Coming out of the army, I almost have too many options! I'm looking at several things, one of which is journalism. It's so hard to get to speak to anyone! I'd tried several places, smaller magazines, local papers, but no one would even talk to me, so when I heard about ViewVo from Careershifters it was amazing! I got to speak to Shafi pretty much straightaway. He's such a great guy, and clearly has some interesting views as to how to get into the business. He's pretty adamant you don't need the specialist journalism qualifications which training businesses are keen to stress you do need, so it's possibly saved me 6 months! Instead, I have some ideas on how to pitch to editors so will go down that route first. Thanks ViewVo for taking the pain out of the closed doors!
I’m an accountant by profession. I’ve been making things all my life and I’ve got to the stage now where I didn’t want to do accountancy anymore as it wasn’t really fulfilling me. I found the day with Susannah absolutely brilliant. She’s been really generous to me in opening up her contacts book so that I know who to go to now for leather suppliers and materials, and she’s given me really good insight into how the mechanics of the business work. the nuts and the bolts of it, the highs, and the lows. I’d definitely recommend job shadowing!
*Update* 7 months on Mary is looking at buying a leather goods production company, which would be a faster route to market for her. Meeting Susannah helped her decision by providing invaluable insight into the industry. *Update* 1 year on Mary has taken a significant step – she has bought a leather goods production business in the West Midlands (so has moved from Ireland to England), she now employs 10 people and has big plans! The starting point was her time with Susannah – congratulations Mary we’re super excited for you and all you've achieved!
Through Viewvo I received a valuable introduction to Ben and his team and was able to shadow what they do for a day and witness that this is not always a straightforward or easy process. In truth, one day is not a lot of time to spend in an organisation but it is enough time to gain a powerful impression of the type and focus of the work and the calibre of the team. This can be valuable in making a decision regarding career direction or learning how to be a professional consultant and my day was hugely beneficial in guiding my future career path.
*Update* - 10 months on from Felicity’s shadowing opportunity, she’s building experience to work out exactly what field within Occupational Psychology she wants to be doing. Her time with Ben was really helpful in refining focus to enable her to do this, and she secured a starter position as a Research Intern working in Learning and Development.
I'm a self-published author whose book is available in ePub and printed. I wanted to meet with Todd to learn some insight on how I could market my book and increase sales, as currently the public interest is rather limited. I was also looking for advice on publishing another book and wanted to know if it may be better for me to do this through a renowned publisher, rather than self-publishing. The meeting with Todd was really productive – he also bought with him 2 editors and they provided some in depth advice and feedback on my first book, and how to breakthrough in the industry in general which has certainly helped a lot. The advice they shared was really valuable and I’m working through the changes they suggested. I’d definitely recommend this opportunity!
What ViewVo offers is a really cool way to get behind the scenes, to see the bits that you would never get to see as a customer or as an outsider. I had the opportunity to spend the day at the stables and ask all the questions I had but wasn’t sure who to ask. I’ve had a great day and it’s been really helpful – I would highly recommend job shadowing and being able to meet a mentor.
I'm currently a project manager working in the financial services sector in London. I decided to do the job shadowing
with Kiki because I’ve been pasionate about wine for quite a long time now, and I'm not that passionate about
financial services!
It’s been really interesting, Kiki’s taken me through how she started out in her journey into the wine trade
and the business she’s created. We went through some of my ideas and the things I’ve been thinking about in
terms of what I want to do as a future venture.
My utopian idea of what it might be like to run your own business have possibly been shattered, but then it's
been really encouraging to see how much she's achieved here.
it's really opened my eyes to things I hadn’t thought about before, confirmed my thinking in a few areas, but also
made me think about challenges I hadn’t expected so certainly it's been really useful. I’d really recommend ViewVo
and job shadowing to anyone looking to change career in a slightly, or completely, different direction.
I'm Vicky, I have a dream to open a Play cafe in Reading. I don't have a background in running a coffee shop so I’ve done as much research as I can online and sitting in coffee shops, but I got to the point where I really needed some expert advice on where to go next, and someone to say ‘this is awful go back to the drawing board, or this is great, this isn't,’ and just really some guidance on what to do.
Today has been so busy and full on I’ve literally got a head full of ideas and it's been so exciting to see it in action. I’ve tried the food, I’ve tried making the coffee (not very successfully) and we've just had a great day talking about all the different aspects of what needs to go into starting the business. It's been brilliant. And walking around the building and seeing simple things like why that's in that drawer and why they work a certain way it's really, really valuable. I don't think I would have learnt half of this stuff just doing what I was doing so which was desk-based research and sitting in coffee shops and watching – it’s just not the same thing. I’ve already said that I might need to pay for another half day! :)
I have long wanted to pursue photography as a career, but I have always stumbled when it came to the Marketing and Business aspects of it. Through ViewVo I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Annie Armitage and had a phone call with her. She was very personable and forthcoming when demystifying Networking and various methods of contacting potential clients in the various fields of photography. She was also good enough to inform me of how to organize editing and other aspects of the day to day running. With her background I can see how she has become a successful photographer. Rest assured, if you talk to Annie, you are receiving advice from one of the very best in the business.
