning your resolutions will be from a position of insight and strength? If you need a helpful tool or two, do get in touch.
*Aardman Director to support The Grand Appeal this year with exciting content exclusively for Jingle Jam gamers*
The world’s biggest games charity event, Jingle Jam, brainchild of Bristol-based gaming company, The Yogscast, is back today for its 10th anniversary, and better than ever, raising vital funds for Bristol Children’s Hospital dedicated charity, The Grand Appeal.
Each year, Jingle Jam raises millions for charities around the globe through its Games Collection, which is available for fans to get their hands on in return for a donation to their chosen cause.
This year, Jingle Jammers will have the opportunity to jump into the world of Aardman with Director & Designer, Gavin Strange. Creative power-house Gav will be doing a dedicated stream allowing fans to have a sneak peek into life at Aardman and provide the opportunity to ask him any burning fan questions. Audiences will also be able to receive the Games Collection in return for donating to The Grand Appeal.
Fans can get hold of the stream on Sunday 12th December as part of this years much anticipated Jingle Jam charity event which goes live today on 1st December at 5pm on the Yogscast Twitch channel. It finishes at midnight on 14th December.
Jingle Jam has raised a massive £15m for numerous different charities in the last 10 years. Previous Jingle Jam Games Collections have featured dozens of games worth hundreds of pounds, with this year’s bundle worth over £600. Organisers are aiming for the Jingle Jam Games Collection to be the number one gifting purchase for Christmas this year, with the aim to raise thousands of pounds for each of its 14 chosen charities.
The partnership with The Yogscast has raised over £1.1 million for The Grand Appeal since 2017 to fund a ground-breaking new development for Bristol Children’s Hospital. The pioneering new patient development will be one of the first of its kind in the UK for sick children and their families.
Nicola Masters, director of The Grand Appeal, commented: “The Jingle Jam is a fantastic and much-loved event across the globe that raises an incredible amount of money for worthy causes each year. The Games Collection is exceptional value for money, and we’re always blown away by the incredibly generous support we get for The Grand Appeal from the gaming community.
“This year, we are very excited to have the opportunity for Grand Appeal supporters to get involved with Jingle Jam by streaming their own content and where fans can purchase the Games Collection directly from. We are honoured to have Gav’s involvement and no doubt it will be hugely popular, and that Jingle Jam 2021 is going to be a roaring success for everyone.”
Gav Strange, Director and Designer at Aardman added: “Jingle Jam has become one of the key calendar dates for gamers in the UK and globally. Creating fantastic gaming content all in the name of raising money for charities like The Grand Appeal is a brilliant initiative and I’m really stoked to be able to do my bit to help this year.’
During the first two weeks in December, more than fifty Jingle Jam streamers are involved in special events – such as cooking, painting, poker, karaoke and more. For the first time this year, any creator keen to join in with the Jingle Jam can set up their own fundraising streams, with their audiences also able to receive the games collection in return for donating to charity.
Jingle Jam was the brainchild of Lewis and Simon of Yogscast in 2011, when they asked fans to donate to Oxfam via a Just Giving page, rather than send them Christmas presents. As the largest YouTube gaming channel at the time, Jingle Jam rapidly grew to include, live streaming, unique content and the introduction of specially curated bundles known as the Jingle Jam Games Collection.
Since opening in October, Gather Round Brunswick Square is already home to a bustling creative community. For a limited time only, Gather Round are offering a free day pass so you can try out the new space for yourself.
Designed for creatives, by creatives
Bristol-based Gather Round is a growing family of unique, soulful, creative workspaces, purposefully designed for creatives by creatives. Its mission is to build remarkable co-working spaces where creative thinkers and doers can connect, collaborate and thrive.
Founded by Fiasco Design owners, Ben Steers and Jason Smith, Gather Round’s flagship workspace in the Cigar Factory, Southville, opened its doors to Bristol’s curious creative community in 2019. The second space on Brunswick Square, St Pauls, opened last month and supports up to 90 professionals; freelancers, self-employed and micro businesses, from the surrounding areas of St Pauls, Montpelier, Easton, St George, Kingsdown and more.
