Career Stories from the Field

This week I’m talking to Wendy Plumb. She is the Assistant Director of donor engagement at Samaritans. She shares a fascinating story of working within a variety of industries, finding her purpose and living her values through her work, and gives us a great insight into how you can get to the top but also work part time.

I’m so pleased to have David Strang in the studio today. David is the Offshore Director at BrandSafway, an international construction company. David spent the first 21 years of his career working as a civil engineer, building bridges in the UK and Portugal. He shares a fantastic insight into transitioning from hands on engineering to leadership.

To find out more about Penny Strutton and Think Forward Consulting, please visit ⁠www.thinkforwardconsulting.co.uk⁠ or connect with me on ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/pennystrutton/⁠

If you would like to feature as a guest on the podcast, please do get in touch with Penny on ⁠⁠penny@thinkforwardconsulting.co.uk⁠⁠

Join the private Facebook Group “The Career Revolution” here

This week I’m talking to Nick Elliott. Nic is the Head of Dispute Resolution and Employment Group at Actons Solicitors based in Nottingham. Nic gives a great insight into the journey he’s taken from university to becoming a qualified solicitor, specifically in the line of employment law. Nic is also the host of the HRD talks podcast – you can find the link in the show notes.

This week I’m talking to Chris Orme. He’s the sales director at Travelodge and has had a really interesting career, all centering around the travel industry. Chris’s passion for geography took him travelling around the world before he settled into a career of sales. He shines a light on just how important interpersonal skills are with building successful partnerships both with his team but with his customers as well.

The purpose of the podcast is to raise awareness of a variety of careers and highlight the pathways people have taken to achieve their current position. Very rarely will we see a straightforward pathway where someone aims to be say, an accountant at 16 and moves smoothly up the ladder to be a Finance Director by 40! It is the interesting routes, choices, opportunities and challenges that I’m looking to explore, to showcase the different avenues we take to achieve the final outcome, or career status.

Young people are often stuck with “I don’t know what to do”, and there really isn’t a lot out there to join the dots between subjects at school, courses at uni/college and then different job opportunities as they move into employment. Career-changers have the same problem. They know they want to move, but the lack of understanding of other careers and the skills and avenues available to them, often keeps them standing still.

If you are nodding in agreement then this podcast is for you. I want you to see that there is no perfect route, and that by building on strengths, personality, skills and opportunities that you too can achieve growth in a career that is more suited to you.

Meet Penny Strutton

I was encouraged to share my own story and hope you enjoy the twists and turns I’ve taken to achieve my current role. From television, to the environment to communities and now coaching/business psychology, I have always been inspired to make a difference. 13 years ago I was made redundant. This gave me the kick up the backside to make a big step change into the world of coaching, training and development, where I’ve now been running my consultancy for 12 years. It has not been an obvious or predictable journey but I certainly have found my vocation and loving it. I hope you find it interesting and look forward to any questions you might have.

Meet Matt Wilmot

This week I’m talking with Matt Wilmot from Frasers Group. Matt is the Group Head of Enterprise IT & Information Security and has been part of Frasers’ journey for the last 2 years. Matt started in Finance, moved into retail and then spent 5 years in PWC where he was National Retail Lead Cyber Security before moving to Frasers. Matt says he stumbled into the world of IT and Cyber Security but has clearly excelled and grown into an influential role in a FTSE 100 company. Focusing on his leadership, he is truly committed to lead, manage and inspire his team to challenge and progress.

The purpose of the podcast is to raise awareness of a variety of careers and highlight the pathways people have taken to achieve their current position. Very rarely will we see a straightforward pathway where someone aims to be say, an accountant at 16 and moves smoothly up the ladder to be a Finance Director by 40! It is the interesting routes, choices, opportunities and challenges that I’m looking to explore, to showcase the different avenues we take to achieve the final outcome, or career status.

Young people are often stuck with “I don’t know what to do”, and there really isn’t a lot out there to join the dots between subjects at school, courses at uni/college and then different job opportunities as they move into employment. Career-changers have the same problem. They know they want to move, but the lack of understanding of other careers and the skills and avenues available to them, often keeps them standing still.

If you are nodding in agreement then this podcast is for you. I want you to see that there is no perfect route, and that by building on strengths, personality, skills and opportunities that you too can achieve growth in a career that is more suited to you.

Each week I will share a career changing tip.