Once again Ricky project managed what should have been the winning team (Sterling) to a loss.  He understood exactly what the task was about – ie creating an awareness campaign, not creating a new brand of sparkling wine – and developed a strategy to do just that and promote sales. Disappointingly, he let himself down once again by handing over a key part of the brief to a sub-team and then taking his eye off the ball – the result being a cringingly cheesy advert that lost team Sterling the task.

We had high hopes for Tom, project manager for team Phoenix – given that he is the director of a fine wine investment company and all.  However, his contribution seemed to have been limited to showing a selection of ladies how to appreciate the “English wine sparkling” as he put it, while drinking a lot himself (hence the mix up with his words and his apparent hangover on pitch day!) Team member Nick on the other hand, provided much more useful input in designing the brand and pulling the team’s website together.  In fact, team Sterling’s advert notwithstanding Nick, was probably the main reason team Phoenix won the task.

In the end, though, the decision about who won the task came down to the advert and the members from the English Wine Association preferred a boring ad over a cheesy one. (Although we think a cheesy advert is more likely to be memorable than a boring one!)

When it came to the boardroom, Ricky defended himself well (firm but fair and no doubt his excellent pitches helped too). Although both Jenna and Stephen were responsible for the failed advert, Jenna clearly put in the most work – and got fired for her efforts, showing us that hard work alone is not enough in the business world; working smart is what really counts.

Stephen, meanwhile, bet Lord Sugar that if he was project manager next week he would win the challenge – and Lord Sugar took the bet.  Will Stephen pull it off next week? Let us know what you think, comment @theworksrecruit

Making friends and influencing while on the other side

One of the most valued traits of a communications advisor is the ability to build trust, rapport and credibility with senior and highly influential individuals. The more you have been able to demonstrate that you can build relationships, regardless of how tight your deadline, the better. To put it frankly, anyone you have rubbed up the wrong way as a journalist is unlikely to give you a job (and trust me, like recruiters, communications professionals never forget!)

Understanding the learning curve

The first thing to get your head around is not only what you have to offer, but what you don’t!  Woe betides the career changer who uses an interview as their opportunity to tell a potential employer how much better they could do their job because of his valuable insight from the other side!

Joe Kelly, ex-national business journalist and Director of Comms and Marketing at BT advises: “The biggest learning was the realisation that as a communications guy, people looked to me for answers while, as a reporter, I was used to coming up with questions”.

He continues: “Other skills I needed to develop included managing a large team (journalism is a more solitary pursuit) and a comparatively large budget.  I also had to manage a PR agency”.

How to sell what you have to offer

While demonstrating modesty in an interview situation is undoubtedly endearing (and can often flatter the interviewer) it is obviously important to highlight what you have to bring to the table. Joe sums up the key transferable skills as:

• Understanding complex issues and expressing them in simple terms
• Deciding quickly what’s truly important among a vast array of other people’s priorities
• Having the confidence to ask for clarification when you don’t understand something
• Being comfortable with deadlines and rapidly changing situations
• Being naturally curious and comfortable around senior people up to and including CEOs and chairmen of large multi-national corporations

Understanding what lies ahead

Another way to really swing things in your favour at interview stage is to demonstrate that while you have never done the job before you have a good comprehension of what is involved. Joe’s advice is to “be prepared to broaden your working horizons: working in a communications department is about managing much more than the story – it’s also about strategy, planning and implementation.   You need to be prepared to work closely with other communications disciplines such as investor relations, public affairs, marketing and the events team, as well as other functions such as HR, finance, operations and legal.  In many cases, they will look to you to make decisions and to lead on projects beyond your immediate responsibilities” .This also very much applies to life in consultancy where there is an almost constant need for flexibility.  Joe adds “because other people depend on you, you need to be better organised than you can afford to be as a journalist.  And yes, you do get better paid in communications, but you do work harder and longer hours”.

