Issue 04 Summer 2009 ONLINE ONLY
www.success-mag.co.uk Sponsored by:
Professional CV writing www.vandjassociates.com
HOW TO GET A GREAT JOB DESPITE THE TOUGH ECONOMIC CLIMATE
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eCOURUMBA! 16
GET A LIFE! - LIVE IT TO THE MAX ON A GRADUATE SALARY
in conjunction with
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PROMOTE YOUR USP THROUGH A SKILLS-BASED CV 10
NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR GRADUATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP www.flyingstartonline.com www.ncge.org.uk www.success-mag.co.uk
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EDITOR’S LETTER
STAFF LIST
WELCOME TO THE ONLINE SUMMER ISSUE OF $UCCESS MAG 2009 As $uccess Mag approaches its first birthday we bring you this special online summer version of the publication. Don’t worry though; we’re back in print next university-term. This issue focuses heavily on helping you find that dream job. In these tough times you must be a cut above the rest to stand out and impress employers. Thankfully, our team are at hand with all the entertaining and useful information you need. Whether you’d like to start your own business, or it’s just a good job you’re after $uccess Mag is here to help. Our online community of young, ambitious people is building up very quickly so, if you’re under the age of thirty, and would like to appear in the “It’s All About YOU!” section, email the following to editor@success-mag.co.uk
• Name • Age • University (if applicable) • Where you’re from
• Contact details • 100-word biog • Photo (preferably JPEG)
Every profile will appear on the website and a select few in the magazine. $uccess Recruit are currently building on an impressive client-base with positions available throughout the UK. We are sourcing graduates for many roles but concentrating on the recruitment sector, with particular attention to finance, medical, technical and legal. All companies offer highly competitive salaries with fantastic commission and bonuses.
RUARI PHILLIPS – EDITOR Ruari Phillips, 24, has written for a number of national publications. After undertaking a post-graduate course in magazine journalism he decided to start his own publication and hasn’t looked back since. REBECCA O’CONNOR – STAFF WRITER Rebecca O’Connor is acting deputy property editor and Troubleshooter for The Times. She has been writing about personal finance for the last five years. SCOTT KEIGHTLEY DESIGNER After four years working in leading design industry studios, Scott Keightley has built a client list including Gordon Ramsay Holdings and BMI (British Midland Airways). DAMIAN WATSON – WEBSITE DESIGN In just five years, Damian Watson’s business, Greenhouse Design, has grown into a thriving limited company. They specialise in the Public Sector. This issue was subbed by Frances Penwill-Cook of www.spotonsubbing.co.uk
If you are interested, or know of anyone who may be, email all CVs to graduates@success-recruit.co.uk $UCCESS PROMOTIONS - Everywhere you see this logo in the magazine, the page it’s on is an advertorial feature produced by $uccess Mag on behalf of our clients.
Kind regards, RUARI PHILLIPS EDITOR
Distribution - 20,000 Bright Futures Societies nationwide.
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For all advertising enquiries contact jamie@cabbell.co.uk or, phone Jamie on 020 8971 8450 Contact the $uccess Mag office on 0844 357 0215 $uccess Mag Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of $uccess Group.
www.bright-futures.org.uk
WANTED: 95,000 PEOPLE. THOUSANDS OF JOBS AVAILABLE NOW. Find your next job on the UK’s biggest job site. 4
$uccess Mag / Summer 2009
Contents
HOW TO GET A GREAT JOB DESPITE THE TOUGH ECONOMIC CLIMATE
08
2010 is going to be another tough year for graduates seeking employment and not just because of the painful recession in 20082009. The number of graduates is still growing each year and with it the number of applications per vacancy, which rose by 50% in 2009.
PROMOTE YOUR USP THROUGH A SKILLS-BASED CV
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V&J Associates, a CV and career advice consultancy, believes that the key to beating the competition is to view your CV as a marketing tool and not a story of your life.
IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU! PART ONE
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Flying Start News
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It has been both a busy and successful year for FlyingStart with www.flyingstartonline.com now hitting over 13,500 members.
eCOURUMBA!
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It has been said, by many a person, that an entrepreneur is born and not made. If this is the case, Jay Bregman of eCourier.co.uk couldn’t be a better example.
IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU! PART TWO
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GET A LIFE! – LIVE IT TO THE MAX ON A GRADUATE SALARY 22 Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got til its gone? Its a familiar lyric that will have even greater resonance for anyone trying to live and have fun on a graduate salary.
RECRUITMENT CONSULTANCY - THE CAREER FOR YOU?
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Are you looking for a challenging career that provides opportunity to be one of the highest paid graduates? Recruitment consultancy might be the career for you!
SHELL LIVEWIRE YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR!
