Shownotes
In our 3rd Bonus of December (It is the giving season after all), we air our chat with Kieron Bailey and Marcus Weedon who, together with www.caterer.com, have put together a monumental resource for the industry. There's so much content, written, spoken and video, to help hone and better your job searching strategies at a time when it's very much needed.
In addition to talking about this, we also cover Kieron’s visits to the show, podcast experience, backgrounds, caterer.com careers hub, why it exists, doing good, job searching, now pause, Phil (Wrongly) pulling Kieron up on words, nowpause, mindfulness, job search fatigue, evolution of an idea, hospitality family, phrases on t-shirts and much more.
It's a cracking piece of work, vast does not even cover it.
Resources
Access the hub here - https://www.caterer.com/advice/career-advice
Enjoy!
Show Transcription
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Transcripts
Welcome to a special episode of hospitality meets with me Phil Street. In our bonus
Phil Street:episodes we like to give some airtime to stories and individuals that are doing something just a
Phil Street:little bit special. Today's bonus features Marcus Weadon and Kieron Bailey, who together with the
Phil Street:people over at caterer.com have created an invaluable careers hub for the industry. Coming up on
Phil Street:today's show.
Phil Street:Marcus summarises the careers hub perfectly with this
Marcus Weedon:It's just the hub, the hub for hope,
Phil Street:Phil reviews the year so far
Phil Street:I think we can all agree that 2020 has been a bit of a rotter
Phil Street:Kieron pushes out some world class advice,
Kieron Bailey:tailor it, target it, BAM
Phil Street:all that and so much more as Kieron and Marcus talk us through this incredible body of
Phil Street:work that's been put together to support people in hospitality with their job search. A massive
Phil Street:thank you to all involved details of where to find it will be featured in the show notes. Don't
Phil Street:forget to give us a like and share across your favourite social channels. Let's share these stories
Phil Street:as fun as we can. Enjoy.
Phil Street:Hello, and welcome to a special edition of hospitality meats with me, Phil Street. As most of you
Phil Street:know by now I set the show up to showcase the fun side of the industry. But every now and again, a
Phil Street:story of inspiration comes along. And I just can't help myself when that happens. So today, we've
Phil Street:got a story of inspiration. And I think given the two people we've got on the show, it will most
Phil Street:likely be fun as well. I think we can all agree that 2020 has been a bit of a rotter for most of us,
Phil Street:let's be frank about that. But out of that there's always pockets of positivity. Today's chat brings
Phil Street:me in front of the pockets of positivity that is the new caterer.com careers hub. And that was set
Phil Street:up in conjunction with Marcus Wheedon of Milestone Recruitment. And Kieran aka the boy Bailey of EXP
Phil Street:101. So I'm delighted to welcome to the show. Both of those lovely gentlemen.
Marcus Weedon:You all Right?
Kieron Bailey:Thank you Phil. always a pleasure to be here.
Phil Street:Yeah. Well, Kieron, you're something of a friend of the show. I put that in inverted
Phil Street:commas.
Kieron Bailey:Thank you.
Phil Street:This is your third time. And I think by the end of the year, we'll have a fourth time,
Phil Street:which actually puts you on on 8% of all of my shows.
Kieron Bailey:That feels perfectly reasonable, doesn't it? I think that's I think there isn't a
Kieron Bailey:podcast out there that shouldn't have 8% of me on their show.
Phil Street:I think that's fair. And Marcus You're a your podcast virgin?
Marcus Weedon:I am. My very first one, can't wait.
Phil Street:Well, I have Well, was gonna say I'm something of a virgin myself but that's maybe not.
Phil Street:I've only ever done one multi guest format before. So the last one, as Kieron will attest to it was
Phil Street:complete and utter carnage. And so hopefully this time, we'll we'll be a little bit more focused.
Phil Street:But we'll still still interject the fun when necessary. So, we were also supposed to be joined by
Phil Street:the lovely Cathy Dyball today from caterer.com. But unfortunately, Tech has gotten the better of
Phil Street:her. So we pass on our regards to her and wish her a speedy tech recovery. Well, perhaps we could
Phil Street:kick things off, if you could both. Just give us a little kind of snapshot of who you guys are.
Phil Street:Marcus, you want to go first?
Marcus Weedon:Sure. So I've been working in hospitality since I was 14. I've gone from being a pop
Marcus Weedon:wash person, and private school working my way through various restaurants, pubs and hotels. Before
Marcus Weedon:about 20 years ago, I started doing recruitment. Were worked at an agency in London doing all sort
Marcus Weedon:of five star hotels and so on and so forth. Before then, take them on my best ever jobs, being the
Marcus Weedon:head of recruitment over at Carly Chase was about six and a half years doing all their internal
Marcus Weedon:recruitment brain from 35 restaurants up to 100, which was an amazing experience. left there to go
Marcus Weedon:to the ivy collection, spent a year there, and then set up my own recruitment business, which has
Marcus Weedon:been great fun not working for somebody else. Yeah, it's been fantastic.
Phil Street:All three of us can relate to that. Yeah.
Marcus Weedon:Yeah, we've definitely done our time. But now's our time, obviously to run businesses
Marcus Weedon:ourselves and sort of do the things that we love to do. And do it well.
Phil Street:Yeah, absolutely. And Kieron. Don't Don't give us the one hour 20 version that we did,
Phil Street:just a snapshot of who you are just to remind people
Kieron Bailey:That one hour 20 was the short version and Phil Yeah, so for me just a lifetime in
Kieron Bailey:hospitality always. It's always been this like same as Marco started off in 14 as a pot washer and
Kieron Bailey:just gone from there really, most recently co founder of EXP101. We are sharing stories and solving
Kieron Bailey:problems is what we do. It's how we roll. And most certainly is one of the key reasons why I got
Kieron Bailey:involved in this project.
Phil Street:Yeah, well, great, nice link into the project. I'll leave it open to either of you who
Phil Street:kind of wants to lead on this, but tell me a little tell us about the project and kind of how it
Phil Street:came about.
