Exposure mag 126 - I'm Inspired

i’m inspired

Finding out from the professionals, what it takes to make it!

Advice on getting on the career path & fullfilling your ambitions

The ‘I’m Inspired’ series includes videos and podcasts covering a range of other vocations, go to exposure.org.uk for more.

Editorial

By Zach Kocis As young people face the uncertainties of a competitive labour market, they fear unemployment and the difficulties of breaking into the field of their choice.

Getting a job can seem like an overwhelming task for any young person.

Not all young people grasp the possibilities of employment and some have unrealistic expectations of work.

A 2016 survey conducted by the City & Guilds group indicated that 14 to 19-year-olds in the UK were aware of just 20 percent of the occupations available to them.

But the good news is that opportunities for young people like career fairs, education and apprenticeships are more abundant than ever before.

For the ‘I’m Inspired’ project, Exposure raises awareness about the realities of work, by interviewing professionals about their jobs and experiences.

In this issue, we’ll shine a spotlight on various industries, share career advice from employers and local businesses, and find out what it takes to be successful.

Our contributors spoke to professionals in the fashion, technology, arts/entertainment, events management and charities industries to shed light on the employment possibilities in these fields.

We hope that, by providing useful advice from working professionals, young people will have more confidence, knowledge and skills at their disposal, as they embark on their own careers.

Exposure is an award winning youth communications charity. If you are considering a career as a creative professional or just want to improve your key skills, increasing your chances of employment, then get involved. Gain the confidence, know-how, contacts and experience required to succeed in your career.

Exposure is a registered trademark of Exposure Organisation Limited, registered in England no. 03455480 Registered charity no. 1073922. The views expressed by young people in Exposure do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher or its funders. (c) 2017. All rights reserved. ISSN 1362-8585

Contributors

Nancy Mahon

Max Fereirra

Izzy Eatherden

James Lenton

Ideas & additional contributions from: Caylan Samual Alexandra Efthymiou

Emma de Duve

Ursula Mutingwa

Jonita Lushi

Jace Griffiths Joe Marshall Priya Vadgama

Zach Kocis

Featured organisations

020 8883 0260 07715 642 918 info@exposure.org.uk www.exposure.org.uk

exposureorg exposureuk exposureorg exposure_org

Special thanks to the Big Lottery Fund for providing the grant to make this project possible. Thank you to the students at Woodhouse College, East Barnet School and Barnet and Southgate College. Thank you also to the volunteers who modelled for the featured images.

FASHION & STYLE Nancy Mahon talks to a businesswoman with her own clothing line

MCINDOE DESIGN

Fashion is a vast, multifaceted industry. If you’ve ever considered a career in the sector, then you’ll appreciate it can be a hard one to navigate. Maddy McIndoe, a young and enterprising businesswoman with her own clothing line, answers our questions.

Nancy Mahon (NM): What makes your clothing unique?

Maddy McIndoe (MM): Its fun. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. The style of the prints are different and bigger compared to other designers.

NM: When and why did you decide to produce your own clothing line?

MM: When I was studying at Manchester, we had lectures about the industry and I thought, if you can design something people like, why let someone else take all the profit? I wanted to try and do my own thing.

NM: How does the process work?

MM: I’ll decide the print first, and then what I want it to go on, like a shirt or a dress. Then I’ll get a couple of metres printed in London to check the colours are right. Then you send a sample of the pattern to the factory to get a quote.

NM: Are your factories based in the UK? MM: One is in the UK and another in the Czech Republic.

(NM): Do you hand draw your designs?

MM: I start with sketches and then neaten them up with a pen.

NM: What is the ethos behind your brand?

MM: To make clothes that make people smile. It’s not really serious high fashion and I try to keep the prices affordable. I don’t want to make a £300 shirt. I don’t know anyone who could pay that.

NM: What challenges did you face when starting up the business?

MM: Finding a good manufacturer was hard. Getting

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“Being organised and having initiative is more important than fashion experience”

Nancy

Izzy

Maddy

Designer/owner

garments. I have freelancers who come in when it’s busy. Sometimes I have interns.

NM: How do you compete with the large established brands? the clothes into the shops was difficult too because people don’t want to take a risk on a new brand.