Living the dream

So after all your efforts not only to take the career change plunge, but get through what can often be a gruelling recruitment process, it is all definitely worth it, according to many success stories I have seen over the years.  The single biggest plus is often cited as “the opportunity to be in the privileged position to witness directly (and very closely) how very large organisations operate, how people perform and behave in different situations and to see and get involved in the commercial elements of managing a business”.

Joe has also been very pleasantly surprised at just how seriously senior business leaders take the media and how much time they spend anticipating, reading and discussing what the papers – especially the nationals – write about them.

Change for the better

Life will be different; you will be different but embrace it. For Joe, the most obvious change has been that he has a much better appreciation for the complexities involved in running a business and managing stakeholder groups with conflicting needs. As a reporter, he was taught to not have an opinion.  “As a communications guy, you’re expected to have an opinion.  Your opinion will be sought on all manner of issues and a reporter’s instinct helps. I’ve learned with experience to have, and to be comfortable expressing, an opinion”.

For more advice from the team at The Works, take a look at our blogs

The office is now anything from a converted bank, to a railway station; it’s got a juice bar, a pinball machine, or even a lawned picnic area. It has specially selected finishes and evocative textures. Carl Jung, the grandfather of colour psychology studied how mood and behaviour is affected by colour, and we know it’s a principal that’s widely used in office refurbs.

So, why do the world’s most profitable businesses invest so much money, design and science into their offices? Because a happy team is a productive team, and a pleasant working space creates a positive office culture.  And a strong sense of office culture generates a sense of positive employee value and inclusion. This in turn will increase productivity, reduce sickness and absenteeism and send morale through the roof.

The shape and feel of the office is a reflection of the business and its brand;  take Google, Microsoft, Skype and Facebook, as a clutch of tech firms that understand the power of a great workspace (among other things).

Desk allocation used to be a case of, ‘dust it off – it’s yours’. Not now. Microsoft in Amsterdam has been much discussed in the design sector. Everyone hot desks, something made possible by open plan working and new technology. And since its introduction the company has saved on costs while boosting productivity. In other firms, teams are carefully placed together in small enclaves. Meetings are held in booths or pods, often standing and more recently walking meetings. Caterina Fake, the Co-Founder of Flickr says:  “Interaction should be constant, not crammed into meetings once a week. You just turn around in your chair and bounce an idea off one of the other 10 people in your office. Keep the floor plan open so people can talk to each other. As the company gets bigger, keep dividing it into smaller and smaller groups.” She advocates following the Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos’s two-pizza rule: Project teams should be small enough to feed with two pizzas.

Do you work in an uber cool office?  Send us a pic and tell us why it works for you @theworksrecruit.

Sales Manager Steve makes his usual, slightly angry bid for Team Leader – looking decidedly unimpressed when what was surely the obvious choice was made, our token lovely ‘creative type’ late-stage player Gabrielle. Tom steps up for Team Phoenix with gusto. He is wild about Street Art and he can’t wait to show off his insider knowledge.

Both Project Managers were absolutely in their element. But each made some major botches. When The Apprentice candidates get too carried away with something ‘a bit fun’, they often forget the bottom line.  (Sometimes one must wonder what exactly these individuals are pitching for in many of the film-based exercises).

Gabrielle, glowing with the thrill of finally doing something a bit arty, sadly missed the point a bit in her   meeting with a well-known gin company. Lots of glowing and gushing about concepts and mood, but no mention of money. Budget is a fluid thing in the art world, apparently. (Actually, it later turns out, it’s not. Beefeater was more than happy to sink double figures on the right piece. Probably could have done with knowing that).

Tom whisked into Renault with a bit of ‘joie de vivre’. They’re French, you see. Excellent corporate schmoozing, proper brief taken and a confident client in hand.

It all switched when it came to speaking to the artists themselves – Gabrielle’s ‘gush, gush, gush’ strategy worked wonders. Fawning over each individual piece with delight, she had the artists eating out her hand. Poor Tom fell back on his passion at his peril, spending far too much time bombarding the coveted Pure Evil with name after name of lots of street artists whose style don’t particularly match Pure Evil’s anyway, without actually making any personal connection.