Marcus Weedon:So I think for me, the original session started after I'd been speaking to quite a
Marcus Weedon:few people. And that needed help. After we went down to lockdown, and people start losing their
Marcus Weedon:jobs, and we started to, I started to write down all the different things and the advice I was
Marcus Weedon:giving to people. And the the information started to become quite vast. And I thought, well, there's
Marcus Weedon:nothing really out there at the moment. That kind of sign pastes to where people can actually find
Marcus Weedon:this information. It's not reaching out to somebody or someone's not picking up the phone and having
Marcus Weedon:these conversations. So I think what happened was, we first of all got got in touch with Cara and we
Marcus Weedon:did a video with Jr. rather buy with regards to all the stuff that we've been talking about. And the
Marcus Weedon:advice that we've been given. From there, then went to we went to K tra.com have conversations with
Marcus Weedon:Kathy, who unfortunately is not with us, for this podcast. And from from there, we started to build
Marcus Weedon:a careers hub with all the information that we've been collecting from the job seekers and also from
Marcus Weedon:employers, plus caterer.com. Were working on something themselves anyway. So it kind of ties in
Marcus Weedon:very, very nicely. But I think the project ended up being a lot bigger, and it took a lot longer
Marcus Weedon:than what we expected because it's so deep in detail and conversation and, and information.
Phil Street:Yeah. Well, absolutely. I mean, I've had a hunt round and a root round on on the site,
Phil Street:it is vast. There is so much content on there. Kieron, what was what was your kind of involvement in
Phil Street:all of this.
Kieron Bailey:As Marcus said, you know, we started off doing a facebook live where we had a
Kieron Bailey:conversation. And we very much realised quickly with a lot of people who needed help and advice. And
Kieron Bailey:it just made sense to find a way of getting it out there. Then Kathy, who let's be honest, she's a
Kieron Bailey:hero right now. Because Kathy has kind of she's found a way of bringing all of these people together
Kieron Bailey:to share their help and advice, and has given us a home where we can put all of that content. And
Kieron Bailey:rather than just be written content, which is great for some people, she understood really quickly
Kieron Bailey:that we need to do some video and really get into people's heads. So she created that space for us
Kieron Bailey:to go and do that. And that was the joy of it really. And like I say, sharing stories and solving
Kieron Bailey:problems. That's what hospitality does. That's what we do. So we've just been recorded a whole load
Kieron Bailey:of discussions with people who've all been really cool, if I'm honest with you, and and I've had the
Kieron Bailey:best time, if I'm entirely honest, I've just been all of them. Phil is just talk to people, which as
Kieron Bailey:we all know, makes me happy
Phil Street:Yeah, it's a real weakness, isn't it?
Kieron Bailey:It's just I had to work at it
Phil Street:Yeah, well, the I think that, you know, like I said that the head of the show, 2020 is
Phil Street:one that we can all gratefully forget, in a hurry. But actually, there on the flip side of that
Phil Street:there's been some real, wonderful things. And and I think the thing that I've also realised, and I
Phil Street:suppose the hub is part of this, as well on this, this kind of theory that there's an awful lot of
Phil Street:people out there who just really want to do some good. And I think the you're some less than to
Phil Street:watching some of the interviews that you've done. There's also a lot of talent out there with a lot
Phil Street:of capability and knowledge. And it's great that people are willing to share that, especially in
Phil Street:this time of need.
Kieron Bailey:It's the thing that really stands out to me right now, you know, everywhere you go on
Kieron Bailey:social media, there's different people offering help and advice. And Marcus is going to be two shots
Kieron Bailey:today himself, but he's one of the one of the big ones on LinkedIn, where if he's given, like hours
Kieron Bailey:of his days to help people with their CVS to help them with interview prep, and all that kind of
Kieron Bailey:stuff that isn't really his responsibility, but he's taken that responsibility. And that's what we
Kieron Bailey:should all be doing. And there's a lot of people who are willing to do that. So it just made sense,
Kieron Bailey:really, to pull them all together and put all of that content in one simple place where people can
Kieron Bailey:find it. And that hope is absolutely right. Yeah.
Marcus Weedon:And what's interesting, as well as the amount of topics we've covered, and obviously
Marcus Weedon:the case of.com have done the research into what people are searching for, through SEO research. And
Marcus Weedon:I guess the video content has been built based on what people search for. So having employers,
Marcus Weedon:recruiters and HR people and the owners of businesses talk about these things, you getting first
Marcus Weedon:hand information from them. So rather than it coming from caterer.com or from myself or from from
Marcus Weedon:Kieron, for example, you know, why why believe then why not believe people that are actually in jobs
Marcus Weedon:and understand what they're looking for and what their perspective is, kind of gives the job seekers
Marcus Weedon:a really, really good idea about what they potentially could be doing to enhance their opportunities
Marcus Weedon:going forward.
Kieron Bailey:I think for me, Marcus such as you kind of touched on it areas, it would be really
Kieron Bailey:easy for our egos, you know, we're all experienced people, though our egos could take control and we
Kieron Bailey:be deciding what questions and what conversations we should be having. And that would be dead
Kieron Bailey:simple. But actually what is really powerful and useful to the job seekers who are going to be
Kieron Bailey:looking at this content and viewing it is the word caterer.com. Dead are going away and looking at
Kieron Bailey:the kind of questions that are being googled. And there's, there's a real cross section of stuff, we
Kieron Bailey:just think, Wow, okay, some stuff where you think that's really simple, perfect sense. But actually,
Kieron Bailey:you know, there are people out there need that help. And some stuff, we just think, damn, that is
Kieron Bailey:even a question. So it's really opened our eyes up to the kind of questions are being asked there by
Kieron Bailey:job seekers. And the reality is nothing. Nothing is too simple. And nothing is too complicated. It
Kieron Bailey:all needs to be dove. We need to be ready to dive into it and really dig it in and share as much
Kieron Bailey:knowledge as we can. You know, the range of people we've had, that we've been able to interview over
Kieron Bailey:this over this period has been absolutely crazy. I can genuinely say as well that I've made friends
Kieron Bailey:during these interviews. That's one of the real joys of it. You know, I think, Chuck, if you asked
Kieron Bailey:Charlie Ben's from Q greenhouse, Oh, she and I now are best friends. That's it. We spent two and a
Kieron Bailey:half hours on a zoom call. Phil, we spent a long time talking about cats, obviously.