NM: How did you overcome that?

MM: It was just a matter of time, selling at markets and meeting other designers. I ended up with a network of people, who let me know about different opportunities.

NM: What advice would you give young people that want to get into your line of work?

MM: Test the market first. See how different things go before getting too attached to one idea. Try and sell in different places, on different websites. Don’t order a thousand of one product before you know it’s going to do well.

NM: What’s the structure of your business?

MM: The business is registered as a limited company.

I have a seamstress who does pattern cutting and I’ve just got another one to help me make some of the

MM: My stuff isn’t fast fashion, so the quality’s good and its not restricted by being seasonal. The shape of the clothes are quite classic so they’re not going to go out of fashion quickly. Some of the high street shops are more like ‘bish bash bosh’. They’ll get something in that’s going to be fashionable for a few months and then get new stuff in. Maybe the kind of customers I attract aren’t into that anyway.

NM: Where do you see your business in five years time?

MM: I would like to have a bigger product range and do more collaborations. I might do home wear. Wallpaper with prints would be fun. So would bedding or kids wear.

NM: What kind of skill set would someone need to work for a company like yours?

MM: Being organised and having initiative is more important than fashion experience. They need to be nice to work with, able to use their brain to move the business forward, and happy to do lots of different things.

mcindoedesign.com 5

CHARITY & SPEC NEEDS KITH & KIDS

Max Ferreira looks at careers supporting people with autism Employment is a huge step in a young person’s life.

For someone like me, who has autism this process can be overwhelming. I discovered a specialist disability charity called Kith and Kids, who help young people with special needs develop their key skills, confidence & physical health.

I interviewed Rich Pickup (Kith and Kids’ Employment and Life Skills Project Coordinator) and asked him about employability and the future for young people with learning difficulties.

Max Ferreira (MF): How many people do you employ at Kith and Kids?

Rich Pickup (RP): Kith & Kids is a charity and we currently have six full time members of staff, but because we run a number of different activities and projects, we have around 350 volunteers who get involved each year. Some people volunteer just the once, whilst some others stay involved with us for many years. We’re very grateful for all the support we receive from volunteers as we wouldn’t be able to run our projects without them.

MF: What sort of difficulties do you think young people face when trying to find work?

RP: I think one of the major difficulties young people face, is that most employers are looking for people who already have experience, and aren’t looking for somebody who is just starting their working career; it’s hard to attain the necessary experience if you aren’t given an opportunity!

Ways for the young people to try and overcome this can be by building up experience by taking on voluntary roles or internships if possible.

In the case of the participants in our Employment and Life Skills Project, we aim to find work experience placements for each of them; so that they can put into practice the skills they’ve learnt during our session, as well as gain a sense of all the different skills they 6

would need to use in the workplace.

MF: What advice would you give to young people who may want to work for a company like Kith & Kids?

RP: If people would like to work for a charity like Kith & Kids (supporting people with a learning disability and/or autism) then my advice would be to see whether they have any voluntary roles available.

This way you could gain valuable experience in that particular sector and get a sense of whether you would like to pursue that type of work further. It also gives the charity a chance to get to know you and to see your commitment and enthusiasm towards the role.

MF: What skills and qualities do you look for in an employee?

RP: The main attributes that I personally would look for are an ability to work well with others (being a team player), a willingness to give new things a go, and someone who is self-motivated and would enjoy the challenge of being given responsibilities.

MF: What do you offer on your employability programme?

RP: Our Employment and Life Skills Project is aimed at adults with a mild learning disability and/or autism,

CIAL

“The main attributes that I personally would look for in an employee are an ability to work well with others” and our curriculum consists of developing workplace skills, social and independence skills as well as more ‘academic’ basic skills such as literacy, numeracy and IT. We also offer a range of healthy living and sports activities (including our football team, which has previously been featured on the Exposure website).

Max

Rich

Project coordinator

These skills are put into practice in a number of different ways: classroom based training sessions alternate with work experience placements, activities in the community, volunteering opportunities and end-of-term day trips.

The project offers clear set structures but also a great deal of flexibility and there is plenty of individual support from trained volunteer mentors to ensure each person can work at their own pace.

