So, today I set out to do some more all-important employer engagement and it occurred to me - for all sorts of reasons - that it may be useful to do a blog! (as a means of keeping a log).
9:15AM, just had an enormously boring assembly and got straight on the phone to Croydon Park Hotel. Spoke to a polish receptionist who very politely told me that the people I needed to speak to were the HR department. She gave me a contact and asked me to ring back at 10:40 (I will). I also spoke to a member of the booking and sales team there asking if they would be willing to host a one-off free meeting for a number of us consortium members! No such thing as a free lunch, but who knows - always worth asking! She said she'd get back to me, but again that the best person to speak to would be HR (G.O). So shelving that for now and moving on to my next conquest. (contact - hr@croydonparkhotel.com Speak to Gina O'neil)
9:26AM Phoned Centrale. Got through the "gatekeeper" (we ought to have a cold calling/sales training day for this sort of thing) and then got accidentally disconnected. When I rang back I explained to the receptionist that I was from a local school. She immediately connected me to someone - I didn't know who - but had made the assumption that I was a teacher ringing a parent (who happens to work in the management department there!). A parent contact is never a bad thing! I spoke to a lovely lady (PG) who said the next step was to send an e-mail detailing what exactly it is I needed from Centrale and that she would take it from there. So that's that - an e-mail to send out and follow up in a few days. (contact in management pamelagraham@centrale.co.uk)
Next, 9:30AM -rang the Whitgift centre a hundred million times. No response. The departments in "management" were 1. operations and charities 2. Facilities 3. marketing 4. Office manager. I tried all of them. No response!
anyway 9:42 - an important one! GAME.CO.UK I rang the head office and got through to a cancankterous switchboard operator. She passed me on to someone in PR - the line went to voice mail. I rang back and asked for a contact and explained what I was after. She said I needed to speak to someone in Marketing or PR and told me (unbelievably) that there was only ONE person in PR/Marketing at head office and she was in the Bahamas (or somewhere) until Monday. So i took down her email adddress and other details and said I'd follow up on it.
So far, nothing concrete. (Contacts: Lucy White - lucy.white@game.co.uk - P.R & marketing)
9:48 - Wesley Owen. Rang head office and a lady told me that the whole company is up for sale. Lots of uncertainity all round, but I've got to say the people - every one I spoke to - were really really lovely. Anyway, the initial lady passed me on to Samantha in personell. Samantha then passed me on to Ruth in operations. (I'm getting to grips with the different departments and which contact might be most useful). Ruth in operations was very enthuasiastic about the opportunity to be involved in the curriculum and could quite easily see the mutual benefits including publicity and marketing for their books and products! Unfortunately because of the situation, we decided we'd have to wait and see what happened with the takeover and then go from there! (contacts: Ruth Wallace, 01480462622, operations manager)
10:00AM I finally hit gold! PREMIER RADIO, London. The contact I was given was in Marketing and Events - Richard Smart (richard.smart@premier.org.uk, 02073161366) I explained the Diploma in IT and what we were hoping we could achieve by engaging a radio station. He then surprised me by saying that Premier had tried (a few years ago) to do more to engage croydon but plans hadn't quite worked out at the time. It was useful to understand how Premier works: He explained: Most expenditure and costs come from licences and employing people. Premier Radio basically run a radio station (Christian) which has now gone national. They also have plans to launch a Gospel station in london in January. Premier also has an online TV presence; publication (magazines, leaflets) department, and a fairly well developed web presence. It cost 4-5 million to run, 50% donations, 25% advertising 25% from the ministry. What came next was really exciting. Richard mentioned that there was a portable radio station sitting in a warehouse in Croydon. Some time ago they were hoping to put this in place in a school in Croydon but it hadn't panned out. I explained that this is something we could potentially link to the "Managing Projects" unit as well as the potential of Technology. He was quite keen for me to send him an e-mail inviting him to a meeting in which we could discuss the curriculum and how to be involved. I explained that at the very least we would expect learners to be able to visit their premises and have a look around for the Exploring organisations and Potential of Technology units. He seemed quite enthuasiastic about the whole thing! So another email to send, and this one looks like more of a definite lead!
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