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One of the fantastic members of Norfolk Chambers of Commerce has flexible office space to let in NR1.

• Co-working office space
• 1 – 4 people
• Flexible competitive terms
• All-inclusive price
• Air conditioning
• Access to meeting room
• Few minutes’ walk to city centre
• Onsite parking available
• Shared facilities & kitchen
• 24-hour access to the building

A city-centre building with services including air conditioning, a shared kitchen and meeting room. Easy access to the inner ring road and links to all main arterial routes. Norwich bus station within 5 minutes-walk and 15 minutes Norwich to railway station. Flexible terms available in a variety of configurations to suit different occupiers. Suitable for 1 to 4 people – a small business or individual workers who need a desk. Car parking. Guide Price £375 + VAT per person/desk per month. For any enquiries and prices please call 01603 664665

“You can’t have one tiny sector of society designing everybody else’s world – it’s just not right. A plurality of views adds to the complex wonder that makes up our world”

Hannah Wooller is an Architect and the Managing Director of Norwich-based practice Hudson Architects.

I was deeply inspired by Hannah as she joined the practice. Her drive and determination were unmatched and she was a fantastic teacher. She always had time to listen to me and support me as an RIBA Part 2 graduate.

In a profession that is struggling to find ways to enable women to progress into management, Hannah is one of the many outstanding female architects that are shaking off traditional societal norms. These brilliant people are finding concrete solutions to enable women to thrive and to succeed in this difficult profession.

Unfortunately though, architecture (and the wider professions that design, procure and build our environments) have much more work to do to address these imbalances. And it isn’t just gender equality that needs to be improved. Diversity, ethnicity and social mobility (as Hannah discusses) also need to be addressed.

The AJ (Architect’s Journal) have made positive steps forward with their Women in Architecture programme and awards, but practices do need to take accountability for their brilliant people. They must ensure policies are in place to balance equality and diversity in the workplace.

The architects I know are some of the most talented, driven and passionate people on the planet. I was very grateful for Hannah taking the time to speak to me and for continuing to inspire me.

Pure is proud to be one of only a few recruitment agencies to use competency-based interviews to assess potential candidates as standard. We see it as best practice because it brings significant benefits to helping us make great matches for our clients and candidates.

Our senior recruitment consultant Claire Bush recently shared her expert insight on using competency-based techniques at a breakfast session for HR professionals. Here’s just some of the ways in which it can make employers feel more confident and informed when making hiring decisions and some top tips for putting this approach into practice.

What are competency-based interviews?

Competencies are the personal characteristics which can contribute to outstanding, rather than average, performance in a particular job. They are the soft skills and personality traits such as communication, enthusiasm, teamwork, decision making and resilience – all of which can be hard to identify or measure.

Competency-based interviews, also known as structured or behavioural interviews, are used to help discover these transferable skillsets within candidates and how their abilities, behaviours and mindset could impact on their effectiveness in the role. The interview is set out to include questions which specifically target a particular skill or competency relevant to the role and the candidate is asked to share an example of how they used or demonstrated that particular competency in the past.

Why use this interview approach?

Competency based interviewing helps you to see beyond the candidates who just talk or look the part and provides a specific set of answers which can form the basis of a profile to measure candidates against each other. Asking candidates to share past examples of where they have demonstrated a particular competency, such as teamwork or resilience, is a strong predictor of their future behaviour in similar situations. It is far more factual than asking candidates hypothetical questions about what they might do if they were faced with a possible scenario. 

This approach also helps to prevent unconscious bias by taking away some of the subjectivity of a more traditional, biographical interview. It supports interviewers to stay open-minded, listen throughout, and not to be overly influenced by initial first impressions. For example, some candidates can come across very confident in an interview setting, but this doesn’t mean they are confident overall. If confidence is a particular competency you are looking for, it is important to delve deeper. The person you may have perceived as being a little subdued could be the one who provides the best example of when they have confidently challenged authority to influence a positive outcome. Whereas someone who had struck you as being full of confidence may not be able to give any examples at all. 

Our top tips

If you are looking to include competency-based interviewing as part of your recruitment process, here are some of our top tips:

• Don’t try and cover too much in one interview. Pick two or three competencies to ask about based on what is most relevant to the role and having read through the candidate’s CV.
• Remember it is good practice to explain to the candidate how the interview will be structured, and to tell them that you will be including questions which will ask them for specific examples of when they have demonstrated the competencies required.
• Do let the candidate know that you will be writing notes while they are giving their answers, so they know what to expect and don’t think that you are ignoring them.
• When you ask a competency question, give the candidate space to think. Reassure them that it is fine if they need time to think of an example.
• Make sure you give the candidate plenty of opportunity to talk. The purpose is to gain evidence from the candidate, so they should be doing most of the talking.
• Continue to ask questions to help elicit the most relevant information. As well describing the situation and their actions, you want to entice from the candidate the final outcome or impact. Prompt them with questions such as what happened next? What did they say as a result? What feedback did you get from the team?
• If a candidate really struggles to find an example, don’t leave them squirming. Move on to another question and come back to it later.

