On Tuesday 8th February we’ll be holding the first of our ‘How I Made It’ official Q&A careers events intended to introduce students, graduates and young professionals to different opportunities and industries in the working world.

We’ll be kicking off with “How I Made It In Advertising: Brands, the Big 4 and beyond…” at 6.30pm on Tuesday 8th February at The Tabernacle in Notting Hill, London – where Jimi Hendrix played his last gig.

WEXO is all about privileged access and we will be featuring a panel of advertising executives who have spent time at the world’s four biggest advertising groups: WPP, Omnicom, Publicis and Interpublic as well as ITV, Orange and Dunhill.

It will follow a BBC Question Time format focusing on pre-polled questions including: “What impact is social media having on the advertising industry?”,“What opportunities are available?” and “Why have some campaigns been so successful?”. There will be a ‘money can’t buy’ prize for the best question which you can submit when you register…

We’re continually hearing that you don’t know enough about the working world to make informed decisions so we’re trying to give you the inside story direct from the people that hold the roles you might be best suited to. Watch this space for the next events, let us know what industries you’d like to hear about below or sign up for the event now.

The idea sprang from the “How I Made it in Fashion” event that WEXO co-hosted with the LSE Fashion Society in November 2010. It featured a panel including the Retail Editor of Vogue, Emily Zak, Chloe Lonsdale, Founder of MiH Jeans and the fashion journalist, Kinvara Balfour. The event was oversubscribed and substantiated the view that young people are seeking more pertinent careers advice. A recent Ofsted survey suggested that one in three schools are failing to give good advice to students about future career prospects. A report by Deloitte said that 95% of young people want employers to be more involved in providing guidance about careers citing that they feel ‘bewildered’ and ‘uninformed’ by the career choices on offer.

The problem we’re seeing daily is that students and graduates don’t always understand the roles on offer and so aren’t necessarily focusing on the ones that they’re best cut out for. This is only exaggerated by a difficult job market. For every 2 people we place there are 8 that we don’t. We’re trying to give all 10 of you the inside story direct from the people that hold the roles you might be best suited to.

There’s always been material available from careers advisers and universities but by filming these events we’re hoping to build up an interesting online archive of enlightening content that will help you understand the career you deserve.

Robin Kennedy

Photos courtesy of Chu Ting Ng at The Qualifiedblog.

It’s hard to believe that another year’s about to fly by, but it certainly won’t be wrapping up without a bit of drama. In case you hadn’t heard, Lord Young suffered as David Cameron’s first advisory resignation casualty two weeks ago. All the uproar centred around his comment that young people of today ‘have never had it so good’ in the current ‘so-called recession’. Hmm. This is an interesting one, because the ex-enterprise adviser has been both defended and reviled in the press since.

On the one hand there is the sense that given current mortgage rates, people in the current recession do have a better deal than usual. On the other, we’ve got the prospect of soaring university fees and nearly unrivalled unemployment rates to contend with. So the plot thickens.

However, my goal isn’t to obsess over press speculation and controversy. Instead, it’s to remember the very sorts of ventures and advice that made Lord Young a candidate for his lost position. Check out the video below in which Lord Young talks to our own Robin Kennedy about opportunities for the youth. It’s great to see that he cares about, and believes in the relevance of youth employment. See the original post here too.

Tshepo Mokoena

Did anyone else see Merlin on BBC1 at the weekend? I grew up on a staple diet of King Arthur and Robin Hood (albeit in books) and after the reinvention of Robin Hood as a loveable young rogue this time last year it was refereshing to see Camelot repainted with the same brush. In the first episode, “The Dragon’s Call”, young Merlin discovers his destiny by heeding the call from the last of the dragons imprisoned in the caves beneath the castle. Incidentally the dragon, whose voice is provided by John Hurt, was also modelled using the Elephant Man actor’s real life features.

All this reminded me that I recently talked with some dragons myself. We’ll be releasing interviews with ‘Captains of Industry’ every few weeks and for the moment check out what James Caan had to say to me on how to get on in business…