Thus, Gabrielle gets the artist everyone wanted, and Tom is left scrabbling for a high-risk fallback.

Exhibition night, and market trader Adam’s wilfully naive sales approach worked absolute wonders. (This week’s Adam gem: “so Banksy.. he’s a bit like The Stig?” well, actually… yes, kind of). Simply focussing on nattering away and having a great time with the punters, he closed deal after deal. Tom failed to seal the deal on any of his hugely sized, hugely priced pictures of cartoon monsters, but managed to sell to his well-nurtured corporate client.

Ricky and Nick put on a respectable show for their side, despite having made it quite clear their natural response to street art is bewilderment.

After Karen witnesses a “master class in how not to treat a corporate client” as the gin representatives are borderline blanked, we were certain heads would roll. But, it seems Pure Evil cinched it… winning in a battle of thousands by a paltry £137, Gabrielle takes the prize.

This week’s unforgivable sin, a shoddy sales display from Laura, who proclaimed herself one of the top sales-people in Europe.

Is Lord Sugar just looking for a sales person? Did he make the right decision? Let us know what you think, comment @theworksrecruit

Create trust: Be natural, listen actively, don’t interrupt and ask open-ended questions. That way you can build on the conversation and find common connections.  If you find you’ve drifted off and stopped listening, try to re-focus.

Use your body: Facial expression is important; Smile, nod to affirm you are listening and maintain a positive, upright posture with arms unfolded. These rapport building methods are not new, but they really work.

Do your research: If there’s a contact you feel you need to get to know, then find out about them. A little knowledge about events they’ve attended, facts about their work history or colleagues you have in common will lead to a more natural approach. Once you are introduced you will also have some conversational threads you can pick up on.

Follow up: Continue the engagement and nurture the relationship. Drop a brief e-mail to your new contact, expressing how good it was to meet.  Use LinkedIn or Twitter to create more access points. And try to add value to the relationship by thinking of small ways you could stay you on their radar.

This video lesson from Stellar Learning packs 20 ways to build rapport into 5 minutes, including 6 questions to open up a conversation. It’s well worth a look.

For more practical business advice for PR professionals see The Works blog.

For the first time in a while, we actually feel that the right team won. Nick, (who reminds us of a young Boris Johnson) led efficiently, decisively and with warmth. Aside from a potentially fatal error in not ensuring their stall was stocked throughout the day, Sterling sold well, identified the popular products (fake tan) and… had strategy…  Frankly, if the fake tan hadn’t sold out by the time our be-suited market stallholders Ricky and Steve arrived at the warehouse, Sterling would likely have absolutely trounced their competition.

Those good points aside, unfortunately, amateurish behaviour was definitely on show elsewhere – Jade’s refusal to shake Azhar’s hand after he was fired was a pretty poor performance.

Yes, we know ‘strategy’ has been trending everywhere but, actually, Azhar had a point. In fact, here at The Works we have been wondered if some of the contestants have ever watch the show before: this is a tried and tested task, and Jade simply missed the point that many before he have learned in the boardroom.

We can only hope that the show and the contestants pick up over the coming weeks, otherwise – dare we say it? – we feel this could end being the most uninspiring series to date.

Leading team Sterling, a bit-part player up to this point, Jenna surprised us all by fairly ably sweeping in as a supportive, honest manager who took risks, admitted her personal faults, praised where praise was due and actually delivered on the brief.

Team Phoenix, on the other hand, was a rather more haphazard affair. Dismissing Japanese food “who eats sushi?!” in favour of something more easily “slopped out like school dinners”, Adam was on a mission to create the lowest quality product possible. With a theme like Italian, it is painfully simple to create something inexpensive without compromising on taste: Italian food is all about simple, fresh, quality ingredients. Fresh Basil! Tomatoes! No? The fattiest pork on the market mixed with soggy fusilli and value brand tomatoes. Lovely.

Deferring with near-reverence throughout to monotone gym membership salesman Steve, Adam misguidedly trusted his branding with the mastermind behind ‘Belissimo’[sic].

