Temporary and Interim Charity Jobs

A new year, a fresh start, and time for a new job? How do you know if it’s really time to move on? It’s a question that can get stuck in your head, like a hit from the ‘80s, or a metal plate. Should I stay or should I go, you wonder – wouldn’t it be good? How will I know? And when will I be famous, exactly? Well, wonder no more, because our hastily-cobbled-together new year quiz is here to help you find out! As the UK's leading specialists in charity sector recruitment we've got decades of experience and expertise, absolutely none of which went into this spurious exercise. Ten simple questions, zero scientific legitimacy: just select the end of each statement that best completes it for you. (You’ll need to tot up your answers at the end – we'd have made it interactive but had a party meeting to get to and largely imaginary coding skills. Plus the last time we tried embedding anything - well, let's just say there was bit of a misunderstanding and now we can't look anyone from IT in the eye). Let's move swiftly along and get started... For each of the ten statements below, simply choose the ending that's most applicable for you: 1. Your boss is… A An endless source of inspiration! B Quick to show appreciation C No real cause for celebration D Hopeless beyond explanation E Under police investigation 2. You’re expecting the year ahead to be… A More amazing than ever! B Pretty good, on the whole C More of the same D 365 more days of relentlessly soul-destroying misery E 1989 3. The moment you wake up in the morning you’re… A Bouncing up and out of bed! B Planning for the day ahead C Wishing it was Sunday instead D Overwhelmed with fear and dread E Sorry, you’ve lost me there. Wake up…in the morning? 4. You travel in… A With a smile on your face and a spring in your step! B With a packed schedule and everything you need for a busy and productive day C With far too many other people - it's definitely getting worse D With grudging resentment and an emergency bottle of gin E Style, regardless of expense 5. At 4pm on a typical Monday we’d probably find you… A Sighing with contentment - we're doing something wonderful here B Trying to get as much done as possible by the end of the day C Buying things online – there's some brilliant deals on Groupon this week D Crying in the stationery cupboard. Mondays are cruel. E Flying, probably. I’m always flying somewhere. 6. If they made you CEO tomorrow you would… A Probably burst with pride and delight! What a privilege! Though I hope this doesn’t mean something terrible’s happened to Martin? B Be very surprised, super-nervous, but pretty chuffed I guess – I’d certainly give it a go! C Of this place? Oh, right. Well, so long as there's a decent payrise. D Derive immense pleasure from firing each and every one of these ‘people’ E Be totally confused but hey, how hard can it be - yeah, why not? 7. You’ve won £50 million on the lottery*! (*you haven't, just to be clear for legal purposes: it’s a hypothetical premise in a made-up quiz) You would… A Donate the lot to charity and keep on coming to work of course – I couldn’t leave these guys! B Throw the biggest leaving party this place has ever seen. Free champagne for everyone! C Be out of here before you could blink D Bribe the board to retire, take over, and derive immense pleasure from firing each and every one of these ‘people’ E Oh, Marbs or Ibiza darling, straight away. Miami if it’s winter. 8. The highlight of your time there is… A Probably yet to come! But otherwise, gosh, so many to choose from! B Getting that great new project off the ground – we've been able to make a real difference with the revenue generated C Hard to remember off the top of my head, but I’m sure there was something a few years back D ...going to be the look on their faces when I finally announce which orifice they can kindly insert their job into E Highlights? Are people still having those? 9. With a month left to use it, you've still got a week of your annual leave. You… A Don’t want it anyway – who’d skip a single day with these wonderful people? B Try and book the rest of it in without missing anything too important C Immediately book the next week off and head for a Spanish resort to soak up the sun, sea breezes and your bodyweight in Sangria D Don’t understand the question. Obviously I got through it all months ago - why on earth would I be here otherwise? E Sorry no, you’ve lost me again - my annual what? 10. When the time eventually comes to move on, you’ll… A Miss these guys SO much, we’re like family! Actually some of us are now – oh, that was a beautiful wedding. Shame they can’t stand each other now of course, but if we sit them at opposite ends they can't throw anything sharp past the photocopier. It's a pity our interns keep leaving, though. B Keep in touch, at least with the people I'm closest to here. Probably my manager too, you never know if I might want to come back one day. C Have to do leaving drinks I suppose. If I fake being totally hammered by 7.30 I can probably get home in time for Bake-Off. D Write a tell-all memoir of my heroic struggle, describing the countless misdemeanours of my colleagues in unnecessarily salacious detail E Already be living it large in the next place to be - the party's wherever I am! Job done! You've made it to the end of the questions. So what does the year ahead have in store for