We have a Monday group and a Friday group that meet from 10am until 3pm during term time, so if anybody is interested in getting involved, please get in touch.

kithandkids.org.uk

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ARTS & ENTERTA Izzy Eatherden & crew visit an independent cinema to look at the bigger picture

ARTHOUSE

Building a cinema from scratch is a colossal undertaking. Sam Neophytou has first hand experience in just that. He co-founded Crouch End’s Arthouse in 2014, and has been committed to running an alternative programme of films and events ever since.

Izzy Eatherden (IE): What inspired you to set up an independent cinema?

Sam Neophytou (SN): We didn’t actually intend to open one. We intended to open a theatre. When we saw this place we thought, “We could put a theatre in here”. But when we started knocking it to shreds we found two lovely spaces that could work as a cinema.

IE: What methods do you use to stand out from other competitors and compete with the likes of Picturehouse?

SN: We curate a lot of programmes, choosing films as part of seasons and festivals. That’s different to the mainstream, which has mass releases every week. Our intention is to have a shared space, so people come here not just to view films, but as a meeting place.

We try to communicate that the arts are a communal experience rather than this ‘buy your ticket, buy your popcorn and get out’ idea. We encourage people to stay and discuss the films. A lot of the films we do are political and they need some sort of discussion or Q&A afterwards.

IE: How many people do you employ?

SN: Roughly twelve people on full contracts. No one’s on zero hours and everyone gets the London living wage.

IE: What kind of characteristics and skill sets do you look for in an employee?

SN: Enthusiasm. The most important thing for any business is for your people to want to do and be passionate about whatever it is they do. Its also important to have your own identity because that’s what makes a business flourish. When people start trying to be someone else, thats a no no.

IE: How do you promote the cinema?

SN: Through our website, social media and leaflets.

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“Its important to have your own identity because that’s what makes a business flourish” Senior customers prefer to pick something up and take it home with them. But social media is the most important thing for a high street business. No one relies on passing trade any more. This is a place of destination. We’ve got a mailing list of 17,000 people, which we use to tell customers what films and events we’re showing. In the old days a cinema would have big white boards with the films lettered out, and that was the idea of selling films. Now we’ve got data that packages in peoples’ age, gender etc with what they’ve seen previously, so we can target a specific group.

Social media is one of the most important changes in terms of keeping an independent cinema as big as a multimillion pound corporate company.

IE: Do you find that piracy is less of a problem as your cinema is niche and less like the commercialised cinemas?

SN: It’s not really something I would have thought effects our business. If anything cinema is moving far away from this idea of a small screen in the privacy of your own home. One of the most important things that’s happened in independent films is alternative content, where a film crew goes into the National Theatre lets say, to film a show, and we live stream it into the cinema. You can watch the play while it’s going

AINMENT CROUCH END

Izzy

Sam

Nancy

James

Co-owner

on, with people you know.

IE: Are there any achievements that you as a business are proud of?

SN: I’m most proud of the fact that we did it. Not everyone opens a cinema. Big corporates and financial institutions open cinemas. Fred Bloggs down the road doesn’t, and we did it. I’m also proud of our social mindedness. We keep a sustainable business whilst retaining our values. You can preach as much as you like about society, but you still have to sell tickets.

If you can balance those things, thats a sizeable achievement.

IE: Are you planning to expand in the future?

SN: We have been invited by five or six councils and developers to open cinemas. In lots of areas there are regeneration zones, where the council are ploughing money into high streets. A small cinema like this is valuable to those places. People don’t see the high street as a place they can go and chill out any more.

Working persons clubs, pubs and book shops are closing because of the internet. We’re going to have a high street thats full of charity shops if we’re not careful. But cinemas are a place of destination, so people will go to the high street for their local cinema.

arthousecrouchend.co.uk

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TECH & SOCIAL LOCALOVE

Jonita Lushi learns how an app promoting local business could go global Finding a niche you can turn into a business is like striking gold. But the hard work doesn’t end there, you need to be constantly evolving, Matt Smith shares the ins and outs of kick-starting an app based business.

Jonita Lushi: What is Localove?