Split over three floors, the beautiful Grade II listed building provides flexible areas with fixed and casual desks, private studios, meeting rooms, hang-out areas, communal tables and quiet areas for contemplation. It also boasts a dedicated private event space with a 60-person capacity.
A community of creatives
Its members are a truly eclectic and talented bunch; designers, writers, filmmakers, publishers, photographers, brand strategists and more. The supportive, collaborative community is valued as highly by members as the beautifully designed workspaces themselves: “Collaborating with exciting and interesting individuals is what gets me out of bed in the morning. – Gareth Rutter, Founder and Creative Director of Bellow Studio.
Gather Round offers private studio, resident and co-working membership options, with part-time flexible co-working costing £110 per month (plus VAT), and full-time memberships from £195 (plus VAT).
Get Your Free Day Pass Today
Knowing that signing up to a co-working space can feel like a big step, Gather Round are offering a free day pass* for Brunswick Square so you can try out the space for yourself. Get your free day pass here.
*For November only.
Social distancing rules and lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic had a “catastrophic” and “devastating” impact on Britain’s arts, culture and heritage organisations, with output falling by 60% over the past 18 months.
That’s the finding of a major new report by researchers at the University of Sheffield which analysed how COVID-19 has affected museums, galleries, cinemas, theatres and other arts and cultural organisations.
As the pandemic took hold in March 2020, the impact on the sector was immediate. Annual gross valued added (GVA) output fell dramatically with a decline of around a third from the second quarter of 2019 to the same period last year in real terms.
Businesses categorised as “creative, arts and entertainment activities” along with libraries, archives and museums were worst hit with declines of 63% and 45% respectively.
Few businesses saw an increase although with millions of people locked down at home and looking for entertainment, computer games companies experienced a 18% rise in output, while book publishing firms increased output by 2%.
At the other end of the scale, with theatres shuttered during lockdown and then facing limits on audiences, output among performing arts organisations declined 60%, while it fell 70% at cinemas.
Government funding has been vital for the survival of arts, culture and heritage businesses during the pandemic. The study found that 55% of employees in the sector were furloughed through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. That’s the second highest sector behind accommodation and food.
At its peak in May 2020, 450,000 arts, entertainment and recreation employees were furloughed, falling to 150,000 by the end of May 2021.
Freelancers were hard hit too, given the high number employed by arts and culture organisations. They made more than 80,000 claims for grants through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), 68% of the UK’s eligible population.
The funding was not without its problems though. For the fourth round of SEISS, 181,000 self-employed people in the arts sector were assessed for eligibility, the research revealed, but only 54% were deemed eligible – compared to 67% across all sectors.
“There is substantial evidence to suggest that a large number of people in the sector failed to claim under either the SEISS scheme or the furlough scheme, due to their strict eligibility criteria,” the report said.
“Many creatives move between employment and self-employment or do both at the same time – a reflection of the dynamism of the sector – meaning they’ve not qualified for either SEISS
or furlough, or only been able to claim small amounts of support.
“Others have their own companies for work purposes which were seen to fall between the two schemes. In short, there has been insufficient support for a large number of self-employed people in the CAH sector.”
Please respond to our new survey about the creative industries in Bristol and Bath. It will help us design – and advocate for – future support for the creative economy in our region.
The £1.5bn Cultural Recovery Fund (CRF) was another vital scheme. It was set up by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in July 2020 in response to data gathered during the first lockdown which suggested 65% of arts and culture organisations had stopped trading and over 30% would run out of cash by September 2020.
The University of Sheffield report said the success rate of applicants for revenue grants was 69% and 70% for capital grants.
The amount of funding received through CRF varied between regions but the study said it “includes a handful of very large grants/loans which distorts the overall picture”.
Among those areas was Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath/Bristol due to a £23m loan to English Heritage based in Swindon and a £6m capital grant to Bristol Beacon (formerly Colston Hall) which is currently undergoing refurbishment.
