Someone somewhere was trying to say something last Thursday. I tend to wake up in the week days to the wonderfully illuminating BBC Radio 4 Today programme at 6am* (the first 30 minutes gives you your daily dose of everything you need to know about current affairs, business and sport – in that order with some weather and a newspaper review thrown in for good measure). I miss Ed Stourton but I feel at ease with Evan Davis (Dragon’s Den), there’s something quite matronly about Sarah Montague and Garry Richardson (Sports) might be no Christian O’Connell but especially given the hours he works (and the fact that he’s been doing it since 1981) he can crack impromptu gags with the best of them.

Sandwiched between details of David Cameron’s David Letterman interview (I would never send my son to Eton and there’s no way he sounds like James Bond) and news that the FTSE closed lower on Spanish economic woes (really?!) was the announcement of a new website, Unistats, that seems to help young people (including my cousin, Charles, 18 and currently working down the local boozer) work out how much they can earn from different courses at different universities (interesting for sure but taking this as gospel might be like believing that Nick Clegg wasn’t going to raise tuition fees). Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to search for the course most likely to introduce me to a life of bling and Bollinger but here are the outcomes for 3 options:

1. 1) Politics (MA Hons) at Edinburgh University (my degree): 71% Satisfaction, Average Salary 6 months after graduation: £18,000 (though last weekend’s Sunday Times 2012 University Guide dropped it from 27th to 39th on poor teaching!)
2. 2) PPE at Oxford (David Cameron’s degree): 93% Satisfaction, Average Salary 6 months after graduation: £25,000 (same as Computer Sciences at Bristol University which our developer studied but apparently he is 3% more satisfied)
3. 3) BA in Global Cinema at Sterling University: 81% Satisfaction, Average Salary 6 months after graduation: £15,000

As I overtook yet another bus on my way to work (how is it that since the Olympics, the traffic lights seem to have gone on strike – someone privatise them – and even if i do end up furiously mopping my brow on arrival, it still seems to be possible to get to work on a bike twice as quick as on a double decker), I then passed a new army recruitment advert with an array of different soldiers on it looking like they were pursuing an array of unsoldierly careers. The advert said: “What do you want to be?”. Anything but a soldier these days I thought, given that reports indicate that 8,000 (including many serving in Afghanistan) are to lose their jobs in January with the army shrinking by about 20% come 2020.

I discussed this further this morning with Tray and Bella, 2 of WEXO’s directors who also run Careers Mentoring company, Tinker Tailor. Bella’s father was a General in the Marines and as a child I always wanted to be a soldier. Having spent a bit of time watching reruns of Spooks recently, and in the hope that I might get an invite to the new Bond premiere this month, I think in my next job I might become a Spy. In my experience, ruthless research, undercover networking and the occasional one liner often get you all sorts of offers. And I reckon I can do a pretty good Sean Connery impression too.

Robin Kennedy, WEXO Co-founder & CEO

* NB – if you’ve had a big night you can catch it later on BBC iPlayer or even better download the TuneIn Radio Pro app on your IPhone and record it (please don’t tell me you’ve still got a Blackberry, they’re for riots and the company that makes then is slowly following Nokia to the dogs.)

When I arrived in London, after graduating from Newcastle, I was a little unsure of what career path to take. But after successfully completing a business training course I stumbled across WEXO. WEXO are not like any other recruitment agency. They took a genuine interest in me as an individual and offered some great advice and support. Most importantly they helped me find an internship at MiH Jeans. I interned for three months before being offered a permanent position back in April.

I work on the UK Sales team which is something I would have never imagined doing when I graduated. MiH Jeans has been an adventure from the moment I started and has grown massively as a brand. Because it is still a relatively new company which is evolving everyday there is always something exciting going on.

My daily responsibilities are constantly changing but here is an example of some of my daily tasks:

• Responsible for Koodos- sending out ordered jeans through Parcelforce and replenishing stock levels
• Ordering up Jeans from the warehouse for the Sales and PR teams
• Helping organise and potentially being in charge of future sample sales
• Taking part in Sales visits- being aware of their current and previous orders and taking any relevant press information
• Filling out marketing research questionnaires for stockists to help with future marketing and sales ideas.
• Checking in returns and organising for these to be sent down to the warehouse with correct packing lists which will then be filed here.
• Accounts

Throughout my time I have slowly been given more responsibility and I now work directly with the buyers. this is great experience as it has given me the chance to make a name for myself in the industry whilst building relationships with the buyers.