Despite gaining permission from a regarded chef to use his name, the beleaguered leader was swayed by wily Steve’s velvet sledgehammer sales approach not for the last time, settling on the massively inferior “‘Utterly Delicious Meatballs”. A fabulous name, perhaps, for a supermarket own-brand – not so much for elegant eating on the move.

Sadly the sound bites were coming in so thick and fast from Team Phoenix we had little airtime for the Sterling side, who got along quite inoffensively as a cohesive group. As fellow recruiters, we’re quite gratified that Ricky ‘The Fitness’ Martin is shaking off his initial slightly overbearing first impression to reveal quite a balanced, multi-skilled interior; this week’s showcase being a nicely eidetic skill with numbers.

Ultimately it was Katie’s decision to take team Phoenix to a football match with the overpriced Italian eats that was deemed the day’s unforgivable error. Her lucky board-room outfit (we’ll warrant the research and marketing pro has done her homework – there is a theory that pink will make a job interviewer go easy on you) didn’t hold out for her this time.

There is the feeling that Katie’s risk-taking, straight-talking approach left her a scapegoat throughout the process.  But, alas, there are only so many chances in the boardroom. It seems Katie had her last one.

Was it the right decision? Let us know what you think, comment @theworksrecruit

As leading business guru and career development expert, Jack Downton, explains in a recent City AM post, “In 2012, networking will become an increasingly important skill as business opportunities continue to prove scarce.”

As professional communicators, we are one of the disciplines best suited to slick, targeted networking skills, whatever our personal reluctance. However, if you’re still tempted to hide in the corner tweeting when the next work-the-room opportunity arises, here are The Work’s top 5 tips on perfecting those all important introductions.

Do your homework: The first thing you should do after accepting the networking event invitation is some research. Ask the organisers to send you a list of attendees so you can identify who to talk to during the session to make best use of your time. Jack Downton suggests setting reasonable targets. For example: aim to meet four or five people at a seminar. This is a rule of thumb we at The Works agree with.

Plan your approach: Once you’ve identified the people you would like to speak to, plan your introduction. If they’re huddled in a group already engaged in conversation, leave it until later and try someone else. Look out for key physical signs, like those who aren’t facing each other and look receptive to welcoming others. Or engage the ‘ring-leader’, the person who seems to be leading the conversation, and say: ‘May I join you?’ It may seem bold, but making contacts is what everyone is here for, right?

Listening is key: As tempting as it can be to launch into super-sell mode, particularly if you’ve made self-appointed targets, try to resist. Instead, listen to the conversation and, (like elementary media training) respond accordingly. Asking some questions or try to establish a business link before introducing your own RELEVANT agenda or opinion.

Exit etiquette: Professional networking is a bit like speed dating; first impressions count. But if your date isn’t a fruitful one, move on – politely.  Even if you’ve made a great connection, don’t be tempted to anchor to this safe harbour for the rest of the session. Obtain a business card, explain you’d like to develop the relationship following the event but need to chat to a few more people. Everyone understands!

The morning after: It’s accepted practice that you should follow up with new contacts within 48 hours. Ensure that your dialogue will be mutually beneficial, perhaps asking for advice, sending a link relevant to the topic you were discussing or suggesting a further one-to-one meeting. E-mail, either directly or via LinkedIn, is fine as long as the approach is targeted and personal.

For more practical business advice for PR professionals see our blog or follow us on twitter.

The latest challenge saw the two teams tasked to raise funds by developing and licensing a new fitness regime. But, despite approaching the halfway point in the series, it seems Lord Sugar’s budding business partners still fail to understand a key fundamental of successful sales – if you want someone to buy your product you have to market it effectively.

On the face of it, team Sterling had this challenge in the bag.  Very ably lead by Ricky Martin (recruitment manager and wrestler, a combination we at The Works always find handy!) their proposed fitness regime was a strong one: a mixture of street dance and mixed martial arts. It seemed to fill a gap in the market, appealing to fitness enthusiasts who like both types of class and wanted the chance to combine them. Its name, Beat Battle, was catchy and summed up the proposition perfectly.  Even the pitches went well, with the team carving out time the day before to practice their presentation and learning from each meeting as they went along.