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05
Make getting a graduate job top of your to-do list! Search and apply for the best graduate jobs online Upload your CV View company profiles and videos Read our online graduate job magazine - GradLife Gain valuable CV advice and interview tips Automatically earn PlusPoints in our reward scheme just by using gradplus.com
Register by 31 May 09 and be entered into a prize draw to win an ipod 6 $uccess Mag / Summer 2009
beverley@devereandpartners.com
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HOW TO GET A GREAT JOB DESPITE THE TOUGH ECONOMIC CLIMATE
2010 is going to be another tough year for graduates seeking employment and not just because of the painful recession in 2008-2009. The number of graduates is still growing each year and with it the number of applications per vacancy, which rose by 50% in 2009. As if that wasn’t enough, employers are getting more and more demanding. So how do you ensure you get the career you really want? At Bright Futures we want students to be successful. To help them achieve this we have our ‘Foundations for Success’, which are supported by three key principles to give anyone who applies them success in any area of their life. The first is ‘Certainty of Purpose’, which basically means know what you want (your goals). The second is ‘The Mastermind Principle’, which means you do not need to do it alone – in fact the stronger the team you build around you, the quicker and better you will achieve your purpose or goal. And the third is ‘Personal Responsibility’, in other words it’s up to you to make it happen.
3. And, after you have read this article, take action and make it happen! So, back to building your CV, this can be done clearly through work experience. In this area make it as wide and varied as you can and, if need be, unpaid for a few weeks to show how determined you are to get relevant experience. Other great ways to build your CV include: •T aking a committee role in a student society, like Bright Futures, where you as an individual, within your team, make a real impact.
So, applying all these principles, there are three clear actions to take. 1. Know what you want to do and why, so you can talk about it with passion and back it up with logic (for example, from what you have done or found out from talking to people and so on). 2. Build your CV with a wide variety of activities where you have played a ‘substantial’ part. Employers see straight through CVs that just say ‘committee member’ or ‘in team’, they want more detail – typically what you achieved within that role. By the way, do not think that your academic achievement no longer matters, it does, but they want more!
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$uccess Mag / Summer 2009
Simon Reichwald, MD of Bright Futures Resourcing.
For more info regarding Bright Futures visit www.bright-futures.org.uk •E ntering a competition run by a graduate employer – like Reckitt Benckiser’s, where you design a product consumers can use at music festivals – so you can take part in a real activity with an employer, prove your skills, compete and be noticed! •D emonstrate your ‘career motivation’ by, for example, attending events on campus run by employers. But do more than just listen, actually speak to them after the event, take their business card and follow up afterwards.
• Make contact with employers by calling and speaking to people within the organisation to find out more and help you make a better application. And what are the ‘extras’ that employers want to see? • The ability to make things happen, no matter what and the bigger the challenges you faced and overcame the better. So, if you have not faced any big enough yet, set yourself some and overcome them! • Your awareness of the world of work, how it works (company culture and values, and so on) and the importance of delivering a result. • Your own self-awareness, knowing what you are good at and playing to your strengths. In short, don’t kid yourself that your degree or postgraduate qualification alone, however well respected it is, will get you a great job. Those days
Bright Futures Award Winners.
have gone. Recognise, to yourself, the reality that job hunting will be tough – most don’t until it is too late. You need to constantly be making applications, so don’t make excuses and put it off – just do it! And don’t think you have to do it alone. Build a support team who can help you, be that your peers, your professional network, your student society, your tutor etc. Draw on them to help
Don’t kid yourself that your degree or post graduate qualification from your University, however well respected it is, will alone get you a great job – those days have gone. keep you motivated in the face of all those rejections and to advise you on improving your applications and interview skills.
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PROMOTE YOUR USP THROUGH A SKILLS-BASED CV
Graduate unemployment is rising dramatically and is now at its highest rate for a decade. Gone are the days when you could simply download a CV template, follow a set of standardised rules relating to structure and presentation, and walk straight into your dream job. Candidates are having to work harder and harder to make their CV stand out. V&J Associates, a CV and career advice consultancy, believes that the key to beating the competition is to view your CV as a marketing tool and not a story of your life. How to create an effective marketing document V&J Associates provides a valuable insight into how to market yourself effectively. Managing Director, Victoria Roe, explains: “A successful marketer will look at a product or service, identify its unique selling points (USPs) and will then promote these through a marketing campaign. The process of creating a CV is no different, apart from the fact that, in this instance, you’re the product!” The first thing you need to do when creating your CV is to highlight achievements that will be beneficial, regardless of the job you apply for. Victoria continues: “There are certain achievements, or USPs, which
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$uccess Mag / Summer 2009
all employers will regard highly. Unfortunately, not all of us have them, but if you do, they absolutely must be emphasised on the CV. Mention some of them in the profile or even add a small, bullet-pointed achievement section at the top of the CV.” Put yourself in the reader’s shoes Now that you’ve identified your general achievements, it’s time to look at emphasising skills that are specific to the job you’re applying for. A successful CV will mirror what the employer is looking for in terms of key competencies. Although there are skills common to all jobs (ability to
work in a team, communication skills and so on) different career paths will have different requirements. So, a “one CV fits all” approach simply won’t work. Financial roles, for example, will look for candidates who are highly numerate and analytical whilst marketing positions will value creativity and copywriting skills. Identifying the skills that an employer is looking for is not always easy. Some companies will guide you through this with good career sections on their website or may indicate all their requirements within the job advertisement. If not, you can always research other similar jobs posted online to get a feel for the general requirements. If you’re still unsure,
Examples of good USPs • A strong degree (2:1 or above). • Attendance at one of the top universities, either in the UK or abroad. • Involvement in university clubs or societies. This does not include attending a few meetings of the university film club, but rather participation in committees, organising events, fundraising and so on. • Voluntary work. • Fluency in another language. • Academic awards or scholarships. • Any leadership roles held at school or university, which could include being a school prefect, captain of a sports team, a student representative, and so on. • Work-based achievements: These may be limited, but you could have undertaken some supervisory responsibilities during a part-time role, won “employee of the month” or attended certain training courses, which will have expanded your knowledge.