The team at MiH Jeans are all hugely passionate about the brand and this didn’t take long to rub off on me which makes it a much more enjoyable place to work as everyone is eager to see the brand succeed.

MiH Jeans has been a fantastic opportunity for me as it has opened my eyes to a role I would have never considered before and this is all thanks to the help and support of WEXO. I can’t thank you enough.

Nicola Tulloch

By Tina Kumar

Opportunity. Campaign. Business leaders. Young People. Fashion Show. It doesn’t really seem usual for these words to appear together in a sentence. Yet they still do…

What could this mean?

Tina and Anglee Kumar, 16 years old, are young twin entrepreneurs who support the Business in the Community Campaign: “Turning Work Experience into Work Inspiration” through which they’ve met many of UK’s leading chief executives/ chairman; recently at the BT Tower in September 2010, for an exclusive big conversation and celebration ceremony of the year’s success the campaign had brought. Where, Tina decided to organise a fashion show as part of the RISE (Rural Indian Schools Enterprise) Challenge; in order to raise money for rural schools in India through business ideas.

Tina and Anglee met the former chairman of Marks and Spencer, Sir Stuart Rose, to ask for his support. He agreed to provide the clothing, shoes and press gifts! He then introduced the girls to the Chief Executive of Barclays, Antony Jenkins, who after Tina had pitched the idea and requested a work inspiration placement provided a brilliant week’s work inspiration placement for the girls at Barclays Head Office in Canary Wharf and a personal donation of £100 to the event to help cover the costs.

There were three catwalks, spectacular dancing and singing performances and the Kumars even conducted a presentation in encouraging people to ‘Mark’ their ‘Style’ by: ‘ Making multiculturalism fashionable and not racism” this was to tackle racism and to make people aware of the fact that there are other ways to mark your style, through your personality and what you have to offer to our modern day society.

The show had its own logo and a specially designed set to fit with the theme of ‘Mark Your Style’. Also, there was brand identity and consistency within all materials produced towards the fashion show which made the event very classy and professional.

The twins grabbed the opportunities they got and made incredible use of them due to the campaign they support.
They put their heart and soul into the fashion show as young entrepreneurs and showed courage, passion and hard work to hold a successful fashion show. The event was Tina’s brainchild and having lead the project; she was responsible for producing marketing materials, ticket designs, publicity initiatives, performances, the photo shoots for the catalogue etc.

Gifted & Talented, Tina and Anglee, acted as role models, even the stylists, designed the make-up/ hair looks while managing over 60 participants including the young children, teenagers, singers, dancers and even… the teachers!
The media, Feltham Chronicle covered the event and Tina wrote an article covering the event for Your Local Guardian: here is a link: http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/yoursay/schools/8947361./

The twins showed a range of skills: tenacity, resilience, creativity, flexibility etc; gained support from business leaders in organising the event in their own time as it was an extracurricular activity!

The fabulous ‘Mark your style’ Fashion Show was on Thursday 31st March at Longford School.

Tina said everyone loved it staff and fellow students modelled the clothes from Marks and Spencer which ranged from smart casual to formal suits. “The show was very successful and was made to be very professional and a high profile event at the school. Free goody bags were provided along with refreshments. The show was very entertaining and although a charge was applied for the entry of the show; all proceeds made will be going to the RISE.” Over 250 people, students and other form the local community attended the event; over £500 was raised.

After the show Tina said: “” I have had a lot of fun and its good that we were able to put on such an event, creating a entertaining show, while at the same time contributing to such a worthwhile cause. The great thing is that so many people got the opportunity to be involved in something different and exciting and really had fun! Also, it has given me and my twin, Anglee, a wonderful experience as young entrepreneurs and I have to say I am really proud of myself and Anglee and hope that the show met the very standards that we expected of it. Also, just a word to everyone out there: The future is bright because the future is young people! This is because without the various young people involved with the show, the show may not have been as successful as it seemed to be.”

Anglee said: “I have had a lot of fun. Although, the experience has been absolutely mind blowing; I have learnt a lot and I have grown as an entrepreneur over the course of supporting the creation of the event. I hope that everyone else enjoyed the event and can’t wait for more opportunities to do something like this at a higher scale. I’m sure that’s what Tina wants, to do something like this again. It’s a lot of hard work though and it was great that we received so much support from the business leaders, school, campaign, teachers and especially the young people.”

WEXO has made a small donation towards the charity the twins support.

Hard work. Commitment. Time. Are three key factors that made the show a great success! Young entrepreneurs -Tina and Anglee- did really well and deserved the success they’d achieved.

Would you ever have been able to do what the twins did when you were 16?