The report also highlighted some local authority schemes set up to help creative businesses deal with the impact of the pandemic. The examples cited include the West of England Combined Authority’s Creative Sector Growth Programme. Find details in our creative industries funding guide.
The report includes a specific focus on the experiences during the pandemic of freelancers in the arts and culture sector in South Yorkshire. The findings are likely to ring true for thousands of other self-employed people in other parts of the UK.
More than three quarters of freelancers said their mental wellbeing was worse since the start of lockdown. Male respondents, under-30s, and those with a diagnosed mental health condition experienced even greater levels of distress.
The main causes of stress and worry were personal finances, unemployment and the ability to cover overheads. Anxiety over these issues was much higher amongst freelancers than the general population.
South Yorkshire freelancers also reported lower levels of wellbeing and happiness and higher levels of anxiety than the general public. With their mental health impacted, the report said the pandemic led “to a sense of lost identity, skills and motivation”.
Event crew, lighting and sound engineers reported greater worsening of mental health than respondents in other roles, with 53.8% saying that their mental health was “much worse” compared to 25.5% on average.
Professor Vanessa Toulmin, director of city and culture and chair in early film and popular Entertainment at the University of Sheffield, said:
“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the UK’s arts, culture and heritage sector. This landmark report reveals how social distancing and lockdowns over the past 18 months have had a catastrophic effect on the finances of people who work in the sector, as well as businesses and venues.
“People have lost their jobs, businesses and venues have closed and this economic impact has severely affected the mental health and wellbeing of people who work in the sector across the UK. People in the sector have been losing sleep and have had much higher levels of anxiety due to how the pandemic has affected their personal finances and uncertainty about the future.”
The creative industries contribute to making Bristol and Bath amazing places to live and work. But how can they grow and prosper? Tell us in our survey here.
We all love an underdog.
One of our Digital Designers, Mayumi Kurosawa, has overcome incredible odds to get to where she is today – a much-loved member of the Proctors’ team.
This is her story.
Act 1: A blessing in (deep, deep) disguise?
I may be happily settled in Bristol today, but the journey I took to get here started in Japan.
In 2018, I was working as a translator – my dream job back then. After five years in this role, my British-native husband told me he wanted to move back to the U.K. It wasn’t the best timing, but being the amazing wife I am, I agreed, making the decision to leave my job and challenge myself in a new country.
After along slog (another story in itself), I was finally granted permission to come and work in the UK. I landed an admin job working for a Japanese company dealing in imported car parts.
But bad timing struck again. The knock-on effects of Brexit were being felt in every industry, and within 8 months of starting my job, I was made redundant.
And to top it all off, my husband and I had just made the decision to move to a new city: Bristol.
Act 2: Kintsugi – Repairing what’s broken, with gold
After coming to terms with what had happened, I came to a realisation. Yes, I’d been dealt a few poor hands. But now I had a brand-new opportunity to discover what I really wanted from the next stage of my career.
So, I doubled down and made a plan: I gave myself one year to study and find out exactly what it was I wanted to do. And I had an idea of what that might be…
Act 3: The impossible dream
Since childhood, I’d dreamt of working within the creative industries. But I’d never felt confident enough to even talk about it – never mind found the guts to try. Nevertheless, the dream had stayed with me. And without the excuse of ‘being too busy’ now redundant, it was time for me to take a chance.
I knew I was interested in design, in its broadest sense. But, of course, modern ‘design’ covers a wide range of occupations.
It took me a while to focus on one discipline. First, I started studying UX/UI design with an online course called Interaction Design Foundation. Then, I moved into front-end web development with Codecademy – an online platform offering coding classes for people interested in developing their skills within the digital design sector. Finally, I studied graphic design, learning even more about the principles of aesthetics and creativity.
Every discipline had its merits, making it difficult to choose which specialism I was going to focus on. And just one year of learning seemed too short to become skilled enough in all of these different areas if I wanted to secure a job.