you? Should you stay put, or start searching? If your answers were... Not that you'd dream of it, but don’t even think about moving! Stay exactly where you are; they love you there and by golly, you just love them right back. Possibly a little bit too much but honestly, who can blame you? It’ll all end in tears of course, because you’ve never built the ten-foot wall of cynicism that shields the rest of our blackened hearts, but don't listen to the doubters. You're having a ball, so good for you and long may it last! However unlikely that may be! Top tip for 2019: Maybe just start keeping track of the cats you're adopting - is that the fourth now? It's all good! You've got a decent employer, you’re valued, doing well and even if it’s not your ultimate dream job, it’s right enough for right now. There’s no harm in scanning the job ads occasionally in case there's something even better, but you’ve still got potential there yet, room to grow, and so much going on that it's highly unlikely you're doing trivial internet quizzes. We're wasting our time here, basically. Top tip for 2019: They won't be reading this, so if everyone could just quietly hum to themselves to fill the gap here, that’d be great thanks. It's not you, it's your job. Or maybe it is you - oddly we can't quite be sure despite the forensic questioning. Either way, whatever fireworks there may once have been have long since burned out and the relationship's stuck in a rut. You're going through the motions but it's not bringing the best out of either of you and frankly, you both deserve better. There's always the chance you can turn things around - like there's always the chance of it snowing in August - but if we were in your shoes we'd ask ourselves a) if we still want to be there in three years' time, and b) why on earth we're borrowing your shoes. We're not even the same size. Top tip for 2019: You're capable of so much more, so dust off your CV, do something about your hair (trust us), and get searching for a great new job! Okay, before we can talk we'd appreciate if you'd put that thing down. That's better, thank you. Well, we're sure you don't need us to tell you it's time to move on, and the sooner the better for all concerned. Life could be so much better in a job that you actually like, surrounded by people you don't loathe with every fibre of your being. We can't guarantee you'll walk straight into that kind of job - not while the bitterness can still be seen from space, at least - but it's got to be worth a try, right? Things have turned toxic and it's time to shape up and ship out. And if you can do it without anyone requiring emergency services, it's an achievement to mention in interviews. Result! Top tip for 2019: Even if you've already checked today, it's always worth making absolutely sure you're not the prime minister. …we should point out this is NOT a dietary recommendation. Because, well we don't quite know how to put this, but we ran your answers through our highly sophisticated analysis machine and the phrase that came back was 'either too high or too rich to function'. The machine's words, not ours - and frankly a bit much from an overpromoted calculator that can barely manage to switch itself on, but that's modern technology for you. Either way it's not something we see in a job specification all that often, so the prospects there aren't brilliant - but at least you're happy, artificially-induced or otherwise. Here's to 2019! Top tip for 2019: Wherever is the new 'new Ibiza', after whatever was the new Ibiza last year. And never be photographed without sunglasses - have them surgically attached if necessary (somebody will know somebody, just ask around). That's the end of the quiz and should it not be already, we’d like to make abundantly clear that none of the above should be taken as remotely sensible career advice. But if you'd like some proper assistance with finding new jobs in the charity sector, just get in touch with one of our specialist consultants! Alternatively you can browse through our current vacancies, or give us a call on 020 7820 7300 - we'd love to hear from you. In the meantime, good luck if you're thinking of moving, and our very best wishes for 2019! Team Harris Hill More from the Harris Hill blog: ► Specialist charity recruitment: now available in Scotland! ► 2018 review and career resolutions for the new year ► Back to the blog index

Made a mistake at work recently that was your fault? Are you still agonising over it? For my guest article this month, I’m exploring why a work blunder might feel like your world has ended, never mind your career, but could turn out to be the best thing you’ve ever done. Ah, the work blooper. Whether you’re an intern or the CEO, a self-orientated perfectionist or if you swear you triple-checked your email recipient, one day you WILL make a mistake. It’s an inevitable and unavoidable part of life. For article research, I asked friends, colleagues and LinkedIn’ers if they’d be willing to reveal their most unforgettable career-clangers. The responses wove a fascinating (and hilarious) tapestry of goofs. A helpful reminder that we’re all human - it’s the quirks of our mental make up that truly makes us interesting - and that even the most painful slip-ups can be helpful… Why do we make mistakes anyway? From clean forgetting the attachment on an all-company email to accidentally forwarding