companies such as V&J Associates will do this for you. They will provide you with access to a recruitment specialist, who will tell you what skills are required in your chosen career. This will help you identify how you can best demonstrate these competencies.
Example one:
✖
CASHIER, Fly & Buy Supermarket [Jun 08 – To Date] • Work on the till, taking money, conducting refunds and answering queries.
Example two:
✔
CASHIER, Fly & Buy Supermarket [Jun 08 – To Date] • A customer-facing role, building rapport with customers and ensuring the highest level of service.
Presenting your skills on the page Once you’ve identified the skills the reader is looking for, it’s time to put pen to paper and create the perfect skills-based CV. Victoria explains how this works: “To create an effective skills-based CV, it’s important to keep away from explaining the daily routine associated with your studies or previous jobs. You need to think of everything you’ve done in terms of the skills required to do the job, rather than the job itself.”
Victoria continues: “It’s all about presenting your day-to-day life in a way that shows what you can do. Never assume the reader will read between the lines; you have to spell it out to them and sell yourself as best you can.”
Take the example of two cashiers working part-time in their local supermarket. They both apply for an account management job, which requires strong customer service and communication skills. The following excerpts are taken from the two Cvs.
For more information on effective CV writing, or to request a consultation, visit www.vandjassociates.com
• Shelf-filling and floor walking.
• Highly numerate, illustrated through actioning refunds and accurately handling all cash and debit card transactions. • Through shelf-filling has gained an understanding of the concept of visual merchandising: presenting stock in order to appeal to the consumer.
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IT’s ALL ABOUT YOU! PART ONE
THE WORLD IS FULL OF YOUNG, AMBITIOUS PEOPLE. PEOPLE WHO DON’T SIT AROUND WAITING FOR THINGS TO HAPPEN – THEY ARE OUT THERE, MAKING THINGS HAPPEN. This section is dedicated to letting you know who they are…
Andy Instone, 27 CEO of Urban Strides High Wycombe, Bucks I’m considered as one of the hottest choreographers on the UK scene. From the age of 18, I established my own dance company, Urban Strides Limited. Urban Strides specialises in performances, workshops, dance academies and university classes, as well as community work throughout the country.
I have worked with some of today’s best choreographers including Buddha Stretch and Terry Wright who created works for Michael Jackson, Missy Elliot, Mariah Carey and Will Smith. I have made it my mission to travel and learn from the pioneers of authentic street dance and funk styles. To contact Andy visit www.urbanstrides.com
Chris Bradshaw, 26 Managing Director of The Urban Revolution Group Cheltenham/China I founded the Urban Revolution Group in December 2005. I graduated from the University of Liverpool in July 2004 with a degree in Business and Genetics and the inspiration for the business came whilst teaching English in Japan.
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$uccess Mag / Summer Issue
Due to its continuing success the Urban Revolution Group has now evolved into 3 core divisions - Urban Products, Urban Construction and Urban Revolution Trading. For more information visit www.urbanrevolutiongroup.com
Calypso Rose, 26 CEO of Clippykit London The very first Clippy bag was made by me, Calypso Rose (called Clippy by my friends) on the kitchen table. This was because I wanted to display all my collection of Polaroid photographs in a bag. Lots and lots of people stopped me in the street and wanted to know where the bag had come from. I put 250 bags into production. I customised a large
bag with a sign saying ‘stop me and buy one’ and I hired a stall on the Portobello Road, London. I sold all my bags in the first month – hurrah. Clippy (then known as Clippykit) was up and running. For more info visit www.clippykitlondon.co.uk
Adam Goodyer and James Perkins, 29 Founders of Concert Live London Concert Live was born in 2005 with the clear aim of bringing live music fans new & exciting ways to experience recorded live music. It was set up by myself and James Perkins after a somewhat drunken late night disagreement over the last track played at a Massive Attack concert!