The weak link?  Their demo video, directed by self-appointed ‘sub-team manager’ Duane.  What came over him? A high performer in previous tasks, in one fell swoop he handed victory to team Phoenix and booked his seat in the taxi home. His mistake:  ‘simplifying’ the choreography and cutting out the very moves that made Beat Battle different from other dance-based fitness regimes on the market – i.e. the martial arts moves! The result?  The representatives from the fitness chains they pitched to couldn’t see the full potential of the product and instead of licensing it offered to help develop it.

That left team Phoenix’s 80s-based regime Groove Train to triumph.  While a novel idea, it wasn’t particularly well thought through.  Target audience – off target; equipment – impractical to store; pricing structure – well, there wasn’t one (so not much for the team to work on really!)  However their demo video clearly demonstrated Groove Train’s potential so Virgin Active agreed to license it across all their branches.  (Note to self though Azhar, if you think the shorts are too small they probably are…)

At least Ricky, Duane and Laura were relatively civilized when it came to fighting it out in the boardroom and, disappointing as it was to lose Duane, Lord Sugar did make the right choice out of the three of them.

What got us talking, though, was whether Ricky was fair in taking into the boardroom the two who had contributed most to the task or whether he should have selected the ones who contributed least.  We know what we think but what do you think?  Let us know @theworksrecruit

The Works is continuing to see strong growth and is expanding its team of Consultants, with the arrival of Helen Burnill to head up the consumer practice, handling permanent and freelance roles. Helen is an experienced recruiter, who was leading one of the busiest temp teams in London.  She brings valuable knowledge and experience of the freelance market, combined with a background in marketing, PR and events.

No sooner has she walked in the door, than we have asked her opinion on the freelance market, more about her and why she wanted to join The Works.  This is what she had to say.

1. How can having a freelance benefit your business?

In a world that idolises longevity of experience in a single position, the potential of a freelancer beyond the traditional ‘plug a quick gap’ role is often overlooked. My experience of working with temporary hires has shown that the rewards can be far greater for both parties.

A good freelancer will have the ability to fit straight into a new organisation as though they have worked there for years… A great one will cherry-pick the best working practices of every role they have held, and can add huge benefits in terms of fresh ideas, morale and perspective in the long-term.

Beyond the usual cover for leave, maternity or sickness, an extra pair of expert hands can be a great help in reinvigorating a team facing increased workload, crisis, or in delivering a project outside the norm. Highly adaptable by nature, a Freelancer’s reputation is his fortune. In order to build on their own credentials, a contract worker will make it their business to make a big positive impact on yours – and quickly.

If you’re actually hiring, having a freelancer cover a post gives you the breathing space to be extra-selective in choosing the perfect new permanent team member. As often as not, I’ve seen clients who’ve taken this approach actually discovering they’ve had the perfect candidate covering all along. As an employer, it’s no mess, no fuss, no I-hope-they’re-as-good-as-the-interview. As a candidate, you’ve had the chance to test a role is right before committing. It’s a route that I think far too few people consider.

Whilst a career freelancer’s CV may look like the diary of a job-hopper, this is widely misunderstood. In fact many contractors commit themselves long-term to a consultant or agency, forging a genuine in-depth understanding and lengthy working relationship. Many ‘temps’, therefore, are actually as committed to a company as a direct hire – some professionals simply prefer to make their mark on a project, then move on to share their expertise elsewhere.

Any Consultant worth their salt will know the precise strengths and weaknesses within their freelance network, and will always put long-term trust ahead of a quick financial win. They will respect that bringing a new and unknown quantity into the fold can be nerve-wracking: a Recruitment Consultant’s job is to make sure the process is effortless. When it comes to recruiting freelancers, your agency not only want clients to call next time, but to feel absolutely confident in that there is a safety net the next time business throws a unanticipated curveball.

