We’ve always taken a chance on young, untested, people at RBH. Graduate trainees, apprentices, those doing work experience stints. They bring bags of energy, a fresh way of looking at stuff, curve balls – and fun. We’re proud to have grown some of our own and the industry’s best this way.
Since COVID though, it’s all been a bit different.
The pandemic was disastrous for millions of us but, to my mind, particularly for our young folk. Particularly for their mental health.
Recruiters tell us: “Oh, they only want to work from home. If you’re going to make them come into the office they won’t be interested. They don’t want to learn to drive, and they don’t want to use public transport”.
And we get it. I remember, after having children, how enormous the outside world suddenly became, after it had shrunk down to me, my baby and my little house. Going back into the workplace was the biggest deal. I didn’t think I’d manage the drive, the social interaction, the big job I had to step back into.
But I did manage, because I’d done it all before and I never thought for a moment that I could do what I do in any other way.
Our school leavers, our graduates, apprentices, our new work starters have never had that experience to fall back on. Their studies were interrupted, conducted at arm’s length or online. Their relationships were curtailed to those people allowed to be in reach. Many stayed at their family home or returned there. Some stayed in lonely rooms or house-shares. But all of them got used to studying/working from a relatively isolated domestic space.
And it’s nice being at home, working from home. It’s safe. It’s comforting.
But great learning never came from being comfortable.
Just like travel, work experience among other people truly broadens your mind. I learned so very much about life, business and myself through watching and listening to others. Not online (although that has its part to play) but in the actual vicinity of real, live, people. People I admired and people I detested. I picked up on the nuances of different behaviours and different talents. I was terrified out of my mind when I was handed complex projects to deliver but there were people all around to ask and support me. People who laughed when I looked confused but also people who cared. I remember being sent to rescue a prototype, one-of-a-kind vehicle that had been ‘lost’ in the Lake District (by our Creative Director) and I set out not even knowing where the Lake District was. But a kind, long-tenured Art Director saw my scared expression and, grabbing a huge UK map from his car, sat with me, and helped me plot it out. I brought that car back with a song in my heart and a whole new boost of confidence.
It’s truly amazing how much you learn via work osmosis. Just breathing it all in. How to behave, how not to behave. What you love doing, what you don’t. Building enough confidence to start making contributions, chucking your ideas into the fray. Standing up for them. Debating. Arguing. Knowing you’re a valued part of the team.
Creativity thrives when a group of brilliant minds come together and ask: “What if?”.
Let’s not forget laughing. Making a cuppa and catching up. Not always with people you’d choose to see out of work but people you appreciate nonetheless. And you will make friends too – sometimes lifelong.
From a business perspective not only do we get to keep our precious ethos, but we also get to see who’s okay and who isn’t.
Compare and contrast this with Teams/Zoom where someone can show up for the meeting, put their ‘everything’s fine’ face on (even if stuff is falling apart all around them) and who would know? Who would help? Who would advise/mentor/share?
It’s worth young people giving the working-from-work thing a go. One step at a time. Getting on that bus, that train. People-watching. Arriving at an actual place full of actual people. Allowing those people to help you learn and progress. Bestowing upon those people your own brilliance. We love it when that happens.
What starts off feeling really uncomfortable and the opposite of what you think you need may just be wonderful. May just lead you in a whole new direction. May just stop you stopping yourself from becoming the best you there ever was.
We’re not saying working from home isn’t great. It is. Two days a week. It’s so good to miss the traffic, to get stuff done quietly without any interruption (sometimes) and to be there to fit in all the family stuff.
But here at RBH we’re never going to do it five days a week.
If you should be looking for a grad/trainee/apprentice/work experience role we’ve got a few right now. And we’d love to hear from you.
