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My mum, Sue Rees, passed away in 2015 and for a couple of years prior she her own blog that covered loads of topics – life, death, friendship, family, kindness as well as lots of other random musings.
During lockdown I’ve revisited her blog, and came across a handful of posts on careers (mum was a She was a career and life coach) published during the 2012 recession that are as relevant now as they were then.
Blog 3 - Tips On Securing The Work You Want
I thought that after the previous blogs around goals etc, it might be helpful to follow them with a couple of related ones. If you are thinking that a change of career could be on the cards or a more concentrated effort needs to be made to actually find work, then hopefully this blog will be useful.
Although we are in a recession (more for some than others) at some point things will improve, so you can even keep this to one side for then.
Over the years I have been an employee and self-employed; worked both full and part-time; had jobs I loved and ones I hated. I have worked for a bank, an investment company, a national charity. I have been the worst barmaid ever at Yates Wine Lodge in Liverpool (don't ask!). I've worked as a housekeeper for a multi-millionaire in Wilmslow which was (how can I say this?) surreal, bizarre, interesting, hysterical, scary and sometimes great fun. It is worthy of a blog in itself - with all the names and dates changed of course! Oh, and I have also worked as a gardener. Self-employment included catering which fitted nicely around the family. However, the thread that has run through all of this is a love of art/design/crafts and the skill that I have used to good effect in most roles is my creativity. And yet, it didn't occur to me when I was starting out that these skills could help me make living and that I should therefore use them, knowingly instead of accidentally. So, bearing the above it mind, here are a few guidelines for you:
Take a fresh look at your strengths
Look clearly at what you do best. When do you get 'lost in the flow'? In which areas do you shine (and this is no time to be shy!)? Which aspect of your work is/was the most enjoyable? Do a personal SWOT analysis. This refers to your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (or barriers to progress). Be creative and perhaps get together with someone you know and trust to do this. They can add another dimension to the progress and show you that your strengths and talents could lead you into areas you hadn't considered before. Get to know yourself and find out what makes you tick.
Create a job 'think tank'
For this you literally need to go on job hunting exercise. The objective is to find the types of roles in which you could let your skills and strengths be displayed. When I originally wrote this, I suggested that libraries and career guidance centres were the best sources for information, but of course now we can add the internet to the list. See what others are doing, ask how they got the job etc.
Go ahead and call
Depending on your personality, this might be difficult to do at first but contacting people who are working in the industry and organisations which you are interested in, is a very useful thing to do. Today, email is used too but if you can talk to the person, even better. Networking is important now and it is through this (and volunteering) that I have secured work as an employee or good contacts for own (small) business. Do not be deterred if you don't get the response you want in the first instance. Most people are very helpful, provided you are polite and patient. Unless you are one of the few exceptionally talented and lucky individuals (wherever they are!) the chances are that no one is going to knock on your door and beg you to work for them ................yet.
Depending on your personal circumstances you could offer to do some work for free in a key organisation, something that can help in your trying to gain qualifications. It gets harder I know, but worth a try. You could involve yourself in local community or non-profit making organisations but remember that this is a two-way thing and you must be prepared to contribute in positive ways. However, if you choose carefully, it is amazing how many contacts you make in this way. Success by taking this route could be affected by your age, current skills and how secure within their own role, the key person you deal with, is but people buy people so go out and sell yourself!
Be persistent and check your attitude
You may not agree but more than talent, intelligence or skills, determination and persistence are the key factors in making progress. You can add having a good attitude to the list. If you believe that the world owes you a living and everyone else is to blame for your situation, whilst this may well be true, such a negative attitude will get you nowhere. Know what you want, learn all you can, consistently take action and gain the necessary experience. Put all this together and, whilst there are no guarantees, you will be best placed to find he work you want and live the life you choose. Good luck!
"There is no such thing as a career path, just crazy paving you have to build yourself"
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Sean is an expert in estate and succession planning at Gateley PLC. He acts for high net worth individuals, ultra-high net worth individuals and not-for-profit organisations. He advises on complex, tax-efficient wills, the establishment and administration of high value trusts, estate administration and related matters. Sean acts as a professional Executor and Trustee.
Click here for Sean's profile on the Gateley website.
- Can you tell us a bit about your background, and your role at Gateley?