I was adamant it was Unfinished Sympathy, James thought it was Blue Lines. It doesn’t matter who was right, the point is this got them thinking about reliving gigs and how great it would be to get the recording on the way out... To contact Adam and James visit www.concertlive.co.uk
Mikhal Sofer, 28 Managing Director at Energy Crossroads San Francisco, CA As the inheriting generation, we are mobilizing a coalition of rising young leaders from across sectors, disciplines, and borders to advance clean energy as a unifying solution to national security, environmental, and economic competitiveness challenges. Among us are future policymakers, technologists, entrepreneurs, academics, and activists. We are guided by the belief that whether we are tree-hugging
environmentalists, national security hawks, or clean-tech entrepreneurs, we all have a stake in a cleaner, more secure, and more prosperous energy future, and by working together and learning from each other we can spark innovative ideas to enable this transformation. To contact Mikhal email mikhal.sofer@energycrossroads.org
www.success-mag.co.uk
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It has been both a busy and successful year for FlyingStart with www.flyingstartonline.com now hitting over 13,500 members, more programmes and workshops than ever before and some great resources being made available to help student and graduate entrepreneurs realise their dreams. 2009-2010 looks as though it is going to be an even busier year with yet more programmes being run throughout the country and more emphasis on the follow-on 12-month mentoring and business development. If you are looking to start your own business within the next 12 months, visit www.flyingstartonline.com to see what programmes we are running and how you can get involved. A point of focus for the summer break will be the development of Enterprise Societies throughout England. If you are leading an Enterprise Society or looking to start a new society at your university visit www.flyingstartonline.com or email societies@flyingstartonline.com for information on how we can help get yours off the ground and to a flying start. We can offer workshops and inspirational speakers for your events – a great opportunity, I’m sure you’d agree. With the government’s focus on enterprise and innovation over the last few months, it really is no surprise that FlyingStart are going to be busy, all over the country, delivering many new and exciting programmes to help get you started in business. Our new calendar is online now and being updated constantly. Remember, all our events are free to attend and have some great resources available to help. The only way to apply and attend is by registering on www.flyingstartonline.com and signing up from there. Once registered, on FlyingStart Online, you can update your profile, network and link up with our free online eMentoring service.
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$uccess Mag / Summer 2009
Flying Start is dedicated to getting student and graduate businesses started. Whether it’s just an idea, an international hi tech venture, a social enterprise or a small consultancy, Flying Start is geared up to support graduates, up to five years out, realise their ambitions and support new businesses. Visit www.flyingstartonline.com TODAY! Or, phone 0121 503 2233
News from FlyingStart Graduates
FlyingStart Fashion Stars Make a Big Splash It is not all gloom and doom on the streets of London. SquidLondon has launched a new collection of Squidarellas™ – umbrellas that change colour as soon as rain falls on their panels. Viviane Jaeger and Emma-Jane Parkes, who joined the FlyingStart Creative Industries Programme in Bournemouth in January launched their sensational new umbrellas during an interactive launch event at Spitalfields Market, London, on the 31st May. For more info visit www.squidlondon.com. Up-cycled Fashions Target Breast Cancer Goodone Fashions, run by Nin Castle – who attended the NCGE-RSA FlyingStart Design Programme in Manchester in July 2006 – has launched a black and white body con dress in collaboration with Fashion Targets Breast Cancer. The Fashion Targets Breast Cancer dress is made from 100% upcycled fabrics and 30% of the sale goes straight to this really worthy cause. “We think it’s one of our best designs to date,” said Nin. “It’s very sexy, yet also extemely flattering on all sizes.” This limited edition dress is now available to buy from Laden Showrooms, a designer boutique in East London. Find out more at www.goodone.co.uk.
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eCOURUMBA!
eCOURUMBA! Tom Allason (left) and Jay Bregman (right).
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$uccess Mag / Summer 2009
It has been said, by many a person, that an entrepreneur is born and not made. If this is the case, Jay Bregman of eCourier.co.uk couldn’t be a better example. Ever since he was a child, the New Yorkian has been fascinated with technology. “I was adamant technology was the next big thing!” recalls Bregman. Now he runs eCourier.co.uk – the fastest-growing, same-day courier company in the UK. eCourier was founded in 2003 when Jay, 30, and his best friend (now business partner) Tom Allason, 28, realised they were capable of beating the competition. Tom had suffered several times at the hands of inefficient courier companies while working as a stockbroker – and would tell Bregman what a “nightmare” they were. “The final straw for him was when a company didn’t deliver tennis tickets on time for Queen’s and Tom said he knew we could do it better,” explains Jay, who admits, at first, he wasn’t sure about the idea of setting up a courier company. “At first I said it was completely crazy because my impression was that typical courier businesses were run by rough guys and it wasn’t something your mother would be proud of as a profession,” admits Jay. Yet, he later realised these were exactly the reasons for considering involvement in such a venture. They studied the market intensively for a year and lived on credit cards until they were ready to apply for financial backing. Their skills complemented each other and where Tom focused on marketing and finance, Jay explored the technological directions – and these ideas eventually made up part of his degree dissertation.