Phil Street:Very important.
Kieron Bailey:In Charlie's world, absolutely. Yes, yeah. And then we spent a good sort of 3040
Kieron Bailey:minutes digging into the conversations. And, you know, Marcus and I record recorded a couple on
Kieron Bailey:different subjects. And we the goal of it really was for it to be unedited raw conversations, just
Kieron Bailey:advice to be shared, and not kind of me going away and kind of making it sound clever, or making
Kieron Bailey:this all sound better. It's just, this is just raw conversations of people sharing advice from the
Kieron Bailey:heart.
Phil Street:Yeah, but authenticity, right? That's, that's actually what what people need to hear
Phil Street:when you're kind of backs against the wall. And you want to know that where you going, the the
Phil Street:information that's coming to you is coming from the heart, but it actually carries weight. And I
Phil Street:think that going back to your point, Marcus about the fact that, you know, we all sit here and
Phil Street:you're, I'm a recruiter myself, and I have my own theories on what makes a good job search, etc,
Phil Street:etc. But you know, the, that's, the funny thing about that is, is that I've written CVS for people
Phil Street:when in the past, and I've always just been a big believer in, you write CVS based around what the
Phil Street:end user wants to see. And that changes per application. So that's, that's, you know, you can't have
Phil Street:a one size fits all kind of approach to job search, job searching, if you want to do it properly.
Phil Street:Why shouldn't I then apply that same logic to actually, when it comes to content? The your What are
Phil Street:people searching for, I'd never have thought to look at that. First. It just come straight steaming
Phil Street:in with my own, you know, little words of wisdom here. And there of the things that I know, or am
Phil Street:comfortable with, I would never have thought to take my own advice, and put myself into the shoes of
Phil Street:the people who need this advice.
Marcus Weedon:It's incredible. And it was really, really interesting when we saw the different
Marcus Weedon:questions when it aspect occur. Remember, one of the ones that we looked at was when you're building
Marcus Weedon:your personal profile, and they were actually typing in? What are my skills? And if something is
Marcus Weedon:going to come up and say your skills are
Phil Street:Google search engine,
Marcus Weedon:they use it for things like that. And it's quite simple. So having somebody say, this
Marcus Weedon:is how you actually work out what your skills are, when they type in that question, what are my
Marcus Weedon:skills? So you have someone actually saying, Okay, this is how you actually work out, you're not
Marcus Weedon:going to necessarily find the answer on Google. But you're going to find the answer, possibly
Marcus Weedon:through one of the videos or the content that we actually have on the hub. So it helps you build up
Marcus Weedon:that personal profile and understand what your skills are. So when you get asked questions in
Marcus Weedon:interviews, you can actually be really, really clear about what they are.
Kieron Bailey:And that's a really good example. So Jane suddenly from purple cubed, was talking
Kieron Bailey:about that. And she had some examples of skills audits that are available out there as free
Kieron Bailey:resources that anybody could really find but you have to be looking for him You have to have an idea
Kieron Bailey:about where you are searching. So Jane was talking through those and what you what they can do for
Kieron Bailey:you as an individual, but then it's also shared the link so if you go and watch Jane's video where
Kieron Bailey:she talks about it below there, you'll be able to say right okay, now I need to click on this link,
Kieron Bailey:and I can now go do a skills audit of myself. That's a really powerful thing. So I mean, really
Kieron Bailey:practicable
Phil Street:Practicable?
Kieron Bailey:I think I might have made that word up
Phil Street:Second word you've made up today I did that here dovved as well.
Unknown:Just gonna say for the job seekers listen to this podcast, they write that on your CV
Kieron Bailey:make a dictionary in front of me. I will
Marcus Weedon:send to the thesaurus. Now.
Phil Street:Make sure you use spell checking and your CV frog in my throat if you've made the
Phil Street:emotional
Kieron Bailey:It's becasue you're bullying me, that's what's happening right now. Have you been?
Phil Street:Yeah, that's right. I'm not comfortable with that. But But anyway, we did talk say that
Phil Street:we'd go off on tangents. And here we are. So it's it has to happen on the show, in any case. So back
Phil Street:on point from the things that you've kind of seen, and I suppose your learnings through this, as
Phil Street:well, as there is something out there that kind of, you've seen it and gone. Wow, that is, that's a
Phil Street:genius piece of advice.
Marcus Weedon:I'm not sure. I mean, because I've spoken to so many people. And so it's the
Marcus Weedon:information and the advice that we've actually been collecting is kind of almost almost almost the
Marcus Weedon:obvious things. I think one of the big pieces that has come up. And I think it's really, really good
Marcus Weedon:advices for the conversation between Andrew Johnson and Craig Prentiss, when we talk about now
Marcus Weedon:pause, and the sort of digital fatigue and things like that, and you know, where people are playing
Marcus Weedon:for so many jobs, at the moment and staring at a computer is about switching off, and actually take
Marcus Weedon:taking that time out, and refocusing and possibly doing a little bit of meditating three, now pause
Marcus Weedon:or, you know, and things like that. So I think that's a really valuable thing. Six, I think people
Marcus Weedon:do get sort of very wrapped up and more worried and stressed because they continuously look at the
Marcus Weedon:computer expecting things to happen. And it doesn't necessarily work like that. And I think by
Marcus Weedon:taking yourself away from the moment that that really, really helps. And it does, it does help you
Marcus Weedon:refocus.
Phil Street:Yeah, I can see that actually. Because I think you've probably it's quite easy to get
Phil Street:into a mindset whereby you're, if you are searching for a job constantly, it's almost like having
Phil Street:this workaholic mentality towards it, I've got to do it, I've got to do it, I've got to get it done.
Phil Street:Maybe Maybe they're even putting pressure on themselves to get, I don't know, 30 applications out
Phil Street:today, or things like that. But actually, what I suppose is happening is that they're just
Phil Street:belittling the process for themselves in the sense that they're just not, as you say, they're just
Phil Street:getting fatigued with it, which means that they won't be performing to the standard that they need,
Phil Street:and so on and so forth. Interesting point.
