As we’re always interviewing other people we thought it might make for a change to interview ourselves! Each month we’ll pick a member of the Escape team for a 60 second interview.
So to start things off, let’s meet Laura…
Name: Laura Barnet
Job Title & Team: Marketing Advisor and Psychometric Assessor (odd mix I know but read on!)
What do you do? Having moved from recruitment into marketing I have still kept up my Psychometric Assessor accreditations. This means I can be writing blogs, creating marketing materials and tweeting one day and working with clients and candidates on a range of assessment products from verbal and numerical tests through to personality and motivation assessments the next! All makes for a varied week and I enjoy being able to keep in contact with candidates and clients, it helps me stay connected to the business and recruitment itself.
How did you get into Recruitment? My first job after leaving school was as an Account Administrator in a recruitment advertising agency. (This was in the days before PCs* and remember sellotaping dozens of bits of paper together to fax through lists of adverts to the Scotsman every week.) I later made the move from recruitment advertising into recruitment project management, assessment and finally recruitment consultancy.
*feeling quite old now
What did you want to be when you grew up? After reading “Andy Crane on TV