James and Mark chat about the huge surge in vacancies across the UK and many parts of the world. They reflect on what businesses can do to help retain and attract the best talent, providing 3 top tips along the way.
They take inspiration from a recent article in Wired by Alex Christian, the experience of local chef and restaurant owner Iain McCarten, Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and the late American actor Steve McQueen!
We would love to hear from you – you can get in touch with us on [email protected]
If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible or wherever else you get your podcasts, and whilst you are there, we would really appreciate a 5* review, as this helps other people find our podcast!
The Norwich based Cyber & Information Security consultancy CyberScale has launched 5 new Cyber Security training courses and workshops to help businesses be more prepared to protect themselves against the risks of a cyber-attack.
Having developed bespoke training courses for a range of clients CyberScale identified a need for public training courses for organisations who are at different stages in their Cyber Security journey. Engaging employees in any form of training can be a challenge. Once a business has decided to invest in cyber security training it is important to ensure that what is delivered achieves the best possible engagement. The result of this is that it is more likely to be taken back in to the business with enthusiasm. Training should never be seen as a tick box exercise, especially when it comes to training that can and will protect your business from potentially damaging cyber-attacks.
Darren Chapman, Director & Principal Consultant at CyberScale, says that “As a cyber security consultancy we are very much led by our clients and their business needs. We don’t have technical solutions to push and always begin with looking at their current technologies, policies, processes, and people when it comes to assessing their position in relation to cyber security. To this end, we listen to what our clients are telling us they need and ensure that we build services we think not only meet this need, but also deliver our experience and knowledge in the most effective and relevant manner.”
The new training services offering has been developed to cover a wide range of topics and are delivered by CyberScale’s Cyber Security Consultants who work on the front line of client businesses and are therefore able to incorporate personal experiences shared from their client work. You can see the range outlined below:
With a combination of public courses where attendees will be from a range of organisations, and bespoke solutions for your business, CyberScale are experienced in ensuring that what they deliver suits the needs of your business.
CyberScale understands the Business of Cyber Security, and how important an aware and alert workforce is in building the security culture into a business that can set it apart and drive it forward.
Long-lasting, noise-reducing, insulating, low maintenance and VERY stylish, what’s not to love about Shutters? And you can SAVE 10% this month on domestic shutters!
Click the link for more information about our made to measure shutters, including pricing, a case study and videos.
If shutters aren’t quite your thing, why not consider wood venetian blinds? Our bespoke Venetian wooden slat blinds are manufactured in our workshop in Attleborough.
Again, there is a 10% saving for domestic wood venetian blinds ordered by the end of September.
Just book your in-home appointment, we’ll visit, measure up, show you samples, and then give you a quote.
Long-standing client ODE asked us to develop a bespoke website and create a new brand identity – and it was delighted with the results.
We delivered a fresh and modern-looking website which is fit for purpose and encompasses the new brand identity.
The content management system gives ODE easy access to update and maintain the website, which now automatically resizes to fit whatever device it is being viewed on.
Leanne Lake of ODE commented: “Over the last 15 years of working with TMS Media, I’ve found them to be very helpful and reliable. Deadlines can often cause problems but TMS has always delivered!
“Their commitment to meeting our needs has always been on-point, and I would definitely recommend to other colleagues/industry partners.”
Walking With The Wounded’s volunteering programme OP-REGEN has been honoured with The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK.
OP-REGEN, based in Greater Manchester, launched in February 2020 is a volunteering programme that offers a platform for ex-military personnel to recognise their inherent skills and empowers them to demonstrate these skills to the wider community. For those that have landed on hard times, the project aims to support these individuals and their families to reintegrate back into society and to have a meaningful positive impact on the environment in which they reside; additionally, for those not in employment the projects aims to assist in their journey back into the workplace.
Although focused on ex-military, more generally the project is supported by volunteers from all backgrounds including Corporate UK and encourages these individuals to work together, leading to a greater increase in community cohesion and safer neighbourhoods.
Fergus Williams, CEO of Walking With The Wounded commented: “OP-REGEN embodies the future ambitions of Walking With The Wounded to support ex-military seeking support and to find those that require support but are not actively seeking it. I am immensely proud of the programme and delighted that the hard work and commitment of all those who have volunteered through OP-REGEN are being recognised by being awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
“OP-REGEN provides our clients, our corporate partners and ultimately, our armed forces community, with the opportunity to ‘serve again’ by utilising the inherent skills of the service leaver and showcasing the standards and values of those that have served.”