Kieron Bailey:I think from my perspective, and this, this has been quite weird for me if I'm honest
Kieron Bailey:with you, because throughout my career I've been, I've been interviewed by many people. And at least
Kieron Bailey:two of the people that I've interviewed have interviewed me for jobs in the past, and didn't give me
Kieron Bailey:the jobs. Phil, Can you believe that?
Phil Street:I can't believe that.
Kieron Bailey:I was unsuccessful in my application, which is just Wow
Phil Street:Did you did you have the beard then was
Kieron Bailey:There was no beard I looked about 12 I'm honest with you.
Phil Street:It could have been a grooming standards thing, perhaps. But
Kieron Bailey:I mean, anybody's got questions about my grooming standards really nice to go check
Kieron Bailey:themselves, but
Phil Street:I wasn't going to go this is not me bullying you But some, some companies actually have
Phil Street:grooming standards where you can't you're not allowed facial hair. Yeah. And the like, you're also I
Phil Street:suppose there's a piece of advice. Make sure that you investigate grooming standard policies?
Kieron Bailey:Well, one of my longest memories of working for hard rock was that their facial hair
Kieron Bailey:policy was have a shave or have a plan. That was that was the facial hair policy, which was a great
Kieron Bailey:one, if I'm honest with you. And I definitely have a plan. But yeah, so I was I was interviewed by I
Kieron Bailey:was interviewing these people. And I'm not even sure if they remember kind of interviewing me for
Kieron Bailey:jobs in the past. But as I was talking to them, they were talking about kind of how you should
Kieron Bailey:approach the interview, then, it became clear to me why I hadn't been successful with them. Because
Kieron Bailey:I remember at the time talking about kind of we and what we've done as a as a team and how we have
Kieron Bailey:operated because I'm I've always kind of myself as being a very inclusive leader. So my success was
Kieron Bailey:the success of my team. But listen to these people, they were like, you know what, we need to hear
Kieron Bailey:specific examples where you have done this, and you can show that you've taken responsibility for
Kieron Bailey:it. Back in the day, I wasn't doing that, because it felt it felt right to me to actually be sharing
Kieron Bailey:that credit and that responsibility for the successes. But it wasn't necessarily showing me off at
Kieron Bailey:my best light at that time. So that was that was a really interesting moment for me to kind of
Kieron Bailey:listen to that. I think Well, actually, you know what, I used to do that a lot where I would be
Kieron Bailey:talking about weight. And it's a time to do that. But there is also a time to just be give be able
Kieron Bailey:to give clear examples of what you have done where you have been successful and why you've been
Kieron Bailey:successful.
Phil Street:Yeah, and I suppose that that that is varied per person and per company, in terms of
Phil Street:what success looks like, right? So the again at I suppose it comes back to the you can't have this
Phil Street:one size fits all approach to looking for your next role.
Kieron Bailey:Standard. Absolutely.
Marcus Weedon:So it's quite interesting because there's there's plenty of people that love getting
Marcus Weedon:a cover letter with their applications. And there's plenty of people say don't bother with the
Marcus Weedon:application letter, because they just want to see your CV but some companies really do like seeing
Marcus Weedon:the cover letter. So there's a very good example of one thing doesn't work for one company doesn't
Marcus Weedon:mean it's going to work for another.
Kieron Bailey:I mean cover letter cover letters have been one of the most common tend to use issues
Kieron Bailey:that we've discussed over monetarily. So many people are like, Look, as Marcus says, a lot of people
Kieron Bailey:are like, yep, yeah, absolutely. And there's a lot more go No, no, no, not for me. Thank you. So
Kieron Bailey:you're just you've got to try and understand what does that business want from you? What do they
Kieron Bailey:expect from you? And I think, listening to the people having these kind of conversations and sharing
Kieron Bailey:their own different perspectives, I guess what you can actually do is kind of say, right, so what
Kieron Bailey:kind of brands are they attached to one on one of the brand values that they could have the business
Kieron Bailey:their work into, right? So if I'm approaching them, I'm going to start to operate like this. If I'm
Kieron Bailey:then approaching another brand, and a different got a different culture and a different mindset?
Kieron Bailey:Well, then I will approach it like this and really kind of tailor and target that approach. That was
Kieron Bailey:one of the things that Steve rocky said, Steve was the very first interview that we did. And I'll be
Kieron Bailey:honest, where Steve rocky haunts me because he was the first one I edited. So I think I've listened
Kieron Bailey:to every word he said, 55,000 times, we've seen
Phil Street:that before he had a fairly pronounced set of skills.
Kieron Bailey:Yes, it most certainly was. What he said the words, the applications need to be
Kieron Bailey:tailored and targeted. And that is one of the most important piece of information that you can take
Kieron Bailey:from as a job seeker can take from this. And it's about your approach, isn't it really kind of, it's
Kieron Bailey:not even just about the application, it's about your approach to any business that you're going to
Kieron Bailey:get engaged with. tailor it target it Bam,
Phil Street:yeah. And that's a moment of time in your life, just to put yourself in the shoes of
Phil Street:the person on the receiving end of your application. And and what do they want to see? And what have
Phil Street:they asked to see? And more often than not, that you can see it in job adverts that people write
Phil Street:though they'll maybe even put in there. Please send your CV on the cover letter? Or, you know, if
Phil Street:they're not, if they're not putting that in, then, you know, perhaps not necessary.
Kieron Bailey:Yeah, absolutely. Just pay attention, isn't it? I guess, is a simple answer.
Phil Street:Yeah, absolutely. So site's live now. It's been live for how long now? that week? And
Phil Street:where do people access that question,
Marcus Weedon:Obviously, catered.com. If we're talking about a specific link, it would be
Marcus Weedon:www.caterer.com slash advice slash career dash advice.
Phil Street:Very good. I'll put that in the show notes that might be easier.
Kieron Bailey:Common just go search? Yeah, advice out there.
Marcus Weedon:We did get told to say that.
Phil Street:honest, it's, it is quite easy to find it. I've had a gander on the site. And you know,
Phil Street:you can get you definitely can't get there directly from caterer.com site.