Act 4: The Great Battle of Imposter Syndrome
The truth is, I spent a lot of time over the course of that year doubting whether I was making the right choice. However, I’m stubborn by nature, and after every moment of uncertainty I would rebound into bursts of productively, further pushing and developing my professional skills.
There’s a cliché for a reason: the only difference between the people who succeed and the people who don’t, is whether they give up on what they want. And I just didn’t let myself give up.
So, I started creating a portfolio. I turned my skills to a selection of different websites that I felt could be improved with a mixture of design and UX. Not only did the process help me use the skills I had learnt, it also helped me to test myself – and prove to myself that I really could become a designer.
When I had three websites redesigned and mocked up, I took a chance and started to apply to some roles.
Act 5: An ending – and a beginning
To my surprise and delight, I received interest from some of the applications I sent, and managed to squeeze myself* into the creative industry. Now, I’m a digital designer for Proctor + Stevenson – and I got here without a relevant degree or industry experience.
Everyone is very warm, keen to help, and I genuinely enjoy working here. They are serious professionals, but at the same time they love to laugh and have fun.
I’ve just started my new career, so can’t give much industry insight yet. But I hope I can encourage people who want to learn something new, or want a career change, that if I could do it, you can do it too.
Post-credits
A quick comment from Proctors (and Mayumi’s manager, Dan Hardaker, Director of Digital Design).
*There was no squeezing necessary when it came to offering Mayumi a role with Proctors. Her portfolio – and her story – demonstrated so much potential and clear talent that we knew would make her a perfect fit for the role.
It’s important to us to look past a person’s work experience alone. Your drive and attitude are just as important as the places you’ve worked before. We believe in giving people the opportunity to develop their skills in a professional environment, and in supporting your goals with mentoring and training resources. So together, we can lay a career path just for you.
Why not take a look at our current career opportunities? There could be a new flagstone waiting for you…
Desk available within a beautiful creative co-workspace in The Tobacco Factory, Southville, along with neighbouring creative businesses and freelancers.
A beautifully bright, desk space within a characterful studio. High ceilings, large windows with views across the city, large ply desks, ergonomic chairs, architectural lights, communal bookshelves, fibre broadband and storage options. A blank canvas to make it your own. There is also access to a communal kitchen area, various break-out spots and meeting spaces within the building. The space shares the same floor as some of Bristol’s most exciting theatrical, marketing, digital and architectural companies.
Rent includes all bills and weekly cleaning services. Please get in touch for further information and to arrange a viewing.
£195pcm + VAT
– Furnished
– Shared postbox
– Reception intercom
– Shared kitchen
– Free on-street parking nearby
– Secure bike storage
– Bills included
– 24/7 Access
cxpartners sees two new hires join the business to boost how we support clients as our portfolio grows.
We are thrilled to welcome two new team members – Gabriella Lambert and Chris Edge.
Gabriella joins us as Client Engagement Director, bolstering our account management and business development within our Financial Services team. She joins with a wealth of experience in creating sustainable customer experience strategies for multinational organisations, startups and the nonprofit sector. She previously worked at the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) as the Head of Customer Experience.
She has spent her career building customer experience departments and overarching design strategies that move from being sales and product driven to being customer-focused.
Feel free to reach out to Gaby at gabriella.lambert@cxpartners.co.uk to have an informal chat to learn more about ways cxpartners and the Financial Services team can help your business.
Chris joins cxpartners as Account Director, strengthening the client services team following a number of recent major client wins.
He is highly experienced, with over 15 years working in client services and marketing at digital, creative, employee engagement and film production agencies. He has added value to clients and delivered solutions in many sectors including IT, healthcare, manufacturing, professional services and education.
Chris is also a qualified PRINCE2 Agile Project Manager. If you’d like to get in touch, please contact him at chris.edge@cxpartners.co.uk.
Gaby and Chris are brilliant new hires for cxpartners as we continue our growth as a team and support our growing client base. We have recently welcomed new clients such as WaterAid, UK Export Finance and UCAS.