a highly inappropriate spam video to your Chair of Trustees - rather than flagging it with your PR team as you’d intended - the workplace gaffe is cringingly familiar. It’s safe to say most people have experienced the palpable gut-wrench of making an absolute clanger. So why do we make mistakes? Are we simply being careless or in a rush? Ignoring our intuitions and pushing ahead with an approach we know deep down will fail? Or is there more at play than personality and intelligence? American journalist and author Joseph T. Hallinan thinks so. In his book ‘Why We Make Mistakes’, he believes humans are pre-programmed to mess up because of our inbuilt ‘design flaws’. That it’s the way we think, see and remember - and forget - that leads us to make mistakes. By delving into psychology, neuroscience, and economics, he deduces that the same qualities that make us efficient can also make us prone to error. These design flaws, like when our eyes play tricks on us, are all-too-relatable. ‘I once sent an email about how incompetent and what a pain in the a***e a client was - only to send it directly to him’ said one of my friends. Not spotting a missing letter can also wreak havoc, as a teacher friend discovered. ‘My teaching assistant was responsible for the gardening club and needed to write an emergency flyer home to parents due to bad weather. She intended to ask them to wear wet-weather gear - wellies in particular. But, the note read something along the lines of... ‘Dear gardeners, please don’t forget to bring your willies to school tomorrow!’. It was my job to check - I missed it and the note went home. Thank goodness our parents are fairly good humoured!’. Why is it good to mess up? Most people are compassionate enough to realise mistakes happen and see the funny side when wellies go rogue. None of us are entirely flawless but we’re acclimatised to curated perfection in our virtual worlds. We share our successes and luminous achievements to our followers, but we rarely exhibit our failures when things haven’t gone so well. Then again, messing up can feel like the end of the world. The immediate reaction is usually negative; panic, nausea, wild irrationality. As you simultaneously update your LinkedIn profile in readiness for a new-job search and WhatsApp your friends requesting an urgent wine-up to wallow in catharsis, you can feel like the worst (*add job title here) in the country. Yet giving yourself permission to make mistakes could actually make you stronger. No matter how crushing they feel at the time, getting it wrong can be right in the long term. As Viv Groskop explains in her article for The Pool, ‘the more we stumble the less likely we are to head towards a major fall’. Making a mistake allows you to pause and reflect on the decisions made and actions taken which caused the error. Essentially, you get clarity on what’s gone wrong and can take steps to put it right. Post-mistake anxiety - the I never want to experience this embarrassment or worry ever again feeling - can be the driving force to do better next time. You may also push yourself in a way you wouldn’t if you’re used to playing it safe and striving for perfection. Author Elizabeth Day’s inspiring podcast ‘How To Fail With Elizabeth Day’ celebrates the things that haven’t quite gone right. Every week, she asks her interviewee what they learned from their failures and how to do it better next time, - and succeed. In her article for The Guardian, she shares, ‘I realised that the biggest, most transformative moments of my life came through crisis or failure’. Crucially, she survived. So, what can I learn from a mistake? The cringy, 'it feels like my career is over' kind of mishaps are often unforgettable. Yet, for most people their world didn’t actually end, it got better. Mistakes can: ► Embed a valuable skill. When one senior designer first started out in publishing, he printed '10,000s of John Grisham audiobooks with the title misspelt on the spine. It was…quite a biggy’. Gulp. Yet, the one thing they’ve carried with them, apart from an innate fear of a legal thriller, is how crucial it is to double check anything that goes public. My friend who sent a disparaging email about a client TO the client? ‘I never wrote a single word about anyone on my work email ever again!’. ► Steer you down a career path you REALLY want to take. One of my great friends ‘invited 60 Financial Services big-wigs to a CPD event up in Liverpool, only to receive a phone call from one of the attendees telling me that the venue hadn’t a clue about the event and there was no booking. Yep - I hadn’t booked it. To be fair to me that season I ran over 140 events nationally, but that was a spectacular fail! It was then I realised, Events was not for me…’. They have since built a successful and exciting career in HRIS with notable brands on their CV - and haven’t given CPD events a second thought. ► Alter your behaviour. ‘I wondered and commented on why a young lad was looking at a notice up really really close’ mused one of my contacts. ‘Unfortunately he had a very bad eye problem. I was mortified that I had commented and have learned that all disabilities may not be that obvious. I’m very considerate and helpful to all my customers'. Although naturally respectful, it reminded her that consideration towards others goes a long way. Argh, I’ve made a huge mistake. Now what?! Here are some suggested ways to navigate yourself out a potential crisis in the event of a blooper: 1. Clear your head. Stop, take a deep breath and consider what’s actually happened (i.e. did you email the person intended or the whole company?). In your eagerness for damage control, avoid sending an email immediately. It could make things ten times worse and appear you’ve lost control. 