Marcus Weedon:just just just to add, I mean, one, one thing we haven't actually explained is why we
Marcus Weedon:wanted to get the employers to do the videos, we kind of did, what we wanted to do is create
Marcus Weedon:something that was very empowering and enabling. So you know, when the job seeker came on, it wasn't
Marcus Weedon:very much sort of been telling, telling, telling this is where you should be doing it should be
Marcus Weedon:doing should be doing is more like that advice, which was a bit softer and a bit more engaging, so
Marcus Weedon:that you can take what you want from it. And it's not a not a question of somebody sort of shouting
Marcus Weedon:about this, this is exactly the way you should be doing it. And this is where it's going to work,
Marcus Weedon:because it's not going to work like that. But we really wanted to sort of soften that down. So the
Marcus Weedon:employers came on to empower the people and also to show the support to them, which was very, very
Marcus Weedon:important. Yeah,
Kieron Bailey:I think to build on that, Marcus, that the whole concept, really, it's all about
Kieron Bailey:positivity, you know, it's like, it's really easy to look and think, you know what, we're right in
Kieron Bailey:it right now. And there's no way out of this. But there absolutely is, you know, this industry, I
Kieron Bailey:was chatting to Lisa Wilde from East London University, and we were talking about the fact that it's
Kieron Bailey:gonna come out, we're going to come out swinging at some points. You know, when I was chatting to
Kieron Bailey:the guys from springboard, Chris gam yesterday, we need to be prepared, we need to be ready and
Kieron Bailey:raring to kind of really come at it and go at it 100% and bring the fire is a simple answer. All of
Kieron Bailey:the people that have been reached out to and it's been done through our networks, these are all
Kieron Bailey:people that we've met at different paces. So Cathy's brought onto the table. Marcus has bought some
Kieron Bailey:to disable, I've bought them. And it's it's people that we know who've got the right mindset, that
Kieron Bailey:it's about positivity. It's about kind of being as creative as you can and embracing that. And not
Kieron Bailey:as mica said just it's not we know the answer. So you should do this. It's Look, this has been
Kieron Bailey:successful, this can help you be successful. So go away, have a little think about it and think
Kieron Bailey:about how you're going to make that work for you. Because there's nothing worse than having a whole
Kieron Bailey:load of videos out there and content out there that just talks down and tells people that this is
Kieron Bailey:the right this is the only way because it's not you know there is that there are lots of different
Kieron Bailey:ways of looking at life. And that's why we've gone for the complete cross section of people that
Kieron Bailey:that have contributed and will indeed continue to contribute. You know, we're not doing this by any
Kieron Bailey:stretch are we Marcus?
Marcus Weedon:no at all. Not at all, we're not going to stop here. I mean, there's so many more
Marcus Weedon:people out there that are willing to help us and we're still doing videos at the moment which will
Marcus Weedon:be released onto the website soon. But you It is continuous to help and support people through
Marcus Weedon:through the hub, keep promoting it and demonstrate that to everybody through social media, mainly
Marcus Weedon:the people and the time that they've given. And the advice that they're giving as well. I mean, it's
Marcus Weedon:really important. And you know, all these topics a minute, it covers absolutely everything from CVS,
Marcus Weedon:interviews, your preparation, social media profiles, your networking, how to deal with resignations,
Marcus Weedon:or redundancy, finding out what's the right job for you. It things like happiness, and well being,
Marcus Weedon:you know, doesn't just stop at literally at your job search.
Phil Street:Yeah, I think that's you know all the best things in the world evolve. Don't know,
Phil Street:ultimately, and you know, the, what you've done here is you've taken the sea divide of an idea and
Phil Street:and planted this monumental tree that's just going to continue to to expand and grow and get new
Phil Street:branches, and actually amazing myself with that illusion, actually, it's so perfect. Normally, I'd
Phil Street:just totally missed the mark with any of these things that I conjure up in my brain. But that one
Phil Street:actually works. Nailed it. Yeah. And, you know, part of that as well, for me, and actually, you
Phil Street:mentioned that just there, Marcus was, there's lots of stuff on there about, you know, job
Phil Street:descriptions. So this is from, from a purely logical perspective, this is not just something that
Phil Street:helps people who are already in the industry, this helps people who are thinking about coming into
Phil Street:the industry, because they can get some real easy visuals on. Okay, so that's that job, what does
Phil Street:that actually involve? What's my, what's my day going to look like? And that's, that's massively
Phil Street:powerful.
Marcus Weedon:Yeah. Because I suppose it's quite easy to go and look on a job board and look at all
Marcus Weedon:the different jobs. But if you've got a tool there, which demonstrates, obviously, all the different
Marcus Weedon:IC have, and then you've also got the job descriptions, as you know, it just backs everything up
Marcus Weedon:that you're reading, and then you can start researching a little bit more into, okay, what does this
Marcus Weedon:person actually really need to do in this job. So you're even more preparing for your next stage of
Marcus Weedon:your career by by looking at things like this, and working out whether it is something that you
Marcus Weedon:actually want to do. And vice versa and caterer.com I've got, I've also got that redeployment tub as
Marcus Weedon:well. So if even if you're in hospitality at the moment, you're looking to potentially get out for
Marcus Weedon:it. Whilst we're waiting for things to open back up again, I think they've got something like 38,000
Marcus Weedon:jobs or something like that, which are non hospitality jobs, which and hopefully by the time we get
Marcus Weedon:back to doing this, this hub will be even bigger. So there'll be a lot more information on that,
Marcus Weedon:which will help them get back into the industry as well.