Matt Smith: I get asked that quite a lot. It’s a mobile app and website to connect local businesses with the residents that live around them. A business can post anything about themselves and what they’re doing and it means those that live in the area know what’s just been made, what’s just arrived, and anything they might want to come in for, buy, eat or anything like that.

JL: What does your job entail?

MS: Recently we launched a hotel campaign and myself and another colleague packed up 500 promotional bags. It was quite an operation. It could be something like that, or doing some digital marketing, looking at the weekly stats, looking at how many users we’ve got, deciding where to put the marketing budget or managing the team who go around the businesses.

Part of the functioning of Localove is to sign up businesses to the platform, which we do very much in the field, face to face. Another side is to keep businesses engaged, by sending emails, talking to them and advising and helping them with the platform, whether that’s ideas or helping with technical issues.

JL: Did your educational or training background relate directly to what you’re doing now?

MS: Yes I suppose it did. My A-Levels were in Business, IT and Psychology, so that relates to business psychology. I think that marketing is a lot about how people think and relating to them. It helps to have an understanding of technology. I went to Oxford Brookes University and did Business Management, so that’s definitely given me a good grounding for my career

10

Jonita

Matt

Activation manager

so far.

I didn’t always know how the path I was on was going to end, and it’s the same now, but I think no experience is a bad experience. Starting off straight out of university I did recruitment for a year and I didn’t want to continue doing it, but it’s definitely helped me with what I do now. One piece of advice I’d give is don’t be too worried about “is this what I want to do?” because there’s a lot of transferable skills and

MEDIA “You need investment from people who believe in the concept of making a big change, persistence and an appetite for risk.” learning is the most important thing.

JL: What did it take to get Localove off the ground?

MS: A lot of persistence. You need investment from people who believe in the concept of making a big change. Persistence and an appetite for risk are the key things. The founder of Localove put a lot of his own money into it. He’s also put three to four years of his time into bringing it to what it is today. There’s been a lot of “no’s” and a lot of setbacks.

JL: How many people do Localove employ and what is the business set up?

MS: We employ five people. I myself do marketing and sales, a bit of HR - a bit of everything. I manage a team of two people who go round to the shops and sign up businesses and help them use the platform. A lot of independent businesses, while they’re very good at what they do, need a bit of help with using technology and making the most of what they’ve got. They may be the best hairdressers on the high street, but they’re unable to put that across. So a lot of what the team do is find ways of inspiring businesses to create content.

The key to attracting customers is creating engaging and interesting content which entices someone.

JL: What do you look for in an employee?

MS: A lot of what we do is in the field and face to face.

Interpersonal skills are key. They can sometimes come naturally but they can be learnt through experience.

It’s important for an employee to be able to create a good rapport when they first meet someone, as a lot

of what we do is approaching businesses who don’t know about us. It’s about explaining in a short and concise way what we do. Another really important thing is persistence and motivation - being able to keep going, even when people say they’re not interested. I think in order to get out of bed every day, you need to really believe in what you do. I have a huge belief in what we do and I think it’s for the benefit of the community.

JL: What was the process of developing the app?

MS: It was made through an agency. It’s taken a lot to get to where we are today and it’s gone through a lot of changes. When we first started it didn’t look as good, didn’t function as well and wasn’t as easy to use. Only by getting as much feedback from the users as possible have we been able to build what we have now. It’s a constant process. All the big apps are changing and updating very frequently. No matter if you’re a huge company or a very small one, you want to keep changing and tweaking things because that’s the way you’re going to make it better.

localove.com 11

EVENTS MANA Emma de Duve & Ursula Mutingwa find out what’s behind the big events

ALEXANDRA PALACE

Who doesn’t like a good gig, but what does it actually involve to set up one of these huge operations? The events team at Ally Pally give us an access all areas pass to find out more about the industry.

Ursula Mutingwa: Can you describe a typical working day?