For more information about competency-based interviewing or support in finding the right candidate for a role, contact your local Pure office. 

Method Marketing is pleased to release the results of its State of Content Survey 2019, which show that poor spelling, punctuation and grammar have an impact on business success.

The headline statistic shows that 94% of people are less likely to spend money with a company that has mistakes on its website, demonstrating that poor spelling, punctuation and grammar have a direct effect on a business’s bottom line. 

This was in addition to 93% of respondents reporting that they are less likely to trust a company with spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors on its site. In an age when brands are trying to build trust and authenticity, this statistic illustrates that something as simple as a spelling mistake could erode customer relationships.

Other notable data showed that 84% of people generally notice errors, while 80% of people say that spelling mistakes are their ‘pet hate’. The research also revealed that people most frequently spot mistakes on social media (79%), in advertising content (75%) and in print media (67%). 

The statistics also showed that people are typically more bothered when they see mistakes in education (91%), law (91%) and financial services (84%). 

Says Method Marketing founder, Lucy Mowatt: “As a content marketer with an editorial background, I wanted to know about attitudes towards poor-quality content. Having noticed a decline in standards in recent years, I was keen to explore what effect, if any, it has on brand trust and sales. 

“Now that the results of the State of Content survey have been collated and analysed, it’s possible to show that poor spelling, punctuation and grammar do have an impact.

“It demonstrates the importance of investing in professionally produced content, especially in high-trust sectors, such as education, law and financial services where attention to detail is vital to the services provided.”

Clean, clear, error-free content is easy to achieve by accessing the right skills, using the services of experienced writers, editors and proofreaders. If you would like help with this or any other aspect of your content marketing, get in touch.

We have amazing news! Three company pledges of £250 so far!!  Norwich Puppet Theatre is delighted to announce 3 companies have pledged to support our newly launched Passport to Puppetry Scheme. Thank you:

• Fosters Solicitors
• Osiris Technologies
• Misternic management consultants

Could your company be the next to help us achieve the critical mass of 10 pledges for just £250? Why would your company want to help this Christmas?

Many young people live in financially restricted households or difficult circumstances, unable to afford access to creative cultural experiences which can greatly improve children’s health and well-being, sense of aspiration and ambition.  With help from Norfolk Chamber of Commerce we are inviting local businesses to support the first wave of a new fund enabling Passports to Puppetry.  How it will work:

• Companies and individuals donate to our Passport Fund.
• The Passport fund will support the work of Norwich Puppet theatre and allow us to offer Passports to children, enabling them to share and enjoy the wonderful world of puppetry.
• 10 donations of just £250 will enable us to launch with 25 passports allowing access to 4 show and workshop events at Norwich Puppet Theatre at no cost to their families, growing to 40 or 50 next year.

Passports will be issued to a child, family or group most in need of some smiles and will be valid for 1 year. Choosing from the exciting and vast array of performances and workshops in our public programme, each passport holder, with an accompanying adult, will have the opportunity to journey into the magical world of puppetry. We are working with leading local charities and services to set up safe and secure connections between the families with children we aim to benefit and ourselves – Break, Benjamin Foundation, Nelson’s Journey and others. Chair of trustees, Nic Hopkins said, “Sponsorship will give children access to enjoyable, exciting and inspirational creative and cultural activities for free. Our supporters will make a major contribution the overall costs to make all this additional access to smiles happen.  Our partners will help us link to the right children and families and help us manage these sensitive relationships really well.” “Sponsors will share in the opportunities to use stories of involvement in Passport to Puppetry in their own publicity.  At the same time this scheme will help Norwich Puppet Theatre provide meaningful and enriching experiences for everyone.” Contact our lovely team via info@puppettheatre.co.uk or 01603 515564 to discuss Passport to Puppetry further. Find out What’s On this month and over the festive season at Norwich Puppet Theatre: https://www.puppettheatre.co.uk/whats-on We are always keen to welcome partners to a guided tour of our amazing venue to tell them more about our work and a range of ways to get involved!  We welcome all ideas about how companies and individuals might like to support or get involved with Norwich Puppet Theatre, one of Norwich’s treasured cultural gems.

Congratulations Panel Graphic Ltd. of Loddon on the successful certification of their quality system by BSI to the updated ISO 9001: 2015 standard.

Back in March, Panel Graphic determined that their quality system needed a shot in the arm to meet the needs of their ever expanding blue chip clientele. They are the leaders in the field in the provision of design, manufacture and improvement of protective and contrast enhancement front windows and panels for electronic information displays, and optical quality coatings for plastics.

Being Chamber members they scanned the Chamber directory for a local specialist in quality. They found John Campbell, a Norwich based consultant, with success in this area, and an action team was born.

After six months of planned improvement actions, The British Standards institute (BSI) awarded Panel Graphic Ltd. the certificate to the international quality management requirements standard ISO 9001: 2015.

This well respected certificate indicates that Panel Graphic Ltd. have a robust structure in place to give their discerning clients confidence in their products and services.

We are delighted to announce that all three of our Norwich offices are moving to a new headquarters – Prospect House in Norwich city centre.

Prospect House is a well-known building in Norwich as the base of regional news company, Archant, who will remain in the building as tenants. We’re looking forward to sharing the space with them, securing the future of this local landmark building.

As we continue to expand, we need space to grow into and this move supports our aspirations for the future. Relocating to the city centre will not only benefit our staff but our clients too, who can take full advantage of the great transport links to Norwich city centre and facilities in the building.

We aim to move in June 2020. Watch this space for updates, and we look forward to seeing you in our new place soon!

A new pilot wayfinding scheme has launched in the city centre comprising of 12 newly designed and branded City of Stories totems.

Delivered by Norwich Business Improvement District in partnership with Norwich City Council the pre-existing infrastructure has been redesigned to fit a new image for the city centre.

The 12 newly designed directional totems are located across the city centre, from outside St Peter Mancroft and The Assembly House, to Dragon Hall on King street. 

Each totem is colour co-ordinated to match city centre districts and features directional content, immediate location information, 3D buildings and icons, accessible fonts and designs, as well as heritage information on the surrounding district. 

As a creative and leading tech city, it’s no surprise that the new totems are piloting QR and Near File Communication (NFC) technology, supplied by local company, Thyngs.  The technology will link through to the newly-launched VisitNorwich website (visitnorwich.co.uk), which will showcase more content on the surrounding area, including events, businesses and attractions.

Two years in the making, the scheme has worked extensively with the local businesses, specific interest groups and the wider community to ensure the scheme meets DDA compliance and learns the lessons from some of the national best examples of wayfinding. 

To compliment the new wayfinding initiative, the Norwich BID have also doubled the area of the open guest free wi-fi network in the city centre.  Available 24/7 the network is live throughout the main city centre, from Chapelfield Gardens to Norwich Castle, London Street and the Lanes and covering St Andrew’s, Surrey Street and Prince of Wales Road. The free city centre wi-fi makes it easy for visitors to surf with ease and stay connected.  The free network offers speeds of up to 5Mbps, bringing a truly connected experience to city centre users.

It’s easy to get connected, in Wi-Fi settings select ‘Free-Wifi-NorwichBID‘. Registration is available through two options (Facebook and registration form).  Registration is only required once; afterwards the device will automatically connect to the free Wi-Fi whenever it is in range (if set up on the phone).

Stefan Gurney, Executive Director at the BID said, “We are proud to unveil the amazing new look totems with integrated NFC technology. The new look ties in with our recent City of Stories rebrand and unifies the city with its clear colour coded districts in the city.”

“We are also pleased to offer extended wi-fi coverage across the city centre, increasing and enhancing the visitor and user experience whilst in the city”.

Graham Casbourne Appointed Business Development & Sales Director at KLM UK Engineering Limited

Paris, Amstelveen, November 2019 – Graham Casbourne has been appointed as Business Development & Sales Director at KLM UK Engineering Limited as of 11th November.

KLM UK Engineering is a wholly-owned AFI KLM E&M subsidiary specialising in maintenance & training solutions for regional and narrow-body aircraft fleets.

Graham started his aviation career at KLM UK Engineering 30 years ago and has held various positions in operations and sales. In 2012 Graham joined the Sales & Marketing department as Sales Manager and has an extensive network in the business.

On learning of his appointment, Graham Casbourne said: “I am very proud to have been appointed as Business Development & Sales Director. With my experience and network I look forward to supporting the Sales & Marketing team to deliver year on year growth for the business.

TaxAssist holds bespoke event to engage and support the staff of franchisees

Knowing that happy staff who feel engaged and supported are key to the success of a practice, TaxAssist Accountants recently held its first staff regional meeting at Hampton Manor Hotel in Solihull. This event was delivered by Senior Managers Richard Washington, Richard Chatten-Hague and Jo Nockels on the back of the recent franchisee regional meetings with similar content but tailored specifically for staff.

Richard Chatten-Hague, Senior Business Development Manager, said: “It was great to be a part of this productive and enjoyable, inaugural event.

“We know how vital a role staff play in the running of a practice, and so we felt it was important to hold a bespoke meeting to showcase the vast support on offer, keep them up to date with technical and business development initiatives and to provide them with a platform for views and ideas.

“We are hopeful that holding events such as these will help with staff engagement, development and retention. We received excellent feedback from all who attended, and we will be looking to hold this event again next year.”

TaxAssist takes its commitment to staff development very seriously and runs a two-year diploma course for senior practice staff designed to nurture management and leadership skills. It also produces regular webinars and business development, technical and software training days for staff to attend.

Many franchisees in the network are also recognised as ICAEW accredited trainers, helping to attract and retain talented individuals by offering the ACA qualification.

A list of current staff vacancies can be found here.