Kieron Bailey:I think that's as well, where a lot of the conversations have real power, because
Kieron Bailey:probably one of the key things that we've walked I've certainly taken away from this is that this
Kieron Bailey:industry, hospitality that we love, is we are responsible for creating cross trained, multi skilled
Kieron Bailey:individuals who can take their, their talents, take their abilities, and apply them to retail spaces
Kieron Bailey:to call centres, whatever, there's so many options out there that hospitality has given you the
Kieron Bailey:skills to be able to go and do. And if that means in the short term, that yes, you're going to go
Kieron Bailey:away and utilise that redeployment up, then cool, go and do that. But for us, it's about making sure
Kieron Bailey:that people still know that hospitality loves you. You know, I talked about this with, with Chris
Kieron Bailey:gammon and Terry Waldron yesterday, that idea of the hospitality family, you know, I've said it to
Kieron Bailey:all the people who aren't in the industry before, and they look at me like I'm being kind of tweet,
Kieron Bailey:but it's a real thing. You know, hospitality, family is a real thing. We look after each other. And
Kieron Bailey:we'd like to try and find a way of making sure that everybody knows we've got your back. So if you
Kieron Bailey:use that hope, that redeployment hope and you go and find yourself working outside of the industry,
Kieron Bailey:there will be a place for you to come back to and you know, when we do come back bigger and
Kieron Bailey:stronger, and I'm fighting fit, then yeah, we want all of those people to be coming back to our
Kieron Bailey:industry, because that's what we do. You know, we kind of we look at each other and we bring them
Kieron Bailey:back into the family.
Phil Street:Absolutely. And I think this is also the platform gives people the platform, to as
Phil Street:organisations to demonstrate a little bit about them as well, just in terms of, you know, what their
Phil Street:values are, because that's massively important in any job search as well. I mean, that's actually as
Phil Street:a recruiter that's, that's the golden Chalice, for me is always been when you marry an individual's
Phil Street:set of values with a company set of values. sparks fly. Yeah, I think that's a culture thing.
Marcus Weedon:Absolutely. And there's, it's quite hard to, you know, you obviously know, it's like,
Marcus Weedon:I know, it's like, because we do recruitment. And but do you know, when when we find those people,
Marcus Weedon:it's great for us as well, and seeing that marriage being made, but it's so difficult for people at
Marcus Weedon:the moment to find those roles and those positions that do match what they're looking for, and I
Marcus Weedon:think this is quite a difficult time for everybody. I guess when you think about People that one of
Marcus Weedon:the reasons I did start looking at this was because people's mental health and and also for people
Marcus Weedon:that I thought, you know, there's job seekers that change jobs every year every two years. But then
Marcus Weedon:when you start thinking about people that have been in jobs for 15 to 20 years or something like
Marcus Weedon:that, it then puts a different perspective on what a job seeker is, because there's job seekers out
Marcus Weedon:there that are very skilled in what they do as a job seeker, they know how to go about doing it, or
Marcus Weedon:they tend to be a bit better. But there were people out there that that weren't skilled in it. So
Marcus Weedon:having this hub built like this was really, really important. So for them to go out and try and find
Marcus Weedon:that marriage is going to be a lot more difficult. So having a hub like this, given them all the
Marcus Weedon:information was really, really important for them. Because I could imagine it, you know, being made
Marcus Weedon:redundant for the first time in 20 years is probably scary enough, then going into the job market is
Marcus Weedon:going to be scary enough. And obviously, if there was a lockdown period, which they weren't working,
Marcus Weedon:and they'd been out of work for, let's say three or four months, you know, that's a scary position
Marcus Weedon:to be in not having that is really difficult. So that was one of the other reasons why we put this
Marcus Weedon:up together. And when we were just talking about marriage, and it kind of made me resonate with with
Marcus Weedon:the fact that people would find that difficult to really understand that table, having people talk
Marcus Weedon:about it was going to be really valuable to them.
Phil Street:Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, the tough, tough year, for lots of reasons, I think, on
Phil Street:one of your LinkedIn posts that you put a fair few months ago, Marcus, one thing that kind of really
Phil Street:grabbed me about what you were doing was you were you're you were conscious of the fact that your
Phil Street:that your livelihood was under threat quite considerably. But it didn't stop you from trying to make
Phil Street:a difference. And I think there's been a lot of people like that have stood up. And I think what you
Phil Street:guys are doing with this platform is just, it's just to be saluted.
Marcus Weedon:Thank you. I think there's, I think Kiran, probably vouch for this himself, you know,
Marcus Weedon:I think we're quite fortunate to be in a position where we were obviously we have work to do, but
Marcus Weedon:we're obviously in a position and bit more comfortable if we didn't have work today to be able to
Marcus Weedon:help others and, and that for us was really, really important to be able to invest our time in
Marcus Weedon:helping people because then they're in a position, which may be very less fortunate to get them back
Marcus Weedon:on their feet. It was really, really important.
Kieron Bailey:You're not wrong, Marcus, I mean, we've all been in a position in our careers in our
Kieron Bailey:lives in the past, where we've needed help and support. And for most of us, we're all been quite
Kieron Bailey:lucky that there's been somebody there to put a hand out and help us. So while we're in a position
Kieron Bailey:to do exactly that, then that is what we should do. Yeah, I mean, for me, just the mental health
Kieron Bailey:element has been really interesting, I would say, you know, it's kind of this is a such a strange
Kieron Bailey:time that kind of none of us have ever even had to try and combat dealing with this kind of
Kieron Bailey:situation. So chatting to Shane cook from Jasper wellbeing, talking through kind of about creating
Kieron Bailey:good habits. So you said at the beginning, Phil about kind of people who are really being quite
Kieron Bailey:militant with themselves about that job searching process, while actually creating good habits
Kieron Bailey:around the job searching process is absolutely key, finding those boundaries about when you're going
Kieron Bailey:to give it the time. And when you're going to say right now I'm switching off from it, I'm actually
Kieron Bailey:going to embrace my family. And I'm going to do that, rather than just being this all encompassing
Kieron Bailey:thing that just completely over dominates every element of my life. You know, it's, it's important.
Kieron Bailey:But the rest of your life is important to you, your personal life, your family life is all just as
Kieron Bailey:important. So you've got to give it that time that it deserves. One of us, you think about the
Kieron Bailey:questions that was asked. One of the big ones that was being googled, actually genuinely made me a
Kieron Bailey:little bit sad, if I'm honest with you, what can you be happy at work? There's a lot of googling
Kieron Bailey:that question. And I spoke with cloudian at aura around that and cloud areas, from co host of the
Kieron Bailey:and happiness podcast. And she is possibly one of the happiest people I've met in quite some time.