Stephan Hickey (Senior events manager): Let’s take a concert for example, a huge amount of pre-planning goes into a concert. We’ll liaise with the promoter, they’ll email something called a rider, which is all the technical information about what the band needs in the room, the stage, the rigging, and then we back and forth with the promoter before the event, book all the staff, get the whole venue ready. Then when they rock up for the event about 7:00, all the trucks arrive and they will rig and build the whole show. They sound check during the day and then by 17:00 you’ve pretty much done a whole day but then get ready to open doors to the public at 18:30. We get everything ready outside, ELT (Event Liaison Team) meetings, security, then you open the doors, the whole gig happens, closes at 23:00 and then you’re here for the load-out until about three in the morning! So it’s a really long intense day, but it’s really fun.

Holly Parker (Events manager): So as you can imagine it’s not for the faint hearted. It’s long hours but there’s so much to do that the day flies by and you get to meet some incredible artists, producers and people in the industry. There’s not a dull moment.

Kelly Wood (Events services manager): The crazy hours are not every day, you get a gig-day which is really long, but you do have some office days where you start at 9:00 and finish at 17:00.

HP: There’s a lot of administration that goes with any event planning. It’s about the pre-planning, that’s why the event goes well because you’ve thought of absolutely everything that could happen.

UM: What do you enjoy most about your job?

HP: I think it has to be the variation. So one day you could be working on a film and the next it could be a concert, but also working on really big show-stopper events. We do some great ones here like our fireworks 12

“One day you could be working on a film and the next it could be a concert” display, Redbull Soapbox Derby, the darts. I really enjoy working on those events that everybody knows about.

Emma de Duve: What do you find challenging about your job?

HP: With live events there are no rehearsals, so there’s nowhere to hide if you’ve forgotten to do something.

It’s about learning from your mistakes and not letting it drag you down. It’s about being good at finding solutions.

ED: What do you look for in a potential employee?

SH: Most of the time it’s the kind of people that fit in, people who can work with other people. You kind of know when you speak to someone, if they’re a good communicator and if they’ll fit in with the team. There are certain skills you need with any job spec. but you can teach people things and train them up, so it’s about the person in events more so than it is about the qualifications.

HP: It’s also about a passion for events, being able to show that you really enjoy going to gigs and festivals and that you’ve had work experience at a certain venue, speaks a lot about a person, or if they’re already actively engaged in what’s happening in the events industry or in their community.

AGEMENT

Emma

Stephan

Senior events manager

Ursula

Holly

Events manager

Kelly

Events services manager

KW: It’s not an industry where you’ll need to have a relevant qualification to succeed. People come at events from all kinds of places and spaces and a lot of the time end up in the industry, which is often just as valuable because of the other experiences they’ve had.

I also think’s it’s very handy to have a skill where you can remember about 15 different things at once!

UM: How many people are there in your team?

KW: We have 12. There are four event managers, and then Stephan who’s the senior event manager. We also have a head of events operations who runs our team but also liaises with different departments. We have two people in health and safety. We also have a venue operations manager and he has a team of three or four people who move all of the chairs and tables around. They use fork lifts, handle deliveries and put the signs up and lot of other things like that. Then there’s myself, who manages all the cleaning. And we have a project manager who focuses on all the homegrown events.

HP: That’s just one department. Then you have marketing, fundraising, sales, finance, and we have contractors coming in, including medics, security, traffic etc.

Featured images from Alexandra Park & Palace Trust

ED: What advice would you give to a young person that would like to get into events?

SH: Get out there and go and see events which is good fun. Try and get work experience.

HP: Work experience is key but go to as many events as you can, so you develop a taste for what you like and what you don’t and what you think works well.

SH: We’re lucky in London there’s so many events, you can do anything in London so it’s just getting out there and getting involved!

alexandrapalace.com 13

TIPS FROM CAREE Zach Kocis attends the Routes to Work Careers Fair at Alexandra Palace to interview professionals that know a thing or two about helping young people find a job.

Bola Odutayo Community

Engagement Advisor at Jobcentre Plus

Zach Sherry Nicholls Project Director at UK Unsigned We run pre-apprenticeship and training programmes that give young people various options to get into work and the creative industries.

A young person may not exactly have the experience but what employers want to see is passion and the fact that the young person is willing to rise up to the occasion. Job prospects that were available 10-15 years ago are no longer in existence, and that’s why it’s so important to be up to date and clued up. The career that you have now may not be the career that you have in five years time, so a lot of it is about transferable skills. Having the transferable skills allows you to move from one thing into another.