Walking With The Wounded is one of 241 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year. The number of nominations remains high year on year, showing that the voluntary sector is thriving and full of innovative ideas to make life better for those around them.
Veteran, beneficiary of WWTW and volunteer for OP-REGEN, Christopher commented: “I chose to volunteer with Walking With The Wounded after my Employment Advisor suggested it would help me if I engaged in OP-REGEN. It’s helped me develop my confidence and add structure to my week which will ultimately support my journey back into employment which is my main goal.”
The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by volunteer groups to benefit their local communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate The Queen’s Golden Jubilee. Recipients are announced each year on 2nd June, the anniversary of The Queen’s Coronation. Award winners this year are wonderfully diverse. They include volunteer groups from across the UK, including an inclusive tennis club in Lincolnshire; a children’s bereavement charity in London; a support group those living with dementia and their carers in North Yorkshire; a volunteer minibus service in Cumbria; a group supporting young people in Belfast; a community radio station in Inverness and a mountain rescue team in Powys.
Representatives of Walking With The Wounded will receive the award crystal and certificate from the Lord-Lieutenant of Greater Manchester later this summer. Furthermore two volunteers from Walking With The Wounded will attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace in May 2022 (depending on restrictions at the time), along with other recipients of this year’s Award.
KING’S LYNN TOWN CENTRE’S INDEPENDENT SHOPS AND BUSINESSES ARE JOINING IN WITH THE TOTALLY LOCALLY NATIONAL FIVER FEST – AN INNOVATIVE CELEBRATION OF OUR INDEPENDENT HIGH STREETS KING’S LYNN IS PART OF THE TOTALLY LOCALLY NATIONAL FIVER FEST 9 – 23rd October. To show the importance of supporting our high streets, King’s Lynn is joining with other independent High Streets across the UK to put on very special £5 offers across two weeks in October, in the TOTALLY LOCALLY FIVER FEST. FIVER FEST is a free to join campaign, devised and run by Totally Locally, a Grass Roots High Street organisation that has been helping businesses and High Streets to help themselves since 2010 with incredible results. For Fiver Fest, Totally Locally is partnering with Visa, and together, they are calling on shoppers to divert £5 of their weekly spend to support the small businesses in their communities. Fiver Fest is based around the now-famous Totally Locally £5 message: “If every adult in King’s Lynn spent just £5 per week in their local independent shops and businesses, it would mean £8.3 million per year going directly into our local economy. Which can lead to more jobs, a better high street, a stronger economy & a nicer place to live. Makes you think doesn’t it?!” Spending just £5 a week in King’s Lynn can make a big difference to our High Street, the “Fiver Fest” promotes this message. “We know Fiver Fest isn’t going to change the world”, said Chris Sands of Totally Locally, “But small changes in spending habits can really make a difference to our high streets. Just by diverting £5 of our weekly spend to local independents we give them a fighting chance to thrive. The Pandemic has shown just what an amazing contribution they make to our local communities. It’s a conversation worth having! It is for this reason, that the sixth National Fiver Fest is taking place. This time it’s even more important than ever, after how our world has changed during 2021. YouGov research has shown that 59% of shoppers have used more local shops to support them during lockdown. And they want to keep on supporting them. Fiver Fest makes that even easier. Just some of the offers available in King’s Lynn Town Centre: • All starters £5 at Soul Café & Restaurant – lunchtime only. • £5 installation fee on all household appliance purchases at Cooper & Elms – washing machines, dishwashers, cookers etc. Saving up to £35! • A cinema ticket and a medium popcorn OR hot drink for £5 at the Corn Exchange Cinema – everyday 10am-5pm • Selected cocktails £5 at the Duke’s Head Hotel • Coffee and cake for £5 at The Wenns Chop & Ale House and The Bank House • Standard A1 prints for £5 at Prontaprint • Bacon sandwich and a hot drink of choice for £5 at Nice & Tasty Patisserie • £5 meal deal at Bitson’s Fish & Chips • Waffle and hot chocolate for £5 at Pretty Little Bistro • Selected designer pencil cases for £5 at Designs • Gin and mixer for £5 at Gin Saloon • 2 bath bombs or 2 soap slices or 1 bag of wax melts for £5 from Jaine’s Gift Box For details of more local offers, visit: www.discoverkingslynn.com/whats-on. For any independent business based in King’s Lynn Town Centre wishing to participate in FIVER FEST, please contact Discover King’s Lynn at [email protected]. For further information please see www.totallylocally.org and www.fiverfest.co.uk
Norwich Airport is celebrating the return of year-round flights to Tenerife today (September 30) with holiday company TUI.
