Make the Future Yours! Issue 7

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Project Management isn't just for Project Managers!

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FromtheEditor

Editorial Editor Claire Sutton claire@makethefutureyours.com @edfutureyours

In this issue, we look at how to make the most of your hobbies, the new routes into the healthcare system and why work experience is important.

Welcome to Issue 7!

Whether you know what path you’re thinking of taking or have no idea at all, as always, we aim to present you with examples of the diverse range of careers, education routes and training opportunities that are on offer.

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We hope our magazine can help inspire you to start thinking about your future and we’re here for any tips you may need along the way. Follow us on our social media and head to our website for more stories, resources and updates!

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Get social with us: The Future Business Ltd @makefutureyours The production of any material, whether whole or in part, is strictly forbidden without prior written consent of the publisher. The editor reserves the right to publish any letters and submissions. Prices and details are subject to change and The Future Business Ltd accepts no responsibility for omissions or errors. All materials sent at original owner’s risk. © The Future Business Ltd 2023.

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Contents 4 New routes into a career in health 6 Apprenticeships explained 8 Why is work experience important?

10 Making the most of your hobbies 12 What is a Training Provider?

14 Starting your own business 17 Do you have a LinkedIn profile yet?

19 What is Project Management?

22 What des it mean to be Chartered?

23 Useful Stuff 24 A career in Financial Advice 27 So you think you know construction?

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New routes into

a career in health Awareness of the variety of skills our health industry needs has grown recently with the NHS so often in the headlines. Most people now understand that it’s not just Doctors and Nurses who work in hospitals and healthcare settings but a wide variety of medical, allied healthcare and business support staff too. We spoke to two people who take up healthcare roles and are considering the possible routes for doing that.

Alishah Basharat is doing a T Level in Healthcare at Bolton College, which she expects to finish in summer 2024. She chose the T Level because she knows she wants a career in care, either in neonatal nursing, looking after new-born babies, or in counselling and therapy. The T Level course will provide her with the appropriate qualifications to continue on to a full-time University course or to undertake a Degree Apprenticeship.

“I’m thinking about doing a degree apprenticeship after my T Level,” Alishah said.

“A lot of people prefer practical learning and learn better that way.”

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In contrast to Alishah, Dean Ramsden has found a career in healthcare later in life.

Having been made redundant from his career in IT during the pandemic, Dean’s interest in sport created an opportunity for him. Having completed a taster course in Sports Massage, he was contacted by the NHS during the pandemic to work on a temporary COVID-19 contract providing support to speech therapists.

This sparked a passion to pursue a physiotherapy career, and he began an Access Course at Bolton College last September, with a view to studying further to become a qualified physiotherapist. While he’s

thoroughly enjoyed his Access Course, Dean thinks that practical, on-the-job learning would have been highly beneficial for him.

“I currently work as a physio assistant part time, three days a week, which I’m doing independently of my studies, “ Dean explained. “I didn’t know of any central information points to find out about routes into physiotherapy so I had to ring people and ask what my options were. I would have been very interested in the apprenticeship route. It would have been an alternative way into physiotherapy that, at the time, would have been more accessible to me.”

Fortunately for both Alishah and Dean, healthcare related qualifications and Apprenticeships are growing all the time so having just the ‘traditional, academic’ route is no longer has to be the only option.

• For further information about the 350+ different job roles that work in the NHS, have a look at: https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/exploreroles/explore-roles#3445 • For information on healthcare related Apprenticeships, explore at: https:// www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/ apprenticeship-standards/ • And to find T Level opportunities new you in England, put your postcode in the search facility here: https://www.tlevels.gov.uk/students/ find?Postcode=LS2+7QT&ShouldSearch=Tru e&SelectedQualificationId=0

A new model for FE in addressing NHS skills challenges?

In June 2022 a new teaching facility was approved that is set to shake up how people are trained and employed in the healthcare sector.

A collaboration between the University of Bolton, Bolton College, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and Bolton Council, the new Bolton College of Medical Sciences (BCMS) is expected to act as a pilot scheme for future collaborations across the country.

Understood to be the first facility of its kind in the UK, BCMS will provide practical skills-based learning in a live hospital environment. Located at the Royal Bolton Hospital, it will give people a direct route into healthcare employment and offer career development opportunities for the existing healthcare workforce.

Work commenced on building construction in July 2022 with the project due to complete by July 2024.