Welcome to the team!
We are hiring for several roles at the moment, in both our Bristol and London offices, including:
What’s the purpose?
It can be hard to find meaning in what you do.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a digital strategist, a dog walker, a traffic warden, or a chef. If you don’t feel connected to your work – if you don’t feel a sense of purpose – it can be hard to stay engaged or committed.
Purpose is a big deal right now. The advertising and marketing industries have been accused of reckless greenwashing, in a bid for products and services to appear more appealing. They’ve been accused of promoting overconsumption and wastefulness. It’s even been said that we’re driving the climate crisis.
And at Proctors, we’re not blind to those concerns. (It’s why we’re so selective with our own campaigns, clients and partners.)
But we’re also firm believers in the merit of our own, ‘personal’ purpose. A purpose which is as simple as helping others, by using our time, talent and resources wherever possible to create a better world.
So we do this by giving back to our communities: whether local, global or simply like-minded. From sponsoring the local Easton women’s football team, to running the annual South West Design + Digital Student Awards, to ensuring our office is eco-friendly and self-sustainable, and by fundraising for chosen local charities.
Because for us, our Corporate Social Responsibility is just another part of our work. And we treat it with the seriousness and dedication it deserves.
Raising money for cancer research, Business Beats Cancer West of England
Our Founder and Chairman, Roger Proctor MBE, is passionate about ensuring Proctor + Stevenson do our part.
As a board member for Business Beats Cancer West of England (BBCWoE) – Cancer Research UK’s Business-facing arm in the region – Roger offers both our services and the personal commitment of Proctors employees to their cause.
Throughout our partnership with BBCWoE, we’ve created awareness campaigns complete with copy, design and marketing support, and assisted with event promotions year-round. And, of course, we got stuck in to raise some of those all-important funds ourselves.
Firstly, we took part in ‘The Big Hike,’ where a group of brave Proctorians hiked 26.5 miles through the Brecon Beacons on a beautiful, brisk Saturday, raising an impressive £1,832 for cancer research.
As if that wasn’t enough, even more Proctorians then took on ‘The Big Ride Cycle Challenge’ – a 79.2-mile loop starting from our offices in Easton and continuing through Cheddar Gorge, Wells, and the surrounding areas. With thighs of steel, our amazing team raised another £815 – a storming success.
If you’re a friend of Proctors, you’ll know every Christmas we create a ‘Christmas Card video’, treating our clients, friends, and family to a behind-the-scenes look at our team which will lift spirits and spread a little hilarity, too.
But when the COVID-19 saw us all locked down last year, the team agreed we should do something different.
We took a step away from the dressing up and hijinks, and instead approached a local charity to offer some help instead.
Caring in Bristol are a local charity working towards an incredible goal: to end homelessness in Bristol, for good. But during the pandemic homelessness tripled in Bristol, reflecting a nationwide trend. And it left the team with an even bigger task ahead.
So, our incredibly talented team of animators, copywriters and our marketing team got to work to produce a video which would get Bristolians digging deep for the cause.
The result? More than £20,000 of donations in just under two weeks, absolutely crashing through the Caring in Bristol team’s targets – and deservedly so.
It goes without saying, but the entire Proctors team was so proud of what we achieved for such a brilliant cause. So much so, you may want to watch this space…
If you’re an aspiring Philanthropist, looking for a cause to get stuck into, or are a charitable cause looking for support, Quartet Community Foundation are your answer.
They bring people together who want to work on community projects in the west of England, supporting hundreds of thousands of people through local frontline charities and voluntary groups.
We’ve been working with the team at Quartet for years, and have developed real, personal friendships with them. So when we heard they had begun a Coronavirus 2020 relief fund, we wanted to help in any way we could – which, as it turns out, meant hosting a virtual ‘Quarantine Quiz’!
We used the quiz to raise money for the foundation – and along the way, we experienced a real boost to our own morale too.