The popular Canary Islands destination offers huge beaches and year-round sunshine. And with up to two direct flights a week from Norwich, is perfect for a winter sun break.
Richard Pace, Managing Director of Norwich Airport, said: “We’re delighted to be relaunching year-round holidays to Tenerife with TUI, giving local holidaymakers the opportunity to escape to the sun with the ease and convenience of flying from their local airport.
“TUI has already confirmed its summer 2022 schedule from Norwich Airport, with flights to Spain (Ibiza, Menorca, Majorca, Tenerife), Greece (Corfu, Crete, Rhodes), Cyprus (Paphos), and Turkey (Dalaman) resuming in May 2022 and all bookable now.”
For anyone seeking early autumnal sunshine in addition to Tenerife, flights to Corfu are currently operating every Friday from Norwich Airport (last departure 22 October) and flights to Majorca every Saturday (last departure 23 October).
In total, Norwich Airport has announced 19 domestic and international destinations in ten countries for 2021/22 and last week confirmed the start of direct flights from Jersey next summer with Channel Islands-based airline Blue Islands.
For a full list of destinations from Norwich Airport and details of how to book, click here.
Great Savings on Custom / Modular stand solutions as part of our Norfolk Day special offer!
Free Graphic Design
Save on organiser stand space costs – book space only, no shell required.
We want to empower all businesses to embrace the awesome opportunity exhibitions and event marketing can provide catering to a range of budgets and needs.
If you’re tired of not being noticed in a “shell” or are looking for an economical yet high quality entry into exhibiting, why not use one of our custom designed hire stand packages? We’ll do all the hard work for you; design, planning, CDM approvals, logistics, build, removal and graphics for an exclusive price that will really make you smile!
In this episode, Ian Fitch chats with Ian Mather, so it’s less a tale of two halves, and more the tale of two Ian’s! Sit back and listen to them ‘kicking around’ thoughts on what it really means to pursue a second career. Ian Mather is a retired solicitor and former partner at Mills & Reeves, but decided that retirement wasn’t for him, especially once the job of CEO of Cambridge Football Club presented itself.
Ian specialised in employment law and was an advocate of mediation over expensive litigation throughout his career. With the skills he learnt in how to mediate successfully and to manage his own company and staff, Ian felt he had a sound basis to step in and guide the football club to promotion.
Ian talks about the benefits of having a clear strategy and the importance of communicating this with your teams, especially when you’re new to a business. Ian looks back to the beginning of lockdown and reflects on how important it was to develop quick decision-making skills; which led to developing the idea of fan bubbles and Cambridge FC being the first club in the UK to welcome back fans.
Ian considers the key to his ongoing success is treating people decently and listening to them. During his first few months with the club, he focused on observation; what was working well and what wasn’t, and he developed his relationships with the team which helped guide them out of a turbulent time.
Ian believes passionately in clubs engaging with their communities by actively taking part in youth groups, adopting sustainable practices, engaging fans and helping out with community work. The club signed up to Fair Game, a regulatory initiative supported by Government, to make clubs more accountable. This involves closer financial monitoring to avoid closures, and creating a sustainable business model for football clubs. Ian discusses how the current financial model in our national game is broken, and provides insights into why more and more clubs are signing up to Fair Game.
This episode is a fascinating listen for business leaders and football fans alike and provides a great example of how taking risks by transferring your skills and talents to a new role you are passionate about, can be fruitful and fulfilling.
There are no red flags in this episode, only golden boots, so join us in this peek behind the scenes of the beautiful game and learn from a man working to turn its financial credibility around.