They discovered that the market was worth around £1 billion, but was also very commoditised and “anarchic” – as Tom described it. Not only did a severe lack of loyalty exist between blue-chip clients and courier companies, but there was a lack of communication between them. “The reason customers aren’t traditionally very loyal is due in part to the fact that courier companies aren’t generally revered for their level of customer service,” Jay explains. Tom and Jay vowed to bring differentiation and loyalty to the market by uniting the latest technology with a human face that prided itself on customer service. Not only would it be a “lightning” service for customers, but the technology would allow the management and the clients to know where the courier was at any given time. Unfortunately, at the beginning, neither Tom nor Jay had any investment capital available. “Tom and I were penniless graduates who knew nothing about the same-day courier industry,” recalls Jay, who was studying for his masters in media and communication at the time. But by September 2004, they had cobbled together enough funding from family, angel investors and
“We wanted couriers to ditch radios for palmtop computers with global positioning systems (GPS) technology. We also wanted a website where customers could track their couriers at street level, just like you might see in an episode of Spooks!”
£100,000, in the form of a small firm’s loan, from the Department of Trade and Industry. They set up an office in Shoreditch, not far from the City. Once they could start developing their ideas Jay realised he could build the IT platform that would work with global positioning systems (GPS) technology, instead of radios. “Courier technology had remained unchanged since the 70s, so I sketched out an IT platform which would allow us to automate the running of the business,” says Jay. “We wanted couriers to ditch radios for palmtop computers with global positioning systems (GPS) technology. We also wanted a website where customers could track their couriers at street level, just like you might see in an episode of Spooks!” They also wanted to incorporate the internet and create a user-friendly website that kept customers informed – as well as allowing them to know their customers’ needs better. The company created a realtime, eventdriven business intelligence system that monitors customers’ booking behaviours and builds up unique profiles. “It allows us to provide an individualised account management service by using technology rather than people.” To manage the logistical side of operations, they developed an intelligent resource-matching platform called AIBA (Advanced Information Based Allocation system). On the eCourier.co.uk website these days it explains how AIBA has been christened “Larry” by the company, who is “at the heart of everything” the continued> www.success-mag.co.uk
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eCOURUMBA! JAY’S TOP FIVE BUSINESS TIPS
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Have something really good to sell. It’s always a lot easier to make money when you’ve got a product that people REALLY want and best of all...NEED!
2
Put everything into it. Once you’ve established your idea...the next step is making it happen and that can be a lot of hard work but worth it when you begin to see things flourish.
3
Be goal driven. Don’t work to be rich and famous, work because you want to be the best YOU can be.
4
Take careful steps and move with the business. There’s no point in hiring a plush office in the centre of London if you can’t afford it. Work within your means.
5
Enjoy what you do! There’s no way you’ll have the stamina to see your idea through if you’re not having fun...
company does along with organising the “fleet with his enormous brain”. And this is all part of the human touch that makes eCourier’s hightech systems so unintimidating to its clients. The truth is that AIBA, or “Larry” is what makes eCourier stand out from the crowd. When a client books on eCourier, the company’s patented algorithms despatch the delivery to the most appropriate courier, based on many variables, including pick up time, vehicle time as well as weather and traffic demands. “This is what makes eCourier.co.uk special,” explains Jay. “Essentially it’s a computer system with access to lots and lots of realtime information and all our couriers have handheld mobile GPS units. Every few seconds they send details of where they are and what they are doing back to AIBA. AIBA knows where all the couriers are, where all the collections are, and where the deliveries are. It knows what the traffic and weather are like, and it knows what all of our couriers are like from their past deliveries.”
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$uccess Mag / Summer 2009
Their first ever courier bike was sent out on 14 September 2004 and their annual turnover has now soared to well over £5 million. At first they noticed that their competitors failed to engage with this sudden competition on the market because of the level of technology used. “In the beginning it was simply a denial of what we could offer,” says Bregman. “Many people in the industry viewed the eCourier concept as a fad that would be out of favour in a year or six months” says Jay.
www.ecourier.co.uk
But eCourier went from strength to strength and in January 2005 the company launched its revolutionary online booking and tracking system. Nine months later it was taking three-quarters of its bookings online. Customers knew where their packages were at every second of the journey and “lightning” delivery services were offered. If you look at the site today, you’ll see it states: “average van-tastic pick up time: 18 min” – a combination of humour, technology and fast service in an industry that is logistically very complicated to operate. “The hardest thing about this business has been to bridge really contradictory worlds,” says Jay, referring to the operational versus the technological side of the business. Both Jay and Tom are immensely proud of themselves – and so they should be. Their average delivery time within central London is around 45 minutes, from the booking being made to delivery being completed. That’s about half what anyone else offers. All this is due to the fact they are using better information to make better decisions.