The scheme is expected to contribute £150m over its economic lifetime and create up to 20,000 new jobs and apprenticeships.

“We know our progress will be followed closely in Greater Manchester – and beyond,” said Principal and CEO of Bolton College, Bill Webster. “We’d be happy to talk to other FE colleges about what they can do to work more closely with their local NHS partners. There is clear benefit to closer collaboration between local healthcare providers and FE/HE partners.”

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Some of the employers that offer apprenticeships locally

Why is work experience important?

It hasn’t been a requirement for schools and colleges to offer work experience placements to students since 2012, unless the student is completing a qualification or study programme which requires it. Consequently, the opportunity for most students to try work experience can be highly variable. We look at why work experience is so important and why students should be taking the initiative themselves, if their school or college doesn’t offer it.

“My work placement was a brilliant experience,” said Lauren, now aged 50. “It really helped me work out what I didn’t want to do!” Lauren was lucky enough that her school made time in Year 10 for students to go on a fortnight’s placement. She had no idea what she wanted to do as a career, so the school placed her in the office of a local business.

“The office was nice enough, and the people were kind and took an interest in me. But I realised that I was really missing the school environment; the highlight of my placement was when my Tutor came to visit! As a result, I realised that I wanted to be a teacher. I completed my teacher training at University and I’m still training others all these years later.”

Lauren’s story is not uncommon. If you ask them, many people will say that work experience helped them work out what they didn’t want to do. Whether because the reality of a job they thought they wanted didn’t match their expectations or because, like Lauren, they had no idea and work experience became part of figuring that out, this can be one important benefit of trying something. But it’s by no means the most significant.

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Father of two now grown-up daughters, Peter pointed out the benefits he saw them gain from their work experience. “I didn’t have the opportunity to do any work experience when I was at school so I was very keen for both my girls to take anything they could get. They both had part-time jobs in retail while they were at college; the interview process alone, never mind the team working and customer service skills it gave them, was so valuable. For my eldest, it was a work experience opportunity which led to her first job. She applied for an internship for while she was at university, and they were so pleased with her that they offered her a full-time job when she graduated.”

Speaking as an employer, Raymond agreed. “I like it when young people approach me to ask if I can offer them work experience; it shows initiative and I’m already thinking they could be my next apprentice,” he said. “I like to see work experience, whatever it is, on any application form I read; it shows me that this young person is prepared to step out of their comfort zone and try something new. They will undoubtedly have learnt something from that experience – timekeeping, responsibility, working with adults

they don’t know – which are all relevant to any workplace, including mine.”

“When it comes to making applications, some young people struggle to find appropriate adults to be referees for them,” HR specialist Russell pointed out. “I would expect to see one a referee from their latest school or college but it’s reassuring when I see another from an adult completely outside of that: their Scout leader, the manager at their Saturday job, just someone who sees a different side of them than school does. A reference from something you have done voluntarily can speak volumes about the real you and what motivates you.”

looked, so my confidence had been knocked.

My placement, through a college programme, gave me the opportunity to show my future employer that I was capable of working and fitting in there, so I was thrilled when they offered me an Advanced Apprenticeship at the end of it. Having tried the workplace out already, I knew I could do it so I happily accepted.”

If you haven’t had the opportunity to try a workplace (any workplace) yet, we’d strongly recommend that you take the initiative and organise something for the next chance you have. It is clear that you will gain lots from it – and sometimes even more than you expect!

An extended work experience placement gave Rukshar her first job opportunity. “I had been applying for lots of roles but had been over-

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Making the most of your hobbies

Have you noticed that most application forms and CV templates include a section on what your hobbies and interests are? But why on earth would an employer want to know that? How does you being a Grand Master at Chess Online relate to the job you’re applying for? Let’s explore….

“There are several reasons we ask about your interests outside of work,” explained recruiter, Claire. “The first reason is to be reassured that you are a human being with other interests and not a robot! Secondly, we’re also thinking about how you will fit in with our teams; that’s not to say we look at exactly which football club you support but just that we know you’ll be able chat and build relationships with your colleagues. But perhaps most importantly it’s because your

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hobbies and interests can tell us a lot about what motivates you as a person and what your skills and strengths are.”

It is easy to underestimate what your favourite hobby says about you, partly because it’s something you do to take your mind off school or work. We just don’t tend to think about our hobbies in terms of the skills they demonstrate. But let’s take a couple of examples and see what they say about us.