We would love it if you could subscribe wherever else you get your podcasts, so you don’t miss out on any future episodes! If you could also leave us a review we would love to hear from you, and it helps others find our podcast.
We are delighted to announce the opening of a brand new Select Appointments office based in Lowestoft, Suffolk.
Select Appointments have been operating in the recruitment industry for over 35 years and Lowestoft will mark our 16th office in the UK. We have seen great potential in the Lowestoft region for a long time and this new office has been formed from the hard work and tenacity of the team. Select Appointments Lowestoft will be the only national recruitment company present in the area and we will be bringing a wealth of opportunities with us.
The office will be equipped with state-of-the-art recruitment technologies and bolstered by the 12-strong support team at our head office in Norwich. Driven by quality, value and service, the business will be headed up by highly experienced Consultants, Rebecca Roll, Helen Pitcher, Rebecca Belcher and Tania Plank.
Boasting over 40 years combined experience in personnel solutions and many years’ experience of recruiting staff in the local area, our Lowestoft team will offer a quality recruitment service that includes, but is not limited to:
Accountancy & Finance
Administration & Secretarial
Call & Contact Centre
Marketing & Communications
Procurement & Supply Chain
HR
Sales
Hospitality
Engineering & Technical
Marine & Renewables
Warehousing & Logistics
Manufacturing & Production
The office is open to candidates and clients alike as of Monday 3rd September and is located at Riverside Business Centre, Riverside Road, Lowestoft, NR33 0TQ.
If you are looking for a new role or to fill a gap in your team, then please give the team a call on 01502 442939 or email [email protected].
Norwich based training provider Blue Sky Professional Development has teamed up with the Colchester Institute to deliver the new apprenticeships in Human Resources at levels 3 and 5 from venues in Norwich and Colchester. The partnership will deliver the apprenticeship programme through monthly group workshops where students meet with an expert tutor followed by independent learning through approved study packs. Both apprenticeships include a CIPD qualification as well as completing a work based project supported by a visiting tutor to help embed the knowledge and skills acquired
Many businesses are looking for ways to make the most of their apprenticeship levy and using it for existing staff is one option. Traditionally we think of apprenticeships as being for young people to start in work, and this is still the case but developing existing employees with new skills and helping them move into new roles can now be funded through the new apprenticeship levy. Not a levy paying organisation? Your business could still benefit from 90% funding towards the qualification.
Blue Sky are holding a briefing session for anyone who would like to know more on 10th October at their offices in the Henderson Business Centre. It’s an ideal opportunity for both the employer and the employee to learn about how the course is run and funded, and what commitment will be required on both sides.
‘We are planning to start the first groups in November but we will have more start dates early next year if people don’t feel ready to sign up straight away. The important thing is to come along and talk to us about what you are looking for and we can take it from there’ Kate Woods, Director.
For more information or to book onto the briefing session please contact Beth Russell on 01603 251558 or [email protected]
In celebration of their 60-episode diamond anniversary, James and Mark are looking back over the past 18 months at the highlights and the more dubious moments, mostly consisting of Mark’s tenuous/terrible musical links!
Impromptu Business Chat (IBC) launched in May 2020, in response to the ever-changing financial support available to businesses, and the changes to our everyday personal and business lives. Their aim was to create a bitesize, helpful and FREE business advice platform that was presented in a relaxed and fun way.
The podcast was an instant hit and has evolved to include special feature length guest episodes, where James and Mark chat to top business leaders and experts on not just their pandemic experiences, but business in general. The podcasts provided a sanctuary for so many listeners; knowing that there was help out there and that they were not alone.
They have spoken with BBC presenter Simon Mundie on how sport is a metaphor for business; Sue Liburd MBE and former Rugby Union international Andy Nichol on diversity in the workplace; leading psychologist Owen Fitzpatrick on how to communicate effectively with your customers; former Red Arrows pilot Dan Lowes; wellbeing expert Louise Newby and many more!
During this special episode they play clips from past interviews and top tip episodes, demonstrating just how far they have come as presenters, learning along the way from their guests’ advice and their own findings. They highlight the value of the lessons they have learned, throughout their combined 30+ years in business, and as leaders through a global pandemic.
If you’ve been wondering what Impromptu Business Chat is all about, this episode is a great place to start. You can access the episode vault on Listen here!