I’m a private client lawyer with over 20 years’ experience based in Gateley’s Manchester office.
- What has been the most memorable piece of work you have been involved in?
The administration of a high value estate with assets in multiple jurisdictions, some awkward tax issues and a very nasty piece of litigation in the U.S. Quite a long time ago now but the matter had so many different issues it still stands out.
- If you hadn’t been a lawyer, what would you have done?
General Manager of a 5 star hotel somewhere exotic. Many of the elements of my present role that I enjoy, (managing a team, meeting people and delivering a service with the aim of exceeding high expectations) but in a more luxurious setting!
- How’s business at the moment?
Very, very busy. Certainly not complaining though.
- In the Covid19 era, what is the main challenge in private client?
Normally clients gain a lot from face to face meetings and obviously those haven’t been possible. We have worked around this as best we can but it’s not quite the same. You can’t replicate a handshake digitally.
- What opportunities can you see?
The situation has prompted clients to really focus on their estate planning. This has generated a lot of work. My expectation is that estate planning will continue to be a priority for more people than it has been in the past even as the present situation calms down.
- How have you found lockdown?
My round trip to the office is over 50 miles a day. I have worked from home on a regular basis for a day a week for a few years now and so I’m used to it but even so, not having to commute to work for 2 months has been a positive benefit. My home office set up is relatively sophisticated though I do need to change the wallpaper.
- How have you kept in touch with colleagues?
I have gone from never having used Microsoft Teams and Zoom to being quite proficient. These packages really help everyone keep in touch and working as a team. Teams makes it much easier to work with the wider private client team nationally.
- What about clients?
In the absence of face to face meetings clients have been communicating through email and mobile phone calls more than ever and that’s worked well.
- What are the 3 things you miss most from your pre lockdown life?
In no particular order, morning coffee from Pret, a good meal in a restaurant with friends and browsing the shelves in Waterstones.
- What do you think the biggest change will be working life post lockdown?
Regular homeworking and related working practices such as paperless working have been embraced by lot of people who haven’t worked this way before through necessity. I’m sure that there will be permanent change as a result and some element of home working is here to stay for a lot of people.
- What’s the first thing you’ll do when lockdown is lifted?
I haven’t seen my mum since February and so that comes first but if I can stop off at Pret and Waterstones on the way……….
- What restaurant you will visit?
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Nick is a highly respected commercial litigator and cited by the Legal 500 as one of the top lawyers in the North West. As well as being Head of Litigation at Bermans, he also co-founder of the multi-award winning dispute resolution product, Escalate.
Click here for Nick's profile on the Bermans website.
- Can you tell us a bit about your background, and your role at Escalate?
I am head of litigation of full-service law firm, Bermans and have been with the firm for 25 + years. My experience over the past 5-10 years demonstrated that the commercial dispute market for SMEs has been fragile for a long time, with high upfront costs, considerable financial risks and a slow process preventing access to justice for claimants. Nobody has tried to fix this problem – until the Escalate team started thinking about potential solutions.
Escalate was founded by Chris Clay and I. It was created as a collaborative venture involving accountancy firms, funders and insurers. In this way, we have brought together the dispute ‘supply chain’ into a packaged solution and encouraged everyone to assess the issues in a fresh way. The result was the ground-breaking, multi-award-winning Escalate process by which we now act as lawyer, funder and insurer and provide a full turnkey solution removing all cost and risk for SME’s in resolving disputes and collecting aged debt.
We continue to work closely with our team of partner firms – leading accountants, lawyers, funders and membership bodies – to give over 250,000 SMEs across the UK better access to justice through Escalate.
- How’s business at the moment?
Whilst I am extremely conscious that for many, Covid 19 has been a nightmare and has presented huge challenges, at Escalate we are fortunate that all operations were already set up for remote working with document management platforms and cloud based technology. The packaged offering that Escalate offers too is exactly what SME businesses facing temporary liquidity problems need and we are finding that we are become increasingly busy as businesses tackle their problem accounts and outstanding debtors.
- In the Covid19 era, what are the main challenges you face?
Court delays and communication challenges. Whilst the courts remain open for business and are trying to keep things moving the lack of administrative support is inevitably slowing down the processing of claims. This creates challenges but just means that we need to be even more proactive to remove all avoidable delays that are within our control and that is what we are trying to achieve. As regards communication, whilst we can embrace technologies such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams you cannot beat meeting clients and partners in person. Forging new partner relationships and exploring new markets is also more challenging in a lockdown environment.