It is not just the technology and the customer relationship management that keeps eCourier growing from strength to strength, it is keeping their vehicles and services as environmentally friendly as possible that makes them even more appealing. With customers who are more aware than ever before of their carbon footprint, eCourier offers them a service where they can meet these needs without compromising on “nimbleness” and speed. It has financed a fleet of more than 40 “earth-friendly” vehicles and is quick to promote “thick-thighed bicycle couriers” and encouraging cycle pick ups wherever possible. Another way to ensure that customers stay loyal is by strengthening the company’s brand. As they discovered, they couldn’t find any established brands on the market place when they were studying the industry. “Most people would struggle if you ask them to name even one
“Most people would struggle if you ask them to name even one same-day courier company, It’s a question of building that ethos and the brand around it and the systems to support that.” same-day courier company,” he says. It’s a question of building that ethos and the brand around it and the systems to support that.” eCourier clearly gives its customers everything they could possibly want – and more. It saves us a lot of money by allocating resources more efficiently and cutting the amount of staff needed to do the job. AIBA – or “Larry” – uses near perfect information, to make near perfect decisions and when you are making near perfect decisions, you are providing the customer with a really good service! Words – Ruari Phillips
Jay Bregman will be guest entrepreneur on $uccess Mag’s online forum until August 2009. Register to post up your questions. Click on our $uccess TV button to view an exclusive three-part interview with both him and Tom Allason.
www.success-mag.co.uk
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IT’s ALL ABOUT YOU! PART TWO
Alexandra Liss, 26 Documentary-maker and company owner United States of America I’m living the dream as a full-time documentary film-maker and loving what I do! I am currently shooting a film called “Win Big Period” on the winning mind-set of entrepreneurs.
Looking for second round funding to complete “Win Big Period” documentary, finish post-production, enter film festival circuit, find distribution, and marketing. To contact Alexandra visit www.winbigperiod.com
Atish Mistry, 21 Student and vice president of Warwick Entrepreneurs Warwick I’m currently studying BSc Economics at the University of Warwick and also working on a new startup project.
We run networking events, skills sessions and invite experienced entrepreneurs to help inspire our members...
Warwick Entrepreneurs is a society recently set up with the sole aim of promoting and encouraging entrepreneurship in Warwick University.
For more info visit uwent.uwcs.co.uk
Wayne T Moncler, 22 Online marketeer Nottingham
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$uccess Mag / Summer 2009
I run campaigns for big companies and business people online.
I’m also a music producer in my spare time.
Whether you’d like to increase the number of fans on your Facebook Page, promote a YouTube video or encourage more visitors to your website - I’m the man! I’ve managed to get Facebook Pages to over 750,000 fans.
For contact just add me on Facebook - www.facebook.com/ home.php#/kingwaynem
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GET A LIFE! - LIVE IT TO THE MAX ON A GRADUATE SALARY
“Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone?” It’s a familiar lyric that will have even greater resonance for anyone trying to live and have fun on a graduate salary. This, by the way, is about £24,000 now, which may sound like a lot, but how insufficient it really is soon becomes apparent. The problem is that overdrafts, although free at first, quickly begin to attract high interest rates and loans will no longer come with the special lower rate for graduates. This means that debt will start to become much more expensive, much more quickly. And big, unaffordable debt is just so 2007. So, how to stay afloat? Once the tax and student loan repayments have been taken from your monthly salary, you are likely to have a shade over £1,000 left to show for it. Let’s say rent and bills take up about half of this, at about £500. This leaves you with £120 a week, roughly, in spending money - or slightly less than £20 a day. You can spend £20 in Pret A Manger on lunch. It is not a lot and leaves little spending money for anything other than food
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$uccess Mag / Summer 2009
- and maybe a pint or glass of wine. Affording non-daily essentials is going to be tricky. How will you buy clothes? Birthday presents for family? Holidays? An iPhone?
For clothes, get “swishing”. It’s the new way of recycling your old clothes. Bigwardrobe.com is one such site that allows you to perform clothes swaps.
There are things you can do to give your wallet a break, like remembering these ten commandments:
Other sites do not require any swapping at all, just your email address. For the price of receiving more junk mail, sign up to one of the free stuff sites, such as the aptly-named free-stuff.co.uk, which offers goods of varying usefulness and quality, ranging from dog food to a Nicorette inhaler pack. It links to other sites, such as free-samples. co.uk, which offers free toiletry and cosmetics and comes with a “nojunk-mail guarantee”.
1. Know thy freebie websites Need a haircut, but can’t afford the heinous £60 charge? Check out gumtree.com and craigslist.org, where you will find advertisements for haircuts, from trainee stylists, gratis. Obviously, you are at greater risk of leaving the salon with something a little more avant garde on your barnet than you had hoped, but still, if your hair is your adventure playground, you’d do well to keep an eye out for these offers. Used inventively, freecycle.org, where people offer stuff to exchange for free, can be a Godsend. The idea is that it helps cut down on waste going to landfill. You might not own much worth exchanging, but old computers, TVs, iPods and bookcases are among the items that you might have and want to trade.
And lastly, of course, there is eBay, where you can find everything imaginable in the universe for sale or auction. For the real deals, stick with the auction items rather than the “buy it nows”, as these tend to be equal or close to retail prices anyway. 2. Write thy lists Planning ahead is perhaps the best way of saving money. If you know what you need to buy and stick to it, stepping out of the house suddenly
becomes less expensive because you won’t come back with lots of things that “just caught your eye”. For instance, before going to the supermarket, check what you have in the fridge and cupboard to see if you can use up old items before throwing them out. Working out a menu for the week is another useful weapon against the aisles of temptation. When clothes shopping, write down what you want and stick to it. This especially applies to visits to Top Shop, that wonderful mecca of nice things you don’t need. Time limits for clothes shopping are also useful - don’t wander out for the whole day as you will end up buying something just so it doesn’t feel like a waste of time. Let your notebook and pen be your friend and constant guide. 3. Read thy labels Especially in Waitrose, where everything, even apples, seems to cost an average of £2. Although with £120 a week spare, you should probably not be shopping here anyway. Rent a flat near a Lidl or Aldi instead. It’s safer. Anyway, it’s no good just chucking things in the trolley, even if they are on your list. Check the cost per unit rather than the overall price and only buy BOGOFs if you will actually use the extra. These can be an example of what is referred to as a “false economy” - a phrase you will find yourself using more and more as you get older. For white goods, like your kettles etc, look out for AA-ratings - these appliances use less electricity. 4. Get out thy sewing kit We’re not saying start making all your own clothes from scratch - you won’t have much time for that. But you can make old clothes look new by adding corsages, buttons and bows. Oldfashioned haberdasheries are hard to come by, but you can find these items in some markets and specialist shops, as well as John Lewis (a shop you will grow to love). You will end up looking very Sarah Jessica Parker for very little money.
Once all the tax and student loan repayments have been taken from your monthly salary, you are likely to have a shade over £1,000 left to show for it. 5. Do thy pub research Happy hour is a thing of the past now you are working long office hours. But, if you are going to spend nights in the pub debriefing with your colleagues (which is highly likely in the early days) you’d do well to know where you can find a cheap pint or glass of wine. The city streets are a maze of over-priced bars where you might find yourself spending £6 on a glass of wine that, by no means, deserves to cost that much. Four of those and you’d be at your daily budget limit - and feeling terrible the next day. Sam Smith’s ales are universally acknowledged to be good value. You can search for Sam Smith’s pubs on beerintheevening. com. As for wine, go for the house variety, smaller sizes, or spritzers. Or better still, invite your friends back to yours for dinner and pick up a couple of bottles from Tesco on the way - cheaper and more intimate. 6. Choose thy holidays wisely If you’re on a budget, it’s perhaps best not to blow two months’ salary on a trip to the Maldives just because you need to use up your annual leave days. There are better value destinations, like India and Morocco, where you can eat and stay relatively cheaply. But check exchange rates before you book. These are volatile times and even if a deal looks good value, you need to think about what you might spend when you get there. At the time of writing, European holidays are looking pretty expensive because of the weakness of the pound relative to the euro. There are dozens of cheap holiday websites too, like cheapholidays.co.uk and cheapflights.co.uk. Bear in mind, that renting a villa with friends is likely to be cheaper than a hotel room for two - and a more sociable option. In these credit-crunched times you will
also find travel agents more willing to negotiate and more last-minute deals in newspaper travel sections and on websites like lastminute.com. 7. Get thyself blagging Guest lists are the answer to clubbing on a budget. If you ring up and sweet talk some clubs in advance, by promising that you and your foxiest friends will be there all night spending, they will even be willing to throw in a bottle of bubbly to get things started. Tilllate.com and guestlist.me.uk are sites that list guest lists. You will save pounds on entry, but don’t end up blowing your savings on booze, tempting though that might be. 8. Sort out thy bank accounts Boring as hell this one, but check how much interest your bank charges for going overdrawn compared with other banks. If it’s a lot more, and you find you’re often in overdraft, then switch to a bank that charges less. You can compare accounts on websites such as moneysupermarket. co.uk and moneyfacts.co.uk. 9. Call up thy mobile phone provider All mobile companies have a “customer retention” department. These exist so that if someone says they want to switch to another network, the department will do everything they can to keep you from leaving, which includes pricematching tariffs. Moneysavingexpert. com has a tariff-checker tool. 10. Use thy bike An obvious one this, but cars and tube fares are costly. Bikes are good exercise and cheap. Buy a decent second hand one for £100 on craigslist.org or ebay. co.uk. You won’t regret it. Words – Rebecca O’Conner www.success-mag.co.uk
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RECRUITMENT CONSULTANCY – THE CAREER FOR YOU?