Babbasa are a Bristol-based organisation who work with young people, businesses, and the local community to address inequality in all its forms, and produce a fairer city. They offer advice on recruitment policies, and work with organisations to explain how they can diversify their workforce, as well as providing potential candidates.
So we partnered with them to get their advice on our own recruitment policy, to ensure we’re doing everything we can to create an inclusive culture – and actively work towards creating a fairer city.
Purpose is what you make it
Whoever you are, and wherever you work, it’s important to feel you’re doing the things that align with your values.
And at Proctors, we do that by ‘doing good’ and giving back wherever we can.
As you’ll see, it’s not all about big, transformative gestures. But about the things we can all do as a team to make the world just a little bit brighter.
So we’ll carry on doing what we can by working closely alongside charities and organisations to help those in need – both locally and further afield. We’ll continue to ensure we’re cultivating a sustainable office environment, and remain a place where employees feel valued and appreciated for their hard work.
To see more of what Proctor + Stevenson are involved in, have a look at our CSR page on our website. Or if you’d like to do some good of your own, contact us at marketing@proctors.co.uk.
Starting a new job can be a nerve-wracking process, especially when it’s your first opportunity after being at uni. Luckily, I’m here to share my experience of starting at Proctors and gaining my first real industry exposure.
Here are some of the questions I found myself asking, the challenges I faced – and some of the lessons I learnt.
What if I don’t know what I’m doing on my first day?
In any new job, a fear of failure is perfectly normal. Luckily, the Proctors people went out of their way to ensure I felt comfortable in the office, had sufficient training/inductions and the resources to get on with my projects, setting me up for success.
It’s important companies give you ample time to find your feet on your first day. So, if you don’t know what to do next, just ask how you can help. Remember, you were hired – you’ve already made it past the stressful interview part! Treat your first day as a fun celebration. Everyone is excited to meet you!
What’s it like starting in a Tech role?
Joining the Tech team at P+S straight after leaving university showed me the differences between education and real-life industry work really quickly.
In uni, I was constantly shifting my focus to find a speciality. This meant that almost each semester I would be creating a new project with a different focus and practicing a different coding language. However, at P+S I was able to focus on my strengths first, with support from seasoned (and friendly) developers, and begin specialising in the areas that I am most interested in.
Over my first few weeks, as I was introduced to all of the developers around me and all of the teams that I would be interacting with, all of the nervousness of a new role left as I settled in to my first full development role and focused on my workload.
How will I remember all these people?
Meeting everyone on your first day can be overwhelming, sometimes it can feel like you’re crashing a private party. Forming relationships takes time, and a supportive workplace recognises this.
At P+S, I was introduced to all the departments I would be working with, encouraged to reach out to anyone if I had any questions, and met with a multitude of messages from co-workers welcoming me to the company. Wednesday quiz nights and Friday night socials allowed me to meet people in a non-work environment. And as time went on more new employees joined, we all easily bonded over being new to the company.
Don’t forget, you’re not expected to remember everyone you meet immediately, but making the effort to get to know your co-workers over lunches and socials will help you feel at ease in your new job.
What do I do if I’m not busy with work all the time?
Sometimes work may be slow whilst you’re being given time to settle in, and you may feel guilty for not tapping away at the keyboard for all 8 hours of the workday. Just remember, people are giving you time to relax into the job and no one wants you to be overwhelmed. Take your time with tasks, regularly check in with co-workers to make sure you’re doing the right thing and focus on the small wins.
When working in a marketing agency, time management is incredibly important and often we are working to strict deadlines. At P+S, I was given access to a plethora of training resources for when I had a moment of downtime, to develop my industry skills.
Stay positive and believe in yourself
The most important thing to remember is to stay open-minded and treat your first job as a fresh start, a learning opportunity, and a chance to meet cool, like-minded people that can help you build an exciting career.
At P+S, we are always looking for talent to join our team across Creative, Strategy and Technology. Click here to find out more about our current vacancies or send your CV to recrutiment@proctors.co.uk.
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