- What opportunities can you see?
Plenty. The Escalate package is unique and as evidenced by the multiple awards that it has won is unparalleled in the commercial litigation market. Pre coronavirus the opportunities were massive, they are now even greater. Our legal and accounting partners too are feeding off the work opportunities that are being created.
What lockdown has done is accelerate people’s use of progressive forms of IT and communication and has opened eyes as to the different and more flexible, balanced and effective ways of working that exist.
- How have you found lockdown?
Pre covid 19 I always felt some remote working was quite liberating and I found that I could be more productive without office distractions. Some team interaction in the office environment is vital though and that has been missed but on the whole I have found lockdown ok as I have been very busy and the team have embraced it too. Undoubtedly, as time goes on other challenges will arise but we will deal with them.
- How have you kept in touch with colleagues?
Zoom and Microsoft Teams calls. I have delivered a few webinars too.
- What about clients?
Again, Zoom and Microsoft Teams calls. I find these more effective than traditional phone calls. There is something more personal about a video call particularly where they are working from home. People seem more relaxed in their own space.
- What do you think the biggest change will be post lockdown?
More flexible working and more effective use of time. Greater adoption and meaningful use of technology to facilitate it and a better balance in life for all as a result.
- When we are able, what restaurant you will visit?
I’m really not sure, I think it will take a while before any restaurant experience will return to any form of ‘normality’.
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Luke is a Partner based at the Freeths Liverpool office. He specialises in Real Estate and Banking & Finance. Click here for his profile on the Freeths website.
He is listed as a Recommended Lawyer in the Legal 500 (2020 edition):
"Luke is an excellent lawyer and particularly skilled in his ability to unlock perceived legal roadblocks with intelligent drafting solutions, every client’s dream. He is highly efficient and the legal drafts are more often than not, back with the other side within 24 hours. He is a pleasure to work with and has a firm but polite approach when dealing with his opposite number, exactly how business should be undertaken."
- Can you tell us a bit about your background, and your role at Freeths?
I trained with DWF in Liverpool between 2005 and 2007, then went through the ranks from solicitor to partner between 2007 and 2018. I started at Freeths in April 2018, alongside Andy Nichol, our brief was to establish and grow a Liverpool office for the firm. As at March 2020 we had grown to a team of 10 and added employment, construction, corporate and sports lawyers to the team, as well as growing the real estate team to 6.
- What has been the most memorable piece of work you have been involved in?
About 3 or 4 years ago we were tasked with exchanging contracts on the acquisition of 3 shopping centres before Christmas. The deal value was more than £150m and there was lots of due diligence to co-ordinate in a short space of time. With time running out I headed down to London to the vendor’s solicitor’s office on the last working day before Christmas with orders not to leave until the deal was done. After a frantic day of face to face negotiation the deal was finally agreed and signed off just in time to run back to Euston to make the last train back to Liverpool.
- How’s business at the moment?
Challenging. In the commercial world many clients are focusing on getting their own houses in order and reducing their own outgoings, so we are not seeing the same levels of transactional activity that existed before Covid19.
- In the Covid19 era, what are the main challenges you face?
Keeping in touch with colleagues and clients is the most obvious issue. The CBD in Liverpool is small and the number of clients and contacts that you meet daily is something that I took for granted until it was gone.
- What opportunities can you see?
Technology has played a big part in coping with Covid19. The use of electronic signatures, virtual meetings, and secure data rooms to transmit documentation has become the new normal. As a result, those transactions that have continued have tended to complete faster than they might otherwise have done. The opportunity is there to continue to embrace that technology and use it to serve our clients and colleagues better post-Covid. I would be disappointed to see a return to quill and ink.
- How have you found lockdown?
There have been ups and downs. Balancing work with home schooling 3 children is not straightforward, but you have to look on the bright side. 2 of my children are very young and most weeks I am out of the house before they are up and back home when they are in bed, so to be able to see them for breakfast, lunch and dinner and take them for a walk or kick a ball in the back garden an opportunity to be cherished.
- How have you kept in touch with colleagues?
I speak regularly with the real estate team and we have a Liverpool office team call twice a week, the second of which has more recently become a video call that tends to involve a quiz. There are also regular cross-office calls and the “FreethSpirit” magazine to keep us in touch with one another across the country.
- What about clients?
Video calls have become very popular, which is at least an incentive to have a shave and throw on a shirt (even if it remains shorts and flip flops below the desk). Virtual coffees, virtual drinks. I have probably spoken to clients more in the last few weeks than I would do ordinarily. I have definitely taken more calls at weekends than ever before, in most cases because people genuinely have forgotten what day of the week it is.
- What do you think the biggest change will be post lockdown?
I think working from home is here to stay. It has been far easier to function every day at home than I expected it to be and with some obvious benefits to the business (rental costs), environment (less travel = less pollution) I can envisage the day when most of us are spending a certain percentage of our working week at home.
- When they reopen, What restaurant you will visit?
Lots of them. If my parents, in-laws and extended family are to be believed then they are missing my children terribly. So, as much as I have enjoyed the extra time with my children, there would appear to be several willing babysitters and a few date nights on the horizon.
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Tom is head of employment at DTM Legal. He advises commercial clients and senior executives on bringing and defending employment tribunal claims, including assessment of merits, tactical decision making, negotiation of settlement and employment tribunal representation.
Click here for Tom's profile on the DTM website.
- Can you tell us a bit about your background, and your role at DTM?
I grew up on the Wirral and stayed local studying business at Liverpool University then converting to law via the GDL and LPC at Chester Law College. I trained at DWF in Liverpool and moved to DTM 2 years post qualification. I have been at DTM now for 6 years and have been Head of the Employment & HR Team at DTM since January 2019. I advise clients in various different industries on all areas of employment law both contentious and non-contentious. The former becoming the larger part of my workload in recent years with the removal of Tribunal fees for claimants to pursue claims against employers.
- If you hadn’t been a lawyer, what would you have done?
Anything connected with golf, I think golf journalism would have suited me. I am still clinging on to the hope that I wake up one day far, far better at golf than I am currently so I can have twilight professional golf career.
- How’s business at the moment?
As an Employment & HR team we have and continue to be very busy supporting clients with Covid-19 issues, in particular the Government’s Job Retention Scheme which is clearly brand new for employers and advisers alike, and has been evolving week on week with updated Government Guidance. We are starting to see queries on ending furlough and moving employees back to work and unfortunately in some cases short time working/ lay off and restructures/ redundancies, particularly in sectors hit hard by Covid-19 such as service industry clients. We have just recruited Elizabeth Judson as a Senior Solicitor who will bring a lot of experience and expertise to our team.
- How have you found lockdown?
Working from home whilst building dens and chasing around my 2 year old has been interesting at times however have been lucky enough to be able to rotate work and childcare with my wife and lock myself away in my office to get things done. I think one positive of lockdown is that many types of businesses will have managed to operate perfectly well with some/ all staff working from home and realised that it work and in many cases makes life easier for employees and frees up more time.
- How have you kept in touch with colleagues & clients?
We have set up WhatsApp groups across the business and continued to have month end drinks via Teams video calls. It has been business as usual with clients but just via phone, email and Teams video calls.
- What are the 3 things you miss most from your pre lockdown life?
Golf (until recently when the Government relaxed the rules), seeing family and takeaways!
- What do you think the biggest change will be working life post lockdown?
I strongly believe that for many types of businesses there will be a significant change to the way we work post lockdown with a move to more flexible working whether that be more homeworking or flexible hours of work to suit individuals personal lives etc. I think for some businesses this has been an eye opener as to how achievable and beneficial flexible working can be to their organisation.
- What’s the first thing you’ll do when lockdown is lifted?
My wife is pregnant and craving a McDonald’s, so I may be forced to support her with this.
- What restaurant you will visit?
See above!
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Headquartered at Exchange Flags in Liverpool city centre, Jackson Lees employs 280 people across six North West offices, including Wirral and Manchester. In March 2020 the practice was acquired in an MBO by MAPD Ventures, led by current chief executive and chief operating officer, Brian Cullen and Joanna Kingston-Davies.
Click here for Joanna's profile and here for Brian's profile on the Jackson Lees website.
- Can you tell us a bit about your background, and your roles at Jackson Lees?