I spent a day with Ali which I thought went very well. I was really concerned about spending £450 but I’ve spent more than this in the past… Ali has helped me focus on my brand, the vision for my business and my target customer. All of this makes me realise the mistakes I made with the investments I’ve made previously – in a way, I wish I had met Ali earlier as I now feel I’m on the right path.
She’s been really helpful and given me some contacts in the industry who might be best suited to my vision. I wasn’t sure previously how to price my products, so she’s talked me through how she does hers and has also given me a template business plan which we worked through, so now I have a much better and clearer idea of what I should be charging. All in all, to learn from someone who you know is successful is really reassuring. The fact she believes in what I’m trying to do and gave up a whole day to help me get there is great – consequently, I would happily recommend others do the same.
Meeting Jonny has been a fantastic experience. I don’t think there’s any substitute for talking to someone that's not just in the career you want to do, but being incredibly successful in that career. One of the things I was keen to ask Jonny is what were the skills he thought he had and that someone like me could learn. So, I’ve got a long list of things to do and I’ve got some equipment to buy as well. I’ve learnt a lot, had a fantastic experience and would highly recommend it.
‘The call was brilliant! Sheryl is so awesome and her energy is just infectious. Using Skype worked really well as I’m a mum of two, so we were able to have a break for baby feeding/lunch in the middle. I learnt so much – I have 6 A4 sides of notes and loads of action points to take away. Sheryl shared so much knowledge and I’m definitely reassured that I can go and do this! I can't wait to start my business.’
*Update* 1 month on from Anna's shadowing opportunity with Sheryl, she's setting up her website and has already met her first potential client!
I worked as MD at a large investment bank in Canary Wharf managing over 300 people. I really enjoyed the people management side of the role, so after 20 years thought I might like to move more into coaching. After spending a day with a Hannah I realised I would miss being part of a bigger team and having a more strategic business remit and operations to guide. I'm now working in consultancy helping companies go through change management processes - so very much focusing on people management, but giving me more of the strategic business focus I realised I needed.
I would highly recommend Viewvo to anyone looking to change their current career path. In fact, I already have!
Prior to having my children I had a long career in the Financial industry. However, I’ve always been passionate
about interior design...but had so many questions and doubts about how achievable this would be and what my next step
should be.
After discovering Viewvo at a careers fair and noticing that Rachel Laxer was one of the mentors I saw this as an
opportunity not to be missed - and the fee goes to charity so it was a win win.
Rachel is a fantastic person to shadow, a real inspiration having made a hugely successful career change into interior
design from a prior career in Finance.
Rachel later invited me to be involved in the amazing interior design breast cancer charity event that she is
co-chair for, Holiday House which launched in London this month. Through helping out at Holiday House I have
met a number of other designers and professionals within the design industry so it has been an immensely rewarding
process.
I found Jehane very warm and welcoming, lovely and easy to talk to. Jehane gave me feedback on areas in my portfolio which could be improved & developed. I found it useful to get Jehane’s opinion on where she thought my work would fit in the industry. She encouraged me to keep pursuing personal projects and was able to offer really constructive feedback on my portfolio which will hopefully see me improve my work and gain more freelance job opportunities in the future. I would definitely highly recommend Jehane to friends looking to publish and license their work.
If you have a dream and you want to implement it, it's a risk free way of getting experience without getting hurt. The sorts of things I got help with were how to staff, what sort of ratios you need to work to, I've revised my business plan after we went through it. I'm hoping to open in a few months!
Dave was down to earth, realistic, and extremely open and friendly as we discussed the challenges of starting a business in what is a competitive marketplace. He gave me some great advice and it was fascinating and heartening to hear his story. All in all a really useful half hour chinwag!
I've come to the UK from Australia and have a range of things I'm looking at: youth worker, school counsellor, careers advisor. I spent time on the phone with James Hawes (counsellor) Hannah Courtney Bennett (careers advisor) and Jay Blades (youth worker). From talking to them all, I got a better idea of what each job involves and what qualifications I do really need to do to take the next steps. Of all the roles, I think counsellor is the best suited to me. James was great at clarifying where I need to start. I wasn't sure if my Aussie qualifications and degree would count towards anything here, but from what he was saying, I do need to get qualified - so I'm starting my counselling course in January!
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