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Employers don’t expect someone going for their first job to be able to quote skills in the context of the workplace.

How about baking a cake? Some people love baking but, for others, it’s not what they would call fun at all! Partly, that’s because of the skills it requires. First, you have to gather your ingredients and follow a recipe: that takes an eye for details and the ability to follow specific instructions. Then you have to mix everything in the right order and wait for it to bake: patience and timemanagement. Finally, are you going to decorate it? That’s creativity. Finally, to make a cake and be sure that it’s going to taste good enough to eat takes a degree of confidence and self-belief. We’ve identified at least six skills from that one cake, all of which relate to almost every job you can think of.

What about making a video to share on TikTok? You have to think about what your video will be about, probably having thought about what’s trending and what you like to watch yourself (audience awareness and following trends). Then, you need to do a little planning about where to film it, who will

be in it and whether you need sound, lights etc (potentially, that’s planning, teamwork and communication skills). Finally, you’ll make the video, perhaps edit it a bit, and post it online (definitely some tech’ and digital skills there).

Again, we’ve identified another six skills, most of them relevant to any workplace and some of them especially relevant to today’s high tech’ environments.

We could go on: team sports or playing music in a band or orchestra demonstrate a commitment to your team-mates and willingness to learn and improve. Volunteering (at almost anything) shows a reliability and the desire to do something for your community. Even reading (perhaps the last resort of people who don’t think they have any hobbies!) demonstrates you probably have empathy and imagination.

Employers don’t expect someone going for their first job to be able to quote skills in the context of the workplace but they do want to see you giving examples of what your skills and strengths are from your own experiences. You might not be able to say “I created a spreadsheet to process and analyse the first quarter’s sales figures” but you can probably say “I created a revision timetable to keep myself on track for coursework and exam deadlines”. It shows you understand the relevant skills and that they will be useful in the workplace (or for further study).

So, we challenge you: think about all the things you like to do in your spare time and think about what strengths or skills they show you have. If you get stuck, ask a friend or family member; they often see good things in us that we don’t see in ourselves. We bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised! (Don’t forget to keep a note of everything you’ve written down as will be useful for any future applications you might make.)

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What is a training provider?

You would think that the obvious answer to that question is a person or organisation who provides training. Whilst that is certainly true, in the world of apprenticeships, the term training provider has a very specific meaning too.

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A training provider is an organisation who is officially registered and approved to deliver Apprenticeship Training. All training providers need to be listed on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) and will have a contract with the Government for funding purposes.

All training providers are also subject to OfSTED Inspections, which helps to ensure the quality and the experience for their learners.

Training providers are typically colleges of further education, private or specialist training providers and some universities.

For example, Basingstoke College of Technology (BCoT), HTP Apprenticeship College and Solent

University all feature on the RoATP and regularly deliver apprenticeships in a range of areas.

However, some employers or specialist organisations also choose to become registered so they can deliver apprenticeships. Browsing the list of over 2,000 training providers currently registered in England, the following organisations also feature: Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC), Boots the Chemist and the National Pharmacy Association, to name just a few.

If you want to find out more, the Gov.uk website has useful information and if you want to find a Training Provider, the RoATP listing can be found on the Gov.uk website in the Apprenticeship section.

The Apprentice Ambassador Network The Apprentice Ambassador Network is a group of inspiring, driven apprentices, both current and former, who are happy to share their experiences with others. Ambassadors can be booked to come in to speak at schools, attend careers fairs or support mock interview days, for example. All Ambassadors receive free training and are then able to choose which events in their area they are able to support. In our experience, employers are usually delighted to support their Apprentices to sign up as an Ambassador as they are such a great reflection on the company! To sign up as an Apprentice Ambassador or if you are teacher and you would like to request an Ambassador, please visit https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/influencers/become-an-ambassador#

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Want to start your own business?

Many people consider running their own business as the ultimate exercise in freedom.

After all, being your own boss means you call the shots. All of them. You need to decide what you’ll do, how you’ll do it, when, how, what hours, where, and how will you fund this fledgling business and get it airborne?

Don’t be intimidated. This is a big step and, like all major life changes, you’ll probably have to fight through the uncertainty, people with good intentions telling you this is silly, and maybe even a few sleepless nights doubting yourself to get up and running but, once you are, it will all be worth it.

Start with time You might not have the money right now to just set up and go, but that doesn’t mean you have to sit back and wait for finances to fall into place to get started. Sit down and write out a rough plan.

This may sound obvious but name your business. This could end up being dead simple, a lot of fun, or a major headache.

Make sure you put some thought into it. It

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will, after all, be how people identify you and making a change later on could have some repercussion on how easily existing customers find you online in future.

Build out your brand identity. Do you have a logo in mind? What colours will you use?

What font? You need to make sure that people can easily identify your business no matter what material they are looking at, printed or online or just driving by. Consistent branding is important to your business identity.

Be absolutely clear on what you’re selling.

Test the waters by selling to a small group of family or friends, maybe do a few test runs with sales to friends of friends. Get a feel for your customer base. Connect with people in the same line of business or find someone who has something you’ll need and find out if they’re interested in a swap of products or services.

This usually works best with another business on the same level as yours. Nothing wrong with aiming high but you’ll have a better shot at getting somewhere with someone who isn’t a multi-billion-pound giant.

Identify your customer. Who are you selling to? Where can you find them? Are they on social media? Can you begin a conversation

with them now? Set up your social media accounts and make sure the name you use is about the same across all the platforms you’re using.

If you’re planning on setting up a website, consider writing a few blogs. That way you’ll have shareable content ready to go and you won’t need to worry about it during the initial whirlwind of getting the business going.

Write your biography – who are you – what do you do – and more importantly, how does what you do help your potential customers.

Sell the solution not the problem is still solid advice, and if you know exactly what problem you’re solving, it will be much easier to build your brand around it.

Money talks Time to get serious about money. Make a list of all the things you will need to spend money on. From premises to vehicles to web domains to staff to stationery, you need to be absolutely clear on your initial outlay. You don’t need to start with exact figures, but you do need to know exactly what you’ll be needing money for, so you can build that out later.

Go through your list and assign priorities to each item. What must you absolutely have ready to go from day one, and what can you set up later.

Do some research and work out how much everything will cost. Set out a budget for at least the next 6 months and come up with a few worst-case scenarios and make sure you budget for them. There shouldn’t be anything left unaccounted for here, and you should now have a very good idea of exactly how much capital you’ll need to get up and running.

Make a plan Get to work on your official business plan.

This will vary greatly depending on the type of

business, where you’re planning to get funding from, and various other factors.

There are plenty of templates around to get you started.

Use them to get the thought process going, and then tweak and refine to make it your own. You need to have a clear vision of who you are, who your customers are, how much money you’ll need and for what, and what your plan is for your business.

Write it down. Keep it brief by focusing on key points that will keep your business on course, but thorough. You need to be able to define your business, know who your competitors are and have a basic marketing plan.

Consider everything but don’t get too bogged down in 100 pages of probably inconsequential details.

The small print You need to make sure you have the basics covered. You’ll need an accountant, for example. And it wouldn’t hurt to get some protection in place for those things that could trip you up when you least expect it.

Having tax investigation and legal protection takes the weight off your shoulders of having to worry about it when you need it. FSB members have access to a 24/7 legal advice line, online legal documents and tax and legal protection as part of their membership package. Have a look at our full range of benefits to get an idea of what might come in handy for your small business.

Getting started is the hardest part. The truth is, if you wait until you’re 100% ready you may never do it. No time like the present. Take a deep breath and just take the first step. Soon you’ll find your momentum and be well on your way to being a small business owner.

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Meet our…

Apprentices

What is Project Management?

Every project needs a person (or a team) to keep a close watch on plans, budgets, people, quality of outputs and anything that could cause a problem, to ensure the project is completed on time and on budget. The business role of Project Management has developed from this need. We talk to one young Project Manager to find out how she got where she is today – and where she plans to go next!

“I think it’s really harsh to make a 16-yearold decide on their career,” said Stacey Bishop who, at just 26 years old, is one of the youngest qualified Chartered Project Managers in the country. “I went to an allgirls Grammar School and the emphasis was on Oxford or Cambridge University applications, preferably to become a Doctor or a Lawyer. I thought about doing Aerospace Engineering, but I really wasn’t sure. There certainly wasn’t much

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information around about any other options at that time.”

After a year of AS Levels at school, which she realised weren’t for her, Stacey switched to study a BTEC in Medical Science at College, to try to keep her options open. However, after a year of that, she decided that she really did want to go into Engineering. Stacey had never been sure about going to university full

time, she’d watched her sister’s experience and just didn’t think it would suit her, so had looked around for other opportunities instead. The idea of getting paid whilst gaining qualifications was really appealing so Stacey started looking for an Apprenticeship.

“I live in Plymouth, so Devonport Royal Dockyard and the Ministry of Defence are big employers locally. I hadn’t intended to go into a defence-oriented role, but the engineering opportunities were fantastic. I applied and got a job as an Engineering Management Apprentice. I was one of only two females out of 12 in my cohort, but we all got along!”

With determination and hard work, Stacey completed what was planned to be a threeyear Apprenticeship in just over two years.

“An opportunity for a permanent role had come up with a defence contractor, Babcock, as a Project Engineer so I really wanted to finish my Apprenticeship as quickly as possible,” Stacey explained.

“I joined a Project Management team and spent a really interesting year supporting the Project Managers, and realising how diverse and varied Project Management is. My new manager told me about the professional qualifications you can do in Project Management and said that I could apply for Babcock to pay for me to do them. I started with the Association for Project Management Project Management Qualification (APM PMQ for short!).”

Stacey was quickly ready to try for another promotion, this time as a Senior Project Engineer, and to study for the next level qualification, the APM Project Professional Qualification (PPQ). This put her in a great position to try for her first Project Manager role, which came about a year later. “I was responsible for 3 concurrent submarine projects; I wasn’t sure that I wanted to work on subs’ specifically, but I finally had the accountability and the responsibility of my own.”

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I have established some great skills that can take me anywhere, and I am always keen to explore different industries.

“I also challenged myself to become a Chartered Project Manager. I think having my professional qualifications were essential in being able to move up. I was usually much younger than the people I was working with, who were predominantly men, so I think it helped to convince them that I must know what I was talking about! It felt as though having some letters after my name had some traction, that I didn’t have to explain myself.”

Stacey says that she gets bored of monotonous tasks and likes opportunities to move around and find new challenges. After the lockdowns and changes in working practices that 2020 brought, Stacey realised that the rise of hybrid working or working from home could open more opportunities for her.

“I had never particularly wanted to go into Defence, I had just ended up there as local opportunities came up. I realised that remote working could be an opportunity for me to look for a job that I could feel passionate about but that wasn’t necessarily tied to a location. I saw the role at SSE Renewables (the renewable energy division of Scottish & Southern Energy)

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working on Berwick Bank Windfarm, which has the potential to be the biggest in the world. I knew nothing about windfarms, and I was honest about that, but I was willing to learn and SSE gave me the opportunity. It’s a huge project team, the biggest I ever worked for.”

Stacey worked in that team for just over a year before another opportunity within SSE came up.

“SSE have historically been a UK and Irelandbased company but have recently started moving into international markets, such as Japan and the USA,” Stacey explained.

“International projects have always interested me, the way different people and cultures interact, so I jumped at the chance.”

Since October 2022, Stacey has been one of a team of five responsible for integrating everything required for SSE to move into new markets – and new countries. “My responsibility is to take our UK-based policies and procedures, and training, and make sure they will apply in the new country’s legislative and cultural environment. It’s a lot of reading and prioritising, I didn’t realise how big a challenge it would be when I started, but I’m on track and getting all the support that I need from the wider team.”

What does a typical day look like for Stacey? “Of course, that varies between projects, but typically lots of emails and monitoring our progress against the plan – talking to the people in the team to ask for updates on their tasks.

Cost and resource management is vital, you need to be very conscious of people’s time

including your own, to ensure projects are delivered on budget. I spend a lot of time on huge spreadsheets; we have EVM - earned value management spreadsheets – which are a way to track actual effort spent against budgeted effort – this method helps forecast outcomes based on previous performance.”

Stacey isn’t always based at home. “I occasionally get to go to Scotland (SSE HQ); it’s good to have the face-to-face interaction but I don’t think there are many barriers to working remotely anymore, people are used to it. There are a lot of calls, too. Japan is nine hours ahead of the UK, so we tend to do those calls early in the morning, whereas we will set up calls with the USA later in the day.”

What skills does Stacey think a successful Project Manager requires? “Soft skills – especially communication - are big but it’s not like you have to born with them, you can learn them. Public speaking for example is something you can learn. Communication is essential, actively listening – especially important on virtual calls when you need to show you are actively engaged with the call and ensuring you have understood what was said.

Writing and being able to write effective reports is important; different people will want different levels of detail so you will need to learn what they need to know.

Of course, time management and being able to prioritise effectively is vital too, managing your time as well as everyone else’s.

You can learn and

it is a transferable skill – it’s a bit like prioritising the homework that is due first!

You can practise all of these throughout school and in any hobbies you have.”

As someone who says she gets bored easily, what is Stacey’s next step? “My next plan is to go international – somewhere! I have no particular plans for the future, but I always keep an eye open for opportunities. I am doing a Degree Apprenticeship ‘Digital & Technology Solutions’; I started while I was at Babcock, and I’m now in my fourth and last year. I chose to specialise in Business Analysis and IT consultancy, which is similar in some ways to Project Management but

focuses more on technology, so it sort of bridges the gap and I can apply my work experience to my assignments.”

“I have established some great skills that can take me anywhere, and I am always keen to explore different industries. Project management applies to any industry so I am still keen to learn and explore. I could go into Food or Fashion or Construction – my PM skillset will apply anywhere. Something like PM allows you to experience different industries and move around; it’s hard work learning a new subject, but it does open doors and it can allow you to specialise if you find the industry you love.”

For more information about the Association for Project Management (APM), visit their website, www.apm.org.uk, or follow them on social media: Facebook: @APMProjectMgmt Instagram: apmprojectmgmt TikTok: @apmprojectmanagement YouTube: @APMProjectMgmt If you’re a student or apprentice aged 16 or over, you can become a student member of APM for free!

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What does it mean to be Chartered?

You’ve probably heard of job titles like Chartered Accountant or Chartered Surveyor, but what does ‘chartered’ actually mean? Many professions use the term so we explore some of them and what it can tell us about the individual and their career.

To be a Chartered professional, in any area of work, means you are a member of a professional body relevant to your industry. In order for that professional body to award ‘Chartered’ status to its members, that body will have to hold a Royal Charter from the British monarch. Here are a few examples of professional bodies: the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), received their charter in 1912; the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), chartered in 1974 and the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), who received their Royal charter in 1989.

In order to become a Chartered member, professional bodies will insist on a number of criteria being met. The individual must have reached a specific level of skill, competence or experience in their role. This can be demonstrated through their work experience but will also usually include meeting a particular qualification level. Many professional bodies look for post-graduate qualifications and/or completion of their own industry qualifications.

A Chartered member must also agree to uphold the standards and reputation of the professional body. It is not unusual for bodies to have a code of practice that applicants must commit to before they will be approved as Chartered, which often sets out the standards

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and best practice. A professional body would be within its rights to cancel the membership of an individual found to be ignoring these standards and jeopardising the reputation of their profession.

Chartered status will usually also bring with it a requirement to do CPD – continuing professional development. CPD is what it says it is: that you will continue to develop your professional skills, to keep up with technologies and developing ideas related to your industry. Most bodies have a set number of CPD hours members must meet each year in order to remain Chartered. We have talked about this in a previous article if you want to read more about CPD. In other words, being a Chartered professional indicates that you have reached a certain level of experience and qualification that is recognised by your fellow professionals, that you commit to maintaining the reputation of your industry and that you regularly keep up-todate with developments in your field.

It is worth noting that a number of Chartered professionals exist outside of regulated professions. Regulated professions are those where it is defined in law who can work in them.

These include Doctors, Dentists and Architects, all jobs where we wouldn’t want just anyone calling themselves qualified.

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Key dates and more 4

A career in financial advice Connor Dalton has been working in financial advice since 2013, having ‘fallen into’ the role after university. He tells us about why it has become a job he feels very passionately about and shares his journey so far to becoming a Chartered Financial Advisor.

Like a lot of people, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do when I grew up. I certainly didn’t know that being a Financial Advisor was even a job, so, at GCSE and then A Level, I picked subjects that I thought I would enjoy. For A Level, that was Economics, Accounting, English Language and PE. I thought I would really like PE – I got an A* at GCSE and I love sport – but there was more biology in the subject at college and so I didn’t do quite so well. In my second year, I focussed on Economics and added a one-year Maths A Level.

Looking back, I’m not really sure why I chose Economics; I think a friend did, so I joined him. Luckily, we had a really good tutor and he taught us a lot. As a child, I remember being interested and a bit scared about the idea that the value of stocks and

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shares could go up and down. But at A Level, the principle of investing in capital so you can earn more in future really stuck with me.

I was at college from 2008 to 2010 during the financial crisis and jobs weren’t that available, so the decision to go to university was partly because of that. I got into Brighton through Clearing to do Economics and Finance. Brighton was a great place to live; it’s not a campus university so I was living in the town. I went straight into a houseshare with some other people.

Fortunately, we were all fairly sensible and we would share the shopping and the cooking between us. It worked well.

Because I still didn’t know what I wanted to do after university, I don’t think I had the

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I would recommend anyone to take any training that is offered to them!”

drive to do as well as I perhaps should have done. A degree is about effort; you can get so far being naturally bright, but you are rewarded if you put in the extra effort. If I had applied myself, I think I could have done even better. My degree was a threeyear course but there was the option to do a year out in industry if we wanted. Because I didn’t know what I wanted to do, none of the job options available really grabbed me so I didn’t take that up but looking back I should have taken the opportunity.

By summer 2013, I had got my degree but still had no idea what I wanted to do! At first, I carried on working some hours at Sainsburys, just to bring in some money. I was applying to office jobs and graduate schemes that sounded interesting, either because they were local or they were relevant to my degree.

Graduate schemes are really hard to get into as so many people apply, and there can be five or six stages to the recruitment process.

Again, I think not knowing what I wanted to do meant I didn’t have the purpose to do well in interviews. Interviewers always want to know a lot about you but I didn’t know what questions to ask them. How do you really know what to ask unless you do the job? I even went to an interview at MI5 in London, which was the toughest interview of all!

A financial services company called Old Mutual invited me for an interview for an introductory role in financial planning and I was offered the job. The salary in terms of my take home pay wasn’t great but it included things like life insurance, income protection, medical insurance, etc., so the overall package was worth much more than just my salary.

In the office, I would hear people on the phone talking to FAs. I realised it wasn’t the Football Association so who was it? This was when I started to understand the role of Financial Advisors and was given the option to take professional qualifications myself. I would recommend anyone to take any training that is offered to them! I started with the Financial Advisor Level 3 course, which started me on my professional training.

To become a Financial Advisor in my own right, I then needed to complete the Level 4 qualification. I decided to choose the Certified Insurance Institute as the professional body to gain my qualification which consisted of six exams in total and covers more areas. Lots of the preparation was self-study but my employer gave me time during the week. That was probably the hardest part, making time to study in your own time sometimes as well as doing your day job – really hard when you know that your mates are off playing football! The final exam felt particularly relevant to the job.

You get a case study detailing a person’s financial situation and then the questions are based around how you would advise them.

Whilst doing these exams, I had changed jobs a couple of times, working in a couple of smaller companies who specialised in different areas to help me gain a wider experience. I had my first interview for a Financial Planner role in April 2019 with Hampshire Financial Planning, part of St James Place Group. It was what I had

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wanted to do for years by then and I was so pleased when I was offered the job.

They put me on an internal training scheme designed for people like me who had industry experience but not the client contact. Once a month, I would spend a week in Bristol on formal learning and then I would spend three weeks shadowing other FAs so I could see them in practice. I had the advantage of already having all my Level 4 qualifications so I was able to ‘fast track’ what should have been a year’s course. I was then able to be signed off as a competent Financial Advisor, following observations and submitting my work and exam results to a qualified person to check my advice.

I would urge people to consider Financial Advice as a career. If you don’t want to sit in an office all day, if you’re genuinely interested in people and what they want to achieve, it can be really rewarding. It’s quite well paid too! It’s not always easy, of course, and there will be some bits that you just have to get through to achieve your goals but it’s definitely worth it. I’m now self-employed working with St James Place so that gives me freedom perhaps to take clients out to dinner or for a round of golf. It gives me a good work/life balance as long as I do put the effort in. It’s a fun job, actually, and it gives you a good feeling when you can see that you have made a difference to someone’s life. Perhaps your advice has enabled them to retire early or help their children on to the property ladder; it feels good to help them achieve that.

The financial advice I would give to people when they get their first job is put 10% of your salary each month into a savings account to build up a bit of a ‘buffer’. Keep at least three months’ worth as a contingency fund and then start looking to invest the rest.

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So you think you know construction?

In a previous issue of Make the Future Yours!, we looked at Decarbonisation and the challenge that faces all of us in ensuring the future of our planet. We take a closer look at how the construction industry is starting to embrace this challenge, and what our homes of the future need to be.

“Our homes are the most important piece of architecture in our lives,” says Mark Southgate, CEO of the Ministry of Building Innovation &Education (MOBIE). “A welldesigned home can promote our wellbeing, a poorly design one the opposite.”

And Mark should know, he has spent his career working in roles that influence both our natural and built environments.

“High standards of home design and high quality home-building should be the norm.

This includes zero carbon to combat climate change and address fuel poverty; secure homes and neighbourhoods that promote mental and physical health; and adaptable homes that facilitate healthy ageing.”

Mark points out that the UK is a long way from that right now. The way we build houses has hardly changed in 100 years. Where other manufacturing sectors have undergone revolutions, much of our housing ‘technology’ is over 100 years old. It is incredible that for one of our most expensive purchases and

monthly outgoings, time has largely stood still.

The UK faces three particular challenges when it comes to our homes: • We are not building enough houses: we are in a housing crisis. The government is committed to building 300,000 houses per year by the mid-2020s, but even in our best years, we only manage to build a little more 200,000. We must significantly increase the number that we build.

• The quality of houses is inadequate: that’s quality in terms of design, construction and performance. Housebuilding remains rooted in tradition but we must transform how we build, learning from the best manufacturing industries here and from abroad.

• There is a homebuilding labour shortage: we have an enormous lack of new talent coming into the housebuilding and construction industries.

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Recent reviews predict that the industry’s workforce will decline by 20-25% in a decade, and that 32% of the UK construction sector workforce is aged 50 or over, with only 10% under the age of 25. We must bring in new talent if we are to build the homes we need and deserve.

Modern Methods of Construction are part of the solution, but so is a stronger customer focus, and a culture of continuous improvement. We should demand houses that are cheaper to run, better to live in, adaptable, last for longer and reduce our environmental footprint.

In the 21st century, we should be building homes in very different and much better ways than we have done in the past. With incredible developments in digital technology, the amazing research and development that goes into the performance of individual building products and higher standards of building practice, we have an opportunity to radically transform our product. Learning from other industries we can transform house building into a clean, precisionengineered and efficient product and process.

“One of these new methods could be factory-built houses, for example” Mark explains. As more home building factories are built (and there are some already) the number of manufactured homes increases, and the manufacturing cost of each home will reduce. Factory-built homes give us an incredible opportunity to embrace the digital and clean-tech manufacturing age making homebuilding more efficient, more professional and potentially a more appealing industry to work in. It has the opportunity to revolutionise the way we order, buy, design, make, live-in and maintain 21st century homes. Prefabrication could be the home building revolution our industry needs to change. We need to inspire the next generation to want to be part of it.

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We need to be building beautiful, smart, zero carbon homes and retrofitting our 27 million existing homes to reduce their carbon footprint and it is only by engaging with young people that we will have any chance of doing it. It will take the very best in design talent – designing amazing digital software, designing innovative supply chains, designing efficient manufacturing processes and designing new systems and financial models as well as designing homes.

Mark and his colleagues at MOBIE believe that, by working together as an industry, we can show how rewarding and exciting a career in home design, manufacturing and construction can be.

“There are incredible opportunities for young people to create a new built environment that is green, affordable, promotes health and well-being and builds homes that are amazing spaces to live in,” Mark says.

More than just glasses You’ll know us for one thing but we’re so much more.

Find out just how many opportunities we have for an amazing and rewarding career.

Discover a new career in the great outdoors!

Are you creative, practical, have an eye for detail, interested in the environment and want to work outdoors?

Then landscaping could be the career for you.

There are lots of roles in landscaping...

Creatively solving problems in green spaces, designing plans that will improve or create new gardens?

This is landscape design.

Looking for something hands-on and physical? Want to be involved in planning and building landscapes using a range of structural materials to turn design into reality?

This is hard landscaping.

Can you see yourself choosing and planting a wide range of plants to transform green spaces, adding texture, colour, and scent? This is soft landscaping.

Making sure green spaces are looking their best, that they are safe, clean, and attractive to those using and visiting them? This is landscape maintenance.

To find out how to have a career in the great outdoors, visit www.golandscape.co.uk