What does one do on a Sunday? Sit back and relax. But not Nick Newman, CEO of CareersINFO and the brains behind National Careers Week. I caught up with Nick on Sunday over email to find out more about the work that goes on in preparation for National Careers Week and his vision for the future of the campaign.
Visit the National Careers Week website.
NCW is the brainchild of Nick Newman
Faizan – Nick, National Careers Week; we know about the good intentions of the campaign, but what does it mean in numbers? How many participants are there and how many young people are reached via this campaign?
Nick Newman – NCW2013 reached over 1 million people in the UK with over 1,600 schools and colleges registering – this year looks even bigger!
Faizan – 1 million+ people in the UK? Wow! So how much work goes into co-ordinating a nationwide campaign like this? When do preparations for you and your team start?
Nick Newman – We started planning for NCW2014 in September 2013! It’s a long run in with so much to co-ordinate in terms of Ambassadors, Comms, Resources and Sponsors – our Head of Digital Comms and Marketing, Samuel Douglas, has been working into the early hours for the last few weeks. It’s a massive effort by the team here.
Faizan – What have you planned for the week; does it involve a lot of travel or is it meeting a lot of young people locally?
Nick Newman – Personally I shall be supporting local schools this week with Careers Assemblies close to home – last year we were in Hull filming – with so much on this year I wanted to be around the studio as much as possible.
Faizan – Do you think NCW is becoming a sustainable campaign? I have seen a previous campaign helping young people that fizzled out because the brains behind the event handed it over to his colleagues in his organisation, but they could never replicate his enthusiasm and network – as you are the brains behind NCW, how do you envisage this campaign being sustainable in future?
Nick Newman – It’s getting bigger each year – sustainability comes from a need and a commercial model of supporting sponsorship.
I’m confident that we are going to keep improving year on year, getting it better, making a real difference . At the point we lose impact or fail to be a positive force for good in careers, we shall stop. I’ve never wanted to do anything other than make a positive difference in everything that I do – when I cannot make that difference, I will turn to the team and say “Game Over”.
Faizan – Thank you so much for that, Nick. Taking time on a Sunday, a day before a week-long hectic campaign is appreciated. We will support the campaign as we have done for the past two years. Good luck to the whole team, schools, ambassadors and everybody else involved in this campaign.
You can also read my interview with Janet Colledge, NCW14 Ambassador.
