After a dynamic few months of ongoing business success, Hilary Devey returns as guest editor of Jobs & Careers. We caught up with Hilary at the start of what promises to be yet another triumphant year, to check out her plans and get some thoughts on the outlook for job-seekers and career-changers in 2014…
Jobs & Careers: Hilary, what have you been up to since our last issue? It’s been yet another busy few months for you, hasn’t it?
Hilary Devey: My TV work and speaking commitments have kept me occupied, but, as ever, my primary focus is Pall-Ex, particularly as the company is expanding into a number of new markets including France, which is now up and running since the last issue with preparations being made for opening in the Middle East. I am also looking to establish the model in both East and South Africa,
J&C: It’s also been an interesting few months for the UK economy – do you think we’ve finally turned a corner?
HD: There are certainly some encouraging signs. The resurgence of the private sector has perhaps confounded some analysts expectations, and the recent suggestions that the British economy will expanded faster than our European rivals gives some cause for optimism, but it is far too soon to celebrate. The fact remains that we are not out of the woods yet, and a sluggish Europe and a China with a slowing rate of growth will yet cause reverberations across the global financial ecosystem. So, as of now, my digits are firmly crossed.
J&C: How has what’s going on in the economy impacted on the jobs market, from your perspective? A lot of companies seem to be hiring more now – but then on the other hand there are plenty of firms still struggling…
HD: The economic woes of recent years have resulted in good candidates staying put, meaning that an entire generation of school and university leavers has found itself caught in the perfect storm of companies tightening their belts and limiting recruitment and professional hierarchies becoming ever more rigid, with an end to the healthy ebb-and-flow of staff that characterised good times.
J&C: We’ve spoken before about the need for jobseekers to be more proactive, and perhaps more determined – do you feel this message is finally getting through and if so how is this manifesting itself?
HD: Well, I can give advice until I am blue in the face, and I hope that some of it might have sunk-in but the fact remains that necessity is the mother of invention. I think that the reality is that candidates have had to fight harder for the roles, and also to present themselves as employable. It may seem a superficial observation, but the quality of the CVs and cover letters that land on the desks of my HR people – and I am talking in terms of correct grammar, general layout and inclusion of relevant information – are far better than even a year ago. There are no second chances in a world when it is hard to even get a first one.
J&C: More and more of those looking for employment today come from the generation known as the Millennials, or Generation Y: do you and your peers at the upper echelons of business in the UK feel that organisations need to change in some way to get the most out of this generation, and if so how?
HD: Generation Y has a great deal to offer senior staff within organisations – its members are tech literate and often more adept at filtering the salient points from mountains of information (a byproduct of being bombarded with more data than those of us who grew-up in the more sedate, pre-internet age) – but they are not a walk in the park. I think that there is a compromise position to adopt. Though the digital age has changed many businesses, certain structures and methodologies remain constant, and therefore it is a case of blending new skills with existing experience.
J&C: And do you think, correspondingly, that the Millennials are perhaps expecting too much from potential employers and should themselves be a little more flexible?
HD: Perhaps because they matured in a more prosperous time, and were brought-up on unhealthy role models whose wealth was presented with no context as to how it was made, some members of Generation Y have a sense of entitlement and an aversion to hard graft. I feel sorry for them. The world that they were promised was an illusion, so the shock can be hard. However, reality bites and once you realise that you are not going to get a Ferrari at 20 – and you would be a fool to even want such a gaudy gas-guzzler – the time to knuckle-down and make something of yourself in the real world begins.
J&C: How are you, at Pall-Ex, responding to the challenge of having very different generations, with their own attitudes and behaviours, working within the same organisation?
HD: As I mentioned, much comes down to a compromise position of taking the skills of the young and finding ways to make them shake-up certain aspects of the business so that we are one step ahead of competitors, as well as enhance the benefits of the years of accumulated experience of the senior staff.
J&C: Have you adopted different recruiting methods in response to, for example, the rise of social media and if so what advice could you give our jobseekers in terms of how best to adapt to those changes?
HD: Well, I am not going to go into too many details of how social media plays a role in recruitment at Pall-Ex: my HR and IT teams would not thank me for laying bare the subtleties and intricacies of their work! However, broader, non-Pall-Ex advice would be to remember that if you opt-in to document the highs and lows of your life in a public forum, think before you post! Similarly, if you know that you are going to be interviewed by Mr or Mrs X, then see what they have to say for themselves on social media. Bothering to see how people like to present themselves – their interests, opinions, and such like – will give you a marked advantage over other candidates.
J&C: In the course of your involvement with Jobs & Careers you’ve given plenty of very useful advice and encouragement to those looking for work; what do you see as being the key things would-be workers should be doing in today’s still-difficult employment market?
HD: Do not be limited by geographical location: be prepared to up-sticks and chase the work. Research the role that you are seeking, know the company to which you are applying inside and out. Realise and accept that it is for you to convince the would-be employer to hire you, and rarely the other way around. Be realistic: better to take a role beneath your skillset and work up, than not have a role at all. Don’t waste your time on Mickey Mouse courses that you know in your heart-of-hearts will not enhance your chances of employment, only increase your level of personal debt. Stay optimistic!
J&C: Finally, looking ahead, what are your main ambitions for the next year or so – will we be seeing more of you on our screens for example?
HD: I always make New Year’s resolutions, often thinking that I will find more time outside of work to take-up new hobbies and interests but, to be perfectly honest, it never happens. So, the best that I can hope for is a continuation of the success that Pall-Ex enjoyed in 2013. As for TV, there are a number of projects in the pipeline, and you will be the first to know as soon as I am allowed to tell you.
Words: Jamie Liddell Image:
