University Technical College Norfolk is holding an Employer-led Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) event on Thursday 4th April 4-7pm for 13-18 year olds and their parents to educate them on STEM careers and the opportunities available.
If you’re a STEM business and would like to attend please go to their eventbrite page to register your interest. They also have stand places available, if you’d like one please contact UTCN – office@utcn.org.uk
At Pure, our recruitment consultants are sometimes asked for advice on the career progression opportunities available in our region in comparison to those in London. As professional recruitment consultants for the eastern region we have extensive experience of the region’s recruitment market and the employment trends in the area. Here are just some of the reasons why we believe our region provides not only excellent career progression opportunities but also fantastic places to work.
The opportunities
Our region is home to a diverse range of businesses. Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk are home to everything from large, national and international companies through to thriving SMEs, family owned businesses and innovative start-ups. There are award-winning businesses and organisations listed in the Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For within sectors including Energy, Digital and Technology, Financial Services, Life Sciences, Food and Agriculture, Tourism and Advanced Manufacturing. This business diversity provides a wealth of exciting challenges and opportunities for our candidates and these companies are looking to recruit talented people at all levels who will help to shape and grow the business. In our last financial year, we supported 2,340 candidates in the region to find their next professional role and we are currently recruiting for nearly 400 different professional job roles, many of which are exclusive vacancies not advertised elsewhere.
The benefits
Choosing to work in the East of England can enhance your career progression, rather than hold it back in anyway. Typically, larger organisations in the UK’s major cities are more likely to offer roles with very specific and narrow set of responsibilities. Whereas the diversity of business size and sectors in our region means we see more organisations providing employees with the chance to gain a more rounded experience, take on more responsibility, and the opportunity to develop new skills as the business grows. Like many organisations in our region, such as our strategic partners which include Birketts LLP and Grant Thornton, we are passionate about developing the region’s talent pipeline. There are numerous opportunities for people to gain additional support to progress their careers including our Women’s Leadership Programme, Board Ready Talent Scheme, Finance Leadership Programme and HR Development Programme.
The employers
Working with clients across the Eastern region, our consultants have seen an increase in organisations developing their workplace cultures. Through our Best Employers Eastern Region initiative and sponsorship of local Best Employer awards, we support and promote employers across the region who are committed to creating positive working environments which bring out the best in their people. One of the priorities we look for when judging these awards and accreditations is the organisation’s talent strategy and its approach to learning and development and supporting employees to progress.
The million-dollar question
The larger size of the market means it is inevitable that some businesses in London will be able to offer higher salary packages, but when travel and cost of living are in consideration, the net gain is not always positive. Salaries in the eastern region are competitive and should be considered alongside the considerably lower cost of living. The latest statistics from our free salary comparison tool www.comparemysalary.co.uk shows that the average salaries in our region range from £24,500 for office support roles through to £42,500 for Technology roles. We have also seen an increasing trend in organisations in our region offering more attractive benefit packages. Considering people spend the majority of their waking hours at work, additional lifestyle benefits such as extra annual leave, flexible working and wellbeing initiatives can all make a big difference to day-to-day life as well as people’s own engagement levels and motivation to progress. Compare My Salary shows that the top benefits available to employees in our region include flexible working, additional annual leave and company paid training, alongside benefits which impact on the overall renumeration package such as health insurance, life insurance and free car parking.
Contact us for more information about current job vacancies and career progression opportunities in our region, norwich@prs.uk.com or 01603 216456.
Lee Green, Director of Insolvency and Recovery, and Bruce Masson, Director in the firm’s long-established Farm and Landed Estates team, are to become partners at East Anglian based chartered accountant Larking Gowen, with effect from 1 April.
“We are delighted to announce the appointment of two new partners at the firm,” says Jon Woolston, Managing Partner. “Lee joined us after sixth-form, he came third overall in the country in his Joint Insolvency Board examinations, and first for students from firms with smaller insolvency teams. Bruce joined Larking Gowen 12 months ago as Director of our widely respected 46-strong Farm and Landed Estates team,” Jon Woolston continues, “bringing his invaluable perspective to this core part of our business.”
“Larking Gowen has the largest Farm and Landed Estates team in this region, and one of the largest in the country,” says new partner Bruce Masson, “it is a privilege to guide clients, to help manage assets and succession against a background of constant change in regulation, technology and land prices, as well as future uncertainty, for example in the area of government support.”
Bruce trained as a Chartered Accountant with Saffery Champness in London and Bristol, then moved to the entrepreneurial business department at Kingston Smith LLP, before relocating to Suffolk in 2012 to join another large accountancy firm as Director in their Accounting and Business Advisory department, specialising in agriculture, estates and private clients, joining Larking Gowen in 2018.
“Larking Gowen is a welcoming and friendly work environment, with a strong emphasis on employee wellbeing,” Bruce Masson continues, “becoming a partner demonstrates a long-term commitment to the industry and the firm. I look forward to contributing to the future direction of the business in this new role.” Director of Insolvency and Recovery, Lee Green, has been with Larking Gowen since leaving sixth-form. “Becoming a partner at Larking Gowen was an ambition from my first day with the firm as office junior, in 2003,” says Lee, who qualified as a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner in 2014, “Insolvency and Recovery is a niche area, winding down businesses or working on behalf of creditors where our work is often investigative. As a partner I will broaden my experience, looking at the business as a whole, and contributing to the firm’s drive and direction,” Lee explains.
“In my work, the first port of call is to avoid insolvency,” says Lee Green, who believes reputation is key to the continuing expansion of the firm, “we recommend business owners and individuals come to us for free, confidential advice as soon financial concerns start. The earlier we can put a plan of action in place, the more options we have to manage what can be a stressful time,” he concludes.
“Lee and Bruce are articulate advocates in their respective fields, their expertise is an asset to the business,” says Managing Partner, Jon Woolston, “the partners and I look forward to working with them, as we continue to expand our work across East Anglia,” he concludes.
Please help postgraduate students from the University of East Angliaand Norwich University of the Arts working on our heritage i-Teams project by filling out this survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/LJMJQKQ
The students are working with a local business to investigate the importance of brand heritage within the drinks industry – especially when considering online sales.
i-Teams is a fantastic opportunity for researchers in the early stages of their careers to acquire new skills, widen their experience outside of academia, increase their commercial awareness and have fun doing it.
We put together teams of postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers to work together with industry mentors on creatively planning business impact for real inventions.
To find out more about getting involved, please visit the website or email iteams@uea.ac.uk.
Celebrate English Tourism Week from Saturday, March 30 to Sunday, April 7 at the historic Maids Head Hotel in Norwich, winner of Best Independent Hotel and the Investing in the Future award at the Norfolk and Suffolk Tourism Awards 2019.
A classic English Afternoon Tea will be on offer comprising egg and cress, salmon, cheese and homemade tomato chutney sandwiches; homemade sausage roll, scotch egg (originated from Fortnum and Mason in 1738); Cherry Bakewell, Victoria Sandwich and traditional fruit cake; Raspberry Eton Mess and cheese and fruit scones with clotted cream and jam.
The hotel has a new partnership with shoe artist, Emily Jupp of Milly J Shoes in Tombland. Emily is producing special shoes linked to key events in the Norwich and Norfolk calendar, which will be displayed in Maids Head reception. Her English Country Garden shoe, marking English Tourism Week, is launching the new partnership.
Christine Malcolm, General Manager, Maids Head Hotel explained: “English Tourism Week is an annual celebration of the importance of tourism to the country’s economy. Tourism contributes more than £3.245 billion to Norfolk’s economy, supporting just under 65,400 jobs, which is 18.4% of the workforce. We are pleased to play our part in this celebration, marking the importance of our heritage and our owners, the Chaplin family’s commitment to the continuing sympathetic refurbishment of the hotel, ensuring that the historic building meets the expectations of 21st century visitors.”
To book English Tourism Week Afternoon Tea t. 01603 209955.
Emily Jupp, Milly J Shoes was Footwear Designer of the Year in The Footwear Industry Awards 2015.
Passengers on Greater Anglia are set to benefit from improved compensation thanks to a new deal signed between the operator and the Department for Transport (DfT). From 1 April 2019, they will be able to claim compensation for journeys delayed between 15 and 29 minutes under the Delay Repay 15 (DR15) scheme.
This means that passengers, who take over 80 million journeys a year on the Greater Anglia network, will be able to claim back 25% of the single fare, irrespective of the cause of the delay. Existing compensation arrangements already exist for delays of 30 minutes or over.
Greater Anglia was determined to introduce DR15 as soon as possible after Chris Grayling, Secretary of State for Transport, announced in October 2016 that DR15 should be rolled out to all rail franchises.
In recent years, the company has also taken positive steps to increase awareness of the customer compensation options available, make the claims process simpler and give customers more choice in the ways that they can receive their compensation. Customers can now claim compensation online, by email or by hard copy form. Compensation can be transferred directly into your bank account, as a credit on your credit card, by voucher, Paypal or alternatively as a charitable donation. This latter option was introduced by Greater Anglia last summer, following feedback from customers and stakeholders, and has already raised over £8,000 for the Samaritans charity.
Rail Minister Andrew Jones said:
“Our top priority is ensuring passengers see the reliable and punctual services they expect, but when things do go wrong, it’s only right that they are compensated fairly and quickly. This is why the launch of DR15 on Greater Anglia is important news for passengers, providing them with better compensation if their services are delayed.”
Commenting on the introduction of Delay Repay 15 for Greater Anglia customers, Jamie Burles, Managing Director for Greater Anglia said :
“We’re delighted to be able to provide better compensation, with the launch of Delay Repay 15 from next month and we are sure it will be welcomed by our customers. We’ve worked in close partnership with the Department for Transport to offer this significant benefit during the existing franchise as soon as possible, meeting our customers’ aspirations to see this upgrade earlier than expected.
It’s all part of a wider transformation of train service standards in East Anglia that sees us bringing in a complete fleet of brand-new trains across our entire network over the next two years, with the first new trains due in service later this year. We’re fully focused on improving punctuality and reliability, in collaboration with Network Rail, but customers will now be able to claim compensation for any delays of 15 minutes and over, when things do go wrong.”
Latest punctuality figures for Greater Anglia stand at just over 90%.
Lolcal News is a brand new exhibition celebrating Norfolk’s finest creatives. Featuring 30 local designers, illustrators, artists and photographers, each piece of work is based on a Norfolk related news headline. The concept for this exhibition is that of Norwich designer Sinead Birmingham, who moved back home from London after ten years working the creative industries, and immediately found comfort and joy in the local headlines and Norfolk humour. Sinead has collated Norfolk news headlines over the past year, which include such gems as “Person stuck in bathroom, fire service called in” and “£300 operation by vet on constipated goldfish” were the inspiration behind the exhibition. After collecting a strong selection of news gold, Sinead approached Norfolk’s design talent including; Owen Mathers, who recently completed a mural in Norwich’s Ivy Restaurant, Matt Whitehead, the creative behind Patterns of Play and the OTBC match day programme, as well as her talented designer colleagues at borne, one of Norwich’s leading design agencies. Wanting for the exhibition to remain local in every sense, Lolcal News ticket sales profits and profits from the artist’s prints will be donated to the OPEN Youth Trust (OPEN), a charity which develop high-quality arts initiatives helping children and young people express themselves through creativity. Sinead Birmingham, Lolcal News creator said: “The exhibition is a vehicle for building an even stronger design community within the city. With Norwich University of the Arts’ Course Leaders involved, along with alumni, Sam Harrons from the Shhhh collective and London based Norfolk native designers, the standard of the work will be as high as the headline humour.” All the headlines have been kept under wraps until the private view on 4th April, but until then archive headlines are being featured @lolcal_news instagram account. The exhibition will then be open to the public at OPEN Norwich, from 10.00am – 10.00pm on Friday 5th April and from 10.00am – 4.00pm on Saturday 6th April. Tickets are £5 + booking fee (under 12s free with a paying adult). Available from https://opennorwich.org.uk/whats-on/gigs-events/lolcal-news/ or call OPEN’s Box Office on 01603 763111
Spire Solicitors LLP is pleased to announce the appointment of Emma Trick as partner to the firm, to continue its growth strategy.
Emma joined Spire Solicitors LLP in 2015 and specialises in Private Client work (including Wills, Estates, Powers of Attorney, and Trusts). She is a full member of the Law Society Private Client Section, The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE). Emma is based at our Diss office, where she is also a committee member of the Diss Business Forum.
Alisdair Liddle, Head of Private Client at Spire Solicitors LLP says: “It is with great pleasure we welcome Emma to the firm’s partner team. Emma’s experience, focus on client care and dedication to Spire Solicitors LLP have been invaluable since joining in 2015 and I look forward to continue working with her closely over the coming years.”
The Eye Film team enjoyed a great night out together at this year’s Royal Television Society East Awards. We were thrilled to win, especially in two categories contested by such incredible talent from across the region, best Promotional Film and best Production Craft Skills. Thank you to everyone and of course, our client Humphries Weaving, who gave us the opportunity to make the film for them!
www.eyefilm.co.uk
Cloud, connectivity and data centre specialists MIGSOLV have partnered with leading cyber security providers Charterhouse Voice & Data to offer an innovative way to protect against current and future threats.