2. Face up to it. Don’t run away, hide in the loos or blame the whole thing on Stephen from Finance. Be upfront with your manager and apologise, but don’t over do it. Present a clearly thought-out solution for their approval and display a calm and professional exterior (even if you’re sobbing inside). 3. Try not to catastrophise. It’s natural to assume the worst - but don’t let panic or imposter syndrome overwhelm you. It’s likely your colleagues won’t notice your mistake, as everyone’s too busy making their own (I mean, getting on with their work). 4. A slip-up shared...Talk to a friend or loved one. What feels like the end of the world this morning could make for a terrific anecdote by this evening once you’ve nailed (1), (2) and (3). Swapping ‘you’ll never guess what I did today’ tales can offer reassurance, a reality check and a giggle. Then, stop obsessing and let it go. 5. Show em’ what you’re made of. Don’t let a blip derail you. Work extra hard over the coming weeks to restore your confidence. Genuine colleagues and good line managers will want to see you succeed. 6. Check yourself. If you’re making small but frequent mistakes at work, there might be something else at play. Are you overloaded with a heavy work-life balance or anxious about something in your personal life? Or are you bored, taking your eye off the ball? Consider talking to your manager or HR, or access other support mechanisms like an employee assistance programme or a work/life coach. No matter how agonising at the time, work mistakes can provide invaluable lessons to file in our ever-growing life manual. Although it’s hard to visualise in the moment, the personal growth you’ll experience will make it all worthwhile. Trust me. It’ll all be OK. Nicola Greenbrook - HR Specialist & Freelance Writer Contact Nicola There were too many brilliant mistakes to include in this article so... ..for the purposes of solidarity in our slip-ups, here’s some more mistakes to share. A huge thanks to everyone who bravely participated! Interviewing the wrong person for a role was a good one! Two sets of interviews were happening at the same time. I knew my candidate was a Sikh gentleman and never for a moment imagined the other candidate would be too, so didn’t check his name, just asked if he was here for a interview. It was only when we got to the technical questions that he actually asked what the role he was being interviewed for was! Before I moved into professional services I worked for a fairly big haulage company in their Finance dept. I was working closely with two very experienced women who were great to work with and helpful. We got on well as a team apart from our direct line manager who was David Brent before he was conceived as a concept. Unfortunately one of said women had a massive hang up about her age (she was in her mid thirties) and one day I tried to get her attention to discuss a project and forgot where I was and called her 'mother'. She thought I was being cheeky (due to sensitivity around age) but it was a genuine oversight. Everyone else in the office was rolling up in tears. Lesson learned, always remember somebody's name and their relationship to you. For context I was 18 at the time. It can’t be as bad as a) inviting all your personal contacts to a staff breast awareness session or b) an unfortunate ‘Beast Caner’ typo (breast cancer) in a print run of 5,000. Back in the day and being an over-helpful people pleaser I offered to help our Company Secretary "guillotine" the sides off of his eldest daughter's GCSE music manuscripts to tidy them up for submission to the examiners. (His PA was on a day off). I nervously lined them up on what I thought would be a nice, neat line - only to chop off about an inch of the actual music as well! Not sure what I learned other than what a complete twit I was! And of course it’s something I've never forgotten - and apparently neither had he when I met him at a reunion almost 20 years later! I did a whole day of interviews. We had one candidate that got louder and higher pitched with each question and answer, to the point where on the panel, we couldn't look at each other and were shaking with holding the laughter in. Somehow we made it through that interview, but didn't do the sensible thing and take a break, get it out and breathe… no, we just ploughed on. The poor next candidate came in and started her interview, but then two of us made eye contact and one of us lost it. One interviewer had to leave the room after snorting out a laugh. All of us fell apart laughing - absolutely full-on crying, belly laughs. It was awful. The poor candidate had no idea what was going on. In the end we had to stop, explain and start again. It was so unprofessional. However, she got the job and was a fabulous team member for many years. We are still in touch now… More from Nicola Greenbrook: ► How to start a new job...and survive ► How to be productive at work ► Charity Careers: meet Hannah Sanders, consumer brand partnerships lead for Save the Children