Are you looking for a challenging career that provides opportunity to be one of the highest paid graduates? Are you driven and hardworking with excellent communication skills and confidence? Read on, recruitment consultancy might be the career for you! Recruitment consultants work to establish and build relationships, with both clients and candidates, in order to effectively identify roles and place the most suitable applicants in desirable positions. Within the finance industry, no one does this more successfully than Selby Jennings, who were recently awarded “Best Financial Services and Banking Recruitment Firm” at the 2009 Recruiter Awards for Excellence. Selby Jennings’s consultants possess exceptional sales skills that see them attract top-tier clients and candidates alike, allowing them to maximise their commission and earning potential. Top billers at Selby Jennings easily earn in excess of £100k a year and at Selby Jennings there really are no limits - the harder you work, the more you earn. The record pay cheque in a month is £69k, achieved by a consultant who had been with Selby Jennings for just 18 months. Such high earnings are facilitated by Selby Jennings’s position in the high-end sector of the financial markets, with a focus on top-tier financial institutions and filling the senior positions within them. Unlike many of its rivals, Selby Jennings has a strong global reputation, working with 18 of the 20 top global investment banks, and over 2,100 global hedge funds and financial consultancies. You’re probably thinking that an opportunity to make a six-figure
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salary just one year after graduating sounds good, but like any job there are certain attributes, abilities and passions required for the role that not everyone possesses.
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Inside the Selby Jennings office.
You will need to feel confident speaking to individuals from all backgrounds and levels in organisations, your clients could be senior executives of major companies. Consultants at Selby Jennings have that ability to “talk the talk” - tact, persuasiveness, sociability and professionalism. It might sound easy, but be assured it will not always be smooth going. Therefore, hard work and resilience are integral to success as a recruitment consultant. A candidate might decline to accept a position, for example, and it will be your propensity to deal with these situations that could make the difference between a £100k salary and one that is just mediocre. At Selby Jennings, mediocrity is not accepted. Successful consultants at Selby Jennings possess the determination to get back to searching in the face of adversity. The industry is competitive and fast moving. Within the Selby Jennings office such competition creates an atmosphere that is energised and upbeat, with consultants supporting each other whilst simultaneously vying to arrange the most deals.
At Selby, consultants are encouraged to view recruiting not as a job, but as a career opportunity with unlimited scope to progress. Being a tight-knit team negates the need for bureaucracy, so consultants are promoted purely based on their performance and aptitude for taking further responsibility. Recruitment can be lucrative and rewarding for a select few, with only the most elite, eager and astute able to succeed at Selby Jennings. If you really are target driven, not content with being average, highly ambitious and, above all, outgoing and confident, there really is only one career route for you…financial recruitment at Selby Jennings. For more information or to apply, please email working@selbyjennings.com or visit our website www.selbyjennings.com.
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SHELL LIVEWIRE YOUNG ENTREPReNEUR OF THE YEAR!
TITLE RACE ON FOR THE UK’S YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR! Top awards scheme offers £10,000 and business glory for Britain’s best The coveted Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, which recognises and celebrates the achievements of the UK’s finest young entrepreneurs, is now open for entries.
respondents said they feel confident about making their business a success in spite of the recession whilst almost a third (30%) say the recession has made them more determined than ever to succeed.
The award, run by one of the UK’s longest running youth enterprise schemes, offers budding entrepreneurs aged 16-30 the opportunity to stand out from the crowd and receive a cash injection of £10,000. Previous winners include successful entrepreneurs such as Jamie Murray-Wells from Glasses Direct, Stewart Graham from the Gael Force Group, Lucy Cohen from Mazuma Money and James Watt from Brewdog. Shell LiveWIRE has seen an upsurge of almost 20% in sign-ups to its 98,000-strong international online community since its re-launch in January, demonstrating a continuing appetite for entrepreneurialism amongst Britain’s innovative young community in spite of the current climate. In a recent poll* of the Shell LiveWIRE community, 90% of
Jamie Murray Wells, the 2005 winner of the Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, founded Glasses Direct from his parents’ living room in 2004 using the last installment of his student loan. The business, which sells cut-price prescription glasses over the internet, now has a multi-million pound turnover and sells a pair of glasses every three minutes all over the world. James Smith, Shell UK Chairman, said: “It’s great to see that Britain’s young entrepreneurial community is not being put off by the recession and there is still a hunger to start up businesses. An external vote of confidence can make all the difference when you are trying to get a business off the ground. We hope the Shell Livewire Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award will
*The poll was conducted on the www.shell-livewire.org business networking site; 612 members took part in this survey, which ran on the site from 24 March 2009 to 6 May 2009.
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$uccess Mag / Summer 2009
provide a welcome boost to aspiring young entrepreneurs.” Shell LiveWIRE supports young entrepreneurs with two award schemes and online resources for business start-ups. The enterprise scheme hosts a business networking community at www.shell-livewire.org with 84,000 members in the UK alone, enabling the best business brains from every corner of the nation to share ideas, insights and inspiration with fellow entrepreneurs who understand the challenges they are facing.
The programme has helped thousands of young people since it began in 1982. In January of this year it introduced the Shell LiveWIRE Grand Ideas Awards, which offers up to five, monthly awards of £1,000 to 16-30 year olds with innovative projects to launch their businesses. The deadline for applications is 11 September 2009. To qualify for entry, applicants must be aged 16-30 and have been trading for at least three months and no more than 18 months on 11 September 2009. To find out more, or to enter the Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, visit www.shell-livewire.org
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