Their new ‘three-pronged’ approach helps businesses not only understand and minimise existing cyber threats but benefit from proactive protection against viruses yet to be unleashed.
“We wanted to do more than just protect businesses against current risks” states David Manning, Managing Director of MIGSOLV. “Cyber threats are evolving fast and businesses want a simple and assured way to remain safe. Working with Charterhouse, we can provide the best and most proactive solution.”
The new approach sees MIGSOLV and their partner begin by helping businesses understand and mitigate all cyber risks and their implications. Often assumed to be purely IT based, these can include fines, operational losses and lasting damage to reputation.
The second stage applies software from a range of world-leading names to provide protection against known threats and viruses. This can include not only an enterprise-level firewall but ‘end-point’ protection for laptops, desktops and other devices which can be a softer target for cyber threats.
Where MIGSOLV and their partner’s new solution varies from traditional protection is in the final stage where it automatically scans for anomalies in a business’s everyday IT and data. It uses behavioural analytics (a form of artificial intelligence) to evaluate normal use before investigating and protecting against anything out of the ordinary or threatening.
“We’re delighted to have been chosen by MIGSOLV to help protect the wide range of businesses they work with” says Matt Tyne, Chief Operating Officer at Charterhouse. “The consequences of successful cyber breaches are greater than ever and organisations really value the peace of mind this approach gives them. MIGSOLV have an impressive range of solutions for storing, managing and protecting IT and data which we’re proud to be part of”.
Established over 25 years ago, Charterhouse Voice & Data have provided solutions to UK and international companies including AirPartner, Lotus and Camelot.
Best known for providing East Anglia’s only world-class commercial data centre, MIGSOLV are fast developing a reputation for helping businesses with every aspect of storing, managing and protecting their IT and data. They’ve announced a number of strategic partnerships with leading providers which they believe enables them to flexibly solve business’s current and evolving needs.
The new cyber security solution is effective for organisations of any size but is anticipated to be most sort after by medium sized companies looking for automated and future-proof protection.
More information can be found at www.migsolv.com
After the success of the speed networking event that was held on 28th February. The Hewett Academy is now looking for businesses willing to get involved in two further events. This a great opportunity to work with our future workforce and support their understanding of business.
Below are a couple of dates they would like help with:
The event will start at 8.45am, where refreshments and pastries will be served, networking will follow in two separate sessions.
Session One:
Session Two:
All students will have been briefed and have a booklet with questions to ask each business. The event is designed to get them prepared for speaking to employers in the future and specifically for the Skills and Careers Festival the following week.
All buisnesses that participate will be thanked on Twitter and in the Hewett Headlines newsletter.
If you’re interested let us know by emailing Jordan.Domin@norfolkchamber.co.uk or 01603 729707
2019 marks the 25th anniversary since The Benjamin Foundation was established and the Norfolk and Suffolk based charity has announced exciting plans for a high-profile, visually appealing, engaging and, most importantly, family friendly celebration to mark this milestone.
They plan to create a dramatic art installation called Flight for Youth which will feature up to 25,000 glazed pottery butterflies glazed in one of the charity’s four distinct colours – pink, purple, orange or red. The public are being invited to purchase a butterfly but before taking receipt of their commemorative piece the butterflies are being used to create two dramatic and high-profile art installations, at The Assembly House and Holkham Hall. Butterflies are available to purchase on-line now – https://benjaminfoundation.co.uk/flight-for-youth/
Schools, care homes and other groups and organisations can also purchase unglazed butterflies, which they can decorate themselves and submit to be included in the installation.
Flight for Youth also aims to raise funds to continue the work of The Benjamin Foundation, so the charity is appealing to companies in the region to get behind the campaign through sponsorship. They are delighted that many companies have already pledged sponsorship, including Norwich High School for Girls, who are headline sponsors.
The Benjamin Foundation was founded in 1994 by Richard Draper and his wife Vanessa, following the death of their son Ben and for 25 years the charity has been helping people across Norfolk and Suffolk.
Tony Ing, Chief Executive of The Benjamin Foundation says: “Twenty-five years is an important milestone for any organisation. It marks an opportunity for us to celebrate and reflect on where we have come from, what we have achieved and what our priorities are for the next quarter century.”
For more information about how to GET INVOLVED there are multiple ways to get in touch:
E-mail: colin.lang@benjaminfoundation.co.uk or Call: Colin Lang on 01603 886 933.