Kieron Bailey:So she's well served to kind of be having this conversation. But we spent a lot of time talking
Kieron Bailey:about what does happiness in the workplace look like. And she was going through Daniel Peak's ideas
Kieron Bailey:about kind of the kind of autonomy mastery and purpose and that's really, really key, and we can't
Kieron Bailey:be happier work, we should be happy at work. And whilst it's challenging, and yet, it's tough,
Kieron Bailey:doesn't mean it's impossible. So the help that ever all of these people have given the help that all
Kieron Bailey:of these people have offered up so very, very freely, and with the best intentions in the world. Put
Kieron Bailey:that to work. Any job seeker should be putting that to work and saying yes, I'm gonna I'm gonna have
Kieron Bailey:a right good go at this. Yeah,
Phil Street:well, the thing. Of course, it's possible to be happy at work. I think there's also in
Phil Street:this moment, a massive reset button has been pressed right for, for a number of people, a number of
Phil Street:industries, none more so than that hours. It's a wonderful opportunities moving forward for for
Phil Street:people to just get things right. And create environments for that people want to be in and more You
Phil Street:don't have that feeling of, oh my God, I've got to your I've got to go to work today, or whatever,
Phil Street:but actually go, right, yeah, let's do this because this is an awesome place to be. And never will
Phil Street:we have a great a greater opportunity than to do that than we do now.
Marcus Weedon:Yeah, it's time to change. Definitely.
Phil Street:Yeah. And I also think that the before all of this, when we had exactly the flip side
Phil Street:problem of, you know, we had a skill shortage in the industry, it was quite widely written about, if
Phil Street:you contemplate what that means for job searching, it means that probably just by definition, people
Phil Street:are a little lazier. And I'm not marking everybody with the same brush here. But you know, if it's
Phil Street:easy for me to leave a job and go and get another job, because you're there's just not enough people
Phil Street:to fill the jobs, then, you know, people don't take the same amount of care and attention in the in
Phil Street:the job search, perhaps, but no, it's essential, you've got to be crossing all of the T's and
Phil Street:dotting all of the eyes, across every element of your search. And I think that one of the key things
Phil Street:for that is looking after yourself.
Marcus Weedon:Yeah, I think that I think there's an element as well, gain gained by, you know, the
Marcus Weedon:work that I've been doing, and talking to various people, and you know, a lot of it for them is one
Marcus Weedon:being positive and confident. And then just really looking at what they're doing already, and what
Marcus Weedon:they can do better. So these, these two or three things, you know, once you've had a conversation
Marcus Weedon:with somebody, or you've gone out and got advice, whether it's through that through the hub or not,
Marcus Weedon:you can then apply that and we're seeing through two or three people over the last week, where you
Marcus Weedon:know, whether that's from my conversation, or whether looking at the careers huddle in the
Marcus Weedon:conversation, making them feel more confident and positive, they've gone and got jobs, and they've
Marcus Weedon:got interviews, a company can come from nothing, not getting a response to having an interview. And
Marcus Weedon:lo and behold, they got jobs. So it's proof by reaching out to people reaching out to some form of
Marcus Weedon:advice, hub like this, that can really, really benefit. And it puts people in a better position for
Marcus Weedon:when the jobs that they do want be there when they become available, being in a better position to
Marcus Weedon:be actually able to get those jobs.
Phil Street:Yeah, absolutely. I think there's probably also an element here of educating
Phil Street:organisations in this process.
Marcus Weedon:That is absolutely right. Yeah, I think there's a big element as well, where there's
Marcus Weedon:an opportunity for employers to share this information with people themselves, whether that's
Marcus Weedon:through people that are possibly being made redundant, or through the people that have been made
Marcus Weedon:redundant into the past or even through their regret emails. And that's kind of the next thing I'd
Marcus Weedon:like to see happening.
Phil Street:Yeah, totally.
Kieron Bailey:I've got a plan for that. I'll be honest with you. I'm working on it.
Marcus Weedon:We thought we should have a conversation because I've been thinking about it for a
Marcus Weedon:while.
Phil Street:Solving problems, Kieron
Kieron Bailey:It's what we do
Phil Street:Yeah. Am I missing anything? Is there anything else that within the hub that you'd like
Phil Street:to air?
Kieron Bailey:What I would say I guess the final thing for me is if you're sitting listening to
Kieron Bailey:this podcast and thinking that sounds cool, and I've got something that I reckon could add to add
Kieron Bailey:purpose, and add value to that, to that hope, then get in touch, drop us an email, Karen, ASP 101
Kieron Bailey:dot com, drop me an email, and we can arrange a conversation. And if you've if you genuinely got
Kieron Bailey:something that can add value to this job seeking market, and these people who need this help advice,
Kieron Bailey:then let's do it.
Marcus Weedon:Absolutely. more content we have the better.
Phil Street:Yeah. And I suppose, as we discussed earlier on the evolution of that content, yeah. As
Phil Street:well, to the, to the time that we're in.
Marcus Weedon:Yeah, I mean, there are there are that potentially will be some other things being
Marcus Weedon:added to it, which we discussed before we went live. But whether that goes ahead or not, I don't
Marcus Weedon:know. But hopefully it will do something on the line.