At Jackson Lees, as CEO and COO, our roles are to break down barriers, empower people, look ahead and focus on growth.
- What has been the most memorable piece of work you have been involved in?
We did the MBO of Jackson Lees on 10th March and that was an incredibly special moment for both of us – we love everything about the Jackson Lees business and the core value of Making a Positive Difference (#MAPD) that runs through everything we do and through all of our people. That aside, the stories we hear from our people every quarter when we do open forums about how they have made a positive difference, to the lives of their clients and to each other, are both humbling and memorable.
- How’s business at the moment?
We had a fantastic April and we’re definitely seeing the benefit of being a multi-disciplinary business; whilst some lines of work dried up almost overnight, others are incredibly busy, so our mix of work stands us in really good stead. Like many law firms, we had to make use of the furlough scheme to protect the business and our people for the medium and long term, and we’re confident and optimistic about the future.
- In the Covid19 era, what are the main challenges you face?
Not being able to see people face to face! We have a really powerful culture and whilst we’re immensely proud of how positively it has manifested itself throughout lockdown, it’s still no replacement for being able to see people in person.
- What opportunities can you see?
We are making sure that we “burn boats” by using the silver linings of lockdown to push forward projects that until now have had limited success. It’s very hard to break cycles and patterns that are heavily embedded until something like lockdown completely forces us to work differently, so our “new normal” includes a roadmap for much more agile and flexible working, less paper and more tech with more access channels and greater availability for our clients.
- How have you found lockdown?
Personally, we’d be lying if either of us said we hadn’t found it tough and highly frustrating!! Emotions are amplified for everyone when we’re all effectively imprisoned within four walls. We both have young children and have definitely felt the working parent guilt on the home schooling front, too. We are passionate about vulnerable and authentic leadership; if we have a bad day, we talk about it openly because it’s important that all of our people know that it’s ok to not be ok. Our culture is very much about empowering people to be themselves, which in turn encourages them to do their best work.
- How have you kept in touch with colleagues?
Clear, transparent and regular communications from us to the whole business are very much part of our “business as usual” but we’ve doubled down on our efforts during the lockdown period and will continue to do so even more afterwards, because we’ve really seen the benefits in the reactions from our people, which have inspired us to keep going. We strongly believe that people have very different preferences with communication, so we’ve tried to reach everyone through a variety of different channels. We’ve done personal calls to as many people as possible just to check in to see how they’re doing. We use Workplace, our social media/intranet platform constantly and there has been so much activity on there, ranging from tik toks to blogs, quizzes and formal announcements. We send out an email from the Board every day and we run regular open forums by Zoom for everyone within the business to keep them in the loop and listen to feedback. We have run regular virtual coffee morning for our furlees, and we have lots of different whatsapp groups on the go! We’ve also managed to keep our training academy on the go, providing courses for both furloughed and maintained staff via Zoom.
- What about clients?
Again, we have lots of different channels of communication going on to suit individual client needs and have found that clients have adapted really well to the lack of face to face contact.
- What do you think the biggest change will be post lockdown?
People understanding the value of toilet paper!!!!! But (possibly) even more importantly, we hope a society where we take less for granted and have a universal appreciation of the simple and important things in life – our health, the availability of food and basic essentials, the privilege of being able to physically see family, friends and colleagues, the positive ethos of community spirit and protecting the environment that we have seen throughout lockdown. Immediately post lockdown, our key focus will be on the opportunities we talked out above and on making sure our people are ok. Coming out of lockdown is likely to be as psychologically tough on people as going into lockdown. We’ve heard it said that we’re all in the same storm but in very different boats. That’s so true and it’s crucial that we help people to adapt to the new normal on the other side of all of this.
- What’s the first thing you’ll do when lockdown is lifted?
Dance!! Although dancing alone isn’t our forte! We think it’s apparent that lifting lockdown will be a very slow and gradual process, so we know the reality of an immediate celebration is not going to happen. That being said we will quietly celebrate each positive step – and when the time comes, we and the rest of the business will PARTY HARD!!!!
- What restaurant you will visit?
Too many good restaurants to choose from! In Liverpool…Fazenda, One Fine Day, Castle Street Townhouse and The Alchemist. In Hoylake, the Quadrant (best steak sandwiches ever!)