2. Why did you join The Works?

I wasn’t actually on the job-hunt when I decided to join The Works. When you’ve been recruiting for a while, you find there are essentially two kinds of role: those that require lengthy and focussed interviews, and those where the match is so instinctive, so immediate, the spec appears to have a person’s name on it where the job title should be. When the role at The Works came up, for the first time in years I saw my own name as the header.

It was a number of things that prompted the move from my comfortable post. The passion and energy emanating from everyone at The Works was striking. Its commitment to expertise, in-depth understanding and respect for the humanity we deal with in recruitment was immediate, clear and absolutely in-line with my own values.

Culture in a company is important to me, and The Works sat right. The brand struck me immediately as elegant, creative and intelligent. Having historically largely worked for large organisations, I was also keen to work with a small business, where my actions really mattered without having to make a lot of noise. Throw in the opportunity to work with two experienced and successful women entrepreneurs and a client base I could get excited about (trust me – it matters) and I was sold.

3. What appeals to you about PR Recruitment?

PR Recruitment is something I’ve had in the back of my mind for some time. Whilst I’ve always loved recruiting (as frustrating as it can sometimes be), with a working background in marketing and communications, that itch to work with creative people has never really gone away.

Just as I am sure hiring clients and job-hunters often find that working with a Consultant who truly understands and is passionate about their business or experience is infinitely more successful and enjoyable, the same applies for a recruiter. There is nothing more thuddingly dull than recruiting for roles that don’t necessarily appeal on a personal level; there’s nothing more rewarding than helping people whose knowledge, passions and needs you naturally buy into.

With so many of us working long hours and social networks becoming increasingly prevalent, I feel that the lines between work and personal life are becoming increasingly blurred so, for me, finding that personal connection in a role matters more than ever.

4. What do you do in your spare time?

As outside work I am attempting to learn both French and Italian (currently at a level approximate to advanced pigeon) my spare time is ever on the decrease. When I get a few days to spare, I love to travel and try to escape the country, or at least the City, as often as I can.

I particularly love to journey overland wherever possible. Taking the train across foreign lands can become as key a part of the adventure as the destination for me – www.seat61.com is my bible, if anyone shares the interest.

In and around London, I don’t think I’ll ever stop feeling like a tourist to some degree. Having moved direct to London after a stint in Australia, I’ve realised how lucky we are to be in a living, breathing museum here in Europe.

I love opera, the theatre and enjoy taking in the occasional art exhibition – though, as a lifelong vegetarian, I have to admit Damien Hirst’s latest exhibition left me with some seriously mixed feelings.

5. What are you looking forward to?

It’s all about the three C’s for me – the Clients, the Colleagues and the Candidates. I can’t wait to get to know the people that I will be working with on a day-to-day basis. The Works’ proactive and inventive engagement with its industry and network has been a massive point of appeal for me, so I’m truly looking forward to getting involved in the wider role within the PR world.

With a background largely based within vast organisations, I’m looking forward to the sheer accountability of working directly for the owners of a business that I admire. Naturally, it’s a little nerve-wracking – but what could be a greater motivator than looking the people who have entrusted their reputation with you in the eye every day?

6. What are your views on the recruitment market?

I personally entered the recruitment industry in one of the most challenged markets in living memory; so one thing I will always carry with me is to never, ever be complacent.

Of late, however, I have been encountering a different energy. Talent seems to be snapped up more and more quickly, with competition for good people rising out of even client-driven markets.

People who have battened down hatches and stayed in posts for fear of the big, bad world out there are starting to get restless: I wouldn’t be surprised to see greater movement across industries in the coming months, including within those that haven’t seen it for a while.

In terms of the way we recruit, I think the ever-blurring line between the personal, professional and online realms is likely to have both far-reaching and permanent impact. With some studies now showing that 80% of roles are currently being taken through networking, keeping noses clean and making the right connections is going to become increasingly important.

Keep your contacts close. In Consumer PR, dare I suggest myself?

To get in touch with Helen Burnill, email Helen@the-works.co.uk or call her on her direct line 020 7559 6519