Kieron Bailey:We haven't talked about your Bible that you wrote,
Marcus Weedon:I know kind of the Bible so when we when we're having the when I was having the
Marcus Weedon:original conversations, we were building the the content of the vise that had been given now to
Marcus Weedon:people and listening to what they needed help with or getting further advice or what what content
Marcus Weedon:should be on there from employees as well. So I ended up with this thing is about 13 or 14 pages of
Marcus Weedon:information, which pretty pretty much covers everything that we've got on the Cato hub, but it's
Marcus Weedon:like a little handbook. So if you just wanted to have a bit of a read about something, have it very
Marcus Weedon:convenient on your phone, you can just download it on your phone and just just read through it and
Marcus Weedon:it covers anything. It gives you information about CVS, the do's the don'ts, the same way that
Marcus Weedon:vacations or research headhunting, your employer, team and things like social media. You know what
Marcus Weedon:effect Has on employers, if they see certain content or information that you've made visible
Marcus Weedon:throughout it, so he's kind of being a bit more sort of concerned about what what you actually have
Marcus Weedon:out there on the information like that, say it covers a variety of different things, even even if
Marcus Weedon:you want to try and get feedback from somebody and how to go about getting feedback to or something
Marcus Weedon:else that's really, really important we haven't mentioned as yet is more the sort of the charity
Marcus Weedon:side. So if you do feel like you are in a position that's to be able to get in contact with certain
Marcus Weedon:charities, so, you know, the likes of venue, pavement away springboard hospitality, action, and
Marcus Weedon:there was another one, which I can't recall right now. But there's just a little bit of information
Marcus Weedon:on that. So if you do find yourself in a difficult position, you know, there's companies out there
Marcus Weedon:that can help you such as those charities. Yeah. And so how do people access your your Bible, but
Marcus Weedon:it's on my website, but it's also on the careers hub. So and I'll probably, I've got it on my
Marcus Weedon:LinkedIn profile as well. So you know, just search my profile, you'll find a straightaway, or go on
Marcus Weedon:to the careers hub, and just search milestone and that will come up or just go and have a good look
Marcus Weedon:on our website, and you'll find on the website says that there are three different places at the
Marcus Weedon:moon
Kieron Bailey:is a great piece of work. I have a great piece of work. And I think what it does do
Kieron Bailey:is not everybody digests content by watching video or by listen to podcasts, some people do just
Kieron Bailey:prefer to read so that what that does is give you that real kind of opportunity to download that and
Kieron Bailey:go to that and kind of make notes and think about what you're going to do next. Yeah, it's an
Kieron Bailey:absolute monster, I'd recommend it to anybody. Thank you.
Marcus Weedon:Yeah, and I say to everybody, when we speak to them about giving advices is it is my
Marcus Weedon:opinion is collected information of people that I've spoken to. And my thoughts, you know, that
Marcus Weedon:other people will have their opinions on things. And it's a, it's about you, as a person, the job
Marcus Weedon:seeker to use the content as you free freely will to do. So there will be golden nuggets there that
Marcus Weedon:will help you. But you can also get that content from other people as well. But there's a massive
Marcus Weedon:source of information on
Phil Street:that. I think if you're far too humble, Marcus,
Marcus Weedon:I've always been like, just, yeah, no, look, I'm not a fool. I mean, the end of the
Marcus Weedon:day, I do know, there's other people out there that are doing great work and giving out great advice
Marcus Weedon:as well. And so, you know, to put something like this is is very vital. And I've got information
Marcus Weedon:from other recruiters as well on there as also so and so is part of their work as well as a bit like
Marcus Weedon:the Creator, but we wouldn't be able to do that without other people's help.
Phil Street:Yeah, no, that's brilliant. Can you remember the I put a phrase on one of your LinkedIn
Phil Street:posts, once upon a time, all the way back at the beginning, about what happens when the going gets
Phil Street:tough.
Marcus Weedon:Now, remember that
Phil Street:The tough add value, turn that that's exactly what you guys are doing with this. And
Phil Street:it's also one of my best phrases, I have to say
Kieron Bailey:see what's going on a T shirt
Marcus Weedon:You've got loads of T-shirts with different sayings Kieron haven't you.
Phil Street:but it's true. We're not making light of the fact that it's it's tough out there
Phil Street:because it definitely is. But you know the you you've got some amazing resources at your fingertips
Phil Street:now through this hub, but also you'll just be willing to ask for help. There's an awful lot of
Phil Street:people out there who will offer you assistance if you've if you need it.
Marcus Weedon:Yeah, so that's probably my biggest bit of advice I've been telling people in homes
Marcus Weedon:is is reach out like like so many people reached out to me I'm not the only person out there giving
Marcus Weedon:out advice and help and use your network and if even networks not big start making it bigger.
Phil Street:Absolutely brilliant. Any final thoughts gents are we covered all the salient points?
Marcus Weedon:That's pretty much it it's just the hub is the hub hub for hope.
Phil Street:Yeah, very good.
Kieron Bailey:Oh Hello
Phil Street:That's another T-Shirt
Marcus Weedon:Oh that one before I must that just came to my head
Phil Street:hope trade trade mark it now
Marcus Weedon:Better tell Kathy that. She might actually just use you might want that one cut out
Marcus Weedon:in the mix.
Phil Street:Well, I thoroughly enjoyed chatting to gents it's been a real eye opener there's
Phil Street:definitely some takeaways for me that I hadn't even thought about like who to thought to Google the
Phil Street:questions that people were asking in their job search I mean that's simple, but completely never
Phil Street:thought of that before. And I thought I thought this was going to be a bit a bit a good cop bad cop
Phil Street:because well knowing Kieron and knowing you Marcus I thought we'd definitely had this lined up but
Phil Street:to be honest you're both good cops. Bit dissapointed...
Kieron Bailey:Did you have Marcus down as bad cop?
Phil Street:and I just I the final word I just wanted to say Kieron. If you did feel that I was
Phil Street:bullying you on your beard then you'll bear this stuff a legends
Kieron Bailey:that's very sweet.
Phil Street:So go down and folklore. As will this hub
Marcus Weedon:as will the buables on his beard for the Christmas videos he's doing Yeah
Phil Street:Splendid. Well, thank you again, gents. Pleasure to chat and I wish you the success in
Phil Street:the world with this endeavour.
Marcus Weedon:Thank you very much for having us.
Phil Street:You're very welcome
Kieron Bailey:thank you Phil.
Phil Street:Take care guys
Kieron Bailey:I very much over to record in your chat.
Phil Street:Yeah,
Marcus Weedon:I look forward to hearing it as well.
Phil Street:Nice. Merry Christmas guys.
Marcus Weedon:Merry Christmas
Kieron Bailey:Merry Christmas.
Phil Street:And there we have it. Once again a massive thank you to all involved in putting
Phil Street:together this vast resource for the industry. If you've fallen on tough times in your career and
Phil Street:feel you need a boost in your job searching head over to the hub for advice on so many different
Phil Street:things. Please, please, please share this with anyone you feel that could benefit. Thanks for