When I’m interviewing somebody I’ve almost made my mind up in 30 seconds. A lot of it depends on how that person presents themselves. It needs to be appropriate to the industry you’re going to go into. You need to research which ever company you’re going to go into. Have a really good CV and covering letter and make it appropriate to that company. Make sure you’re armed with information about that company.

ukunsignededucation.org 14

I work with young people that would like support with getting into full-time employment. I have close links with the hospitality industry. We focus on hospitality because they give young people a chance regardless of their background or experience. As long as you have the right attitude, the right personality and have the heart and commitment to work, then they’re ready to give you a chance.

One thing I say to young people is start with looking at any job; start with building up interpersonal skills, some work ethos and then gradually work around progressing into something more suitable.

Lack of confidence is always a barrier for young people getting into work. Thankfully there’s loads of organisations there to help young people with employability skills like ‘Springboard’ who I work closely with.

Study hard but, if university is not the way forward for you, look at what support and help is out there, to support you into a job that you feel comfortable in, Whilst you’re in that job, network extensively and look at how you can move forward into the career of your choice.

gov.uk/jobsearch

ERS ADVISORS Astrid Von-Volckamer Talent for Care Lead at the NHS

Kwabena Kimathi Apprenticeship Coordinator at Haringey Council The Haringey employment and skills team are available in the borough which works to support all Haringey residents, 16+ who are looking for either new employment or a change of career. I work around apprenticeships.

If you’re a Haringey resident, one of the things you can do is look at the ‘Jobs & Training’ section on the Haringey website, there’s a page that we have for apprenticeships. Haringey residents can express an interest and get support from our service.

To make yourself more marketable, the first thing you need to do is put yourself out there. People need to see who you are and what it is you can actually offer.

Make that appealing to the person you’re trying to market to. So you need to look at who your audience is and what appeals to them. Whether it be in your application or CV, you need to appeal to what it is they say they are looking for.

In most areas you’re going to work in you’ll need to convey an ability to work with people, an ability to communicate, to be able to share information, to be flexible and adaptable. In the world today things are constantly changing in technology and financial markets, so you need to be adaptable to cope with those situations.

haringey.gov.uk (search for apprenticeships)

There are around 350 roles in the NHS and a huge amount of them we see as apprenticeship opportunities. We advertise our vacancies on the national apprenticeships page. Some trusts also advertise on NHS jobs and at that point the young person would apply, normally with a CV so it’s a really good idea to have your CV up and ready so you can respond quickly. Especially with jobs advertised on the NHS they often close really quickly. We’re looking generally for someone who matches the values of the Trust and that tends to depend on the type of organisations. There are lots of NHS trusts but what’s really important is that what shines through is that you’re motivated, reliable, you really want this opportunity, you’re engaging with the interviewer, especially if it’s going to be a patient facing role, that it’s somebody that wants to interact with people.

Obviously there are some back office roles where that is not so important, but generally it’s all about the attitude and that needs to be positive.

In my Trust which is Whittington Health, we’ve had apprenticeships in pharmacy, business administration, and now we’re developing into nursing apprenticeships as well.

jobs.nhs.uk Bob Neame Careers education manager at Prospects It’s crucial that young people understand what their options are. That they’re encouraged to keep their options open and given encounters with the world of work.

My take is, let your default position be “yes”, try stuff out in terms of gaining skills and work experience because that way you gather more ideas about what you want to do with your future. You also get practice in using those skills that employers really love. Soft skills by which I mean, communication, interpersonal skills, real people focused skills, backed up with technical knowledge and you’re half way there!

prospects.co.uk

This page is based on abridged transcriptions from audio interviews recorded at Alexandra Palace. To learn more, listen to the Careers Fair podcast on our website.

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i’m inspired is part of a wider project which includes video interviews and podcasts. To see more search the exposure.org.uk website for the projects below:

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT ArtHouse cinema

TECH & SOCIAL MEDIA Localove

LAW ENFORCEMENT Borough commander

CHARITY & SPECIAL NEEDS Harington Gardeners

JOURNALISM Jewish News

FILM & TV Director, Bruce Goodison

Keep an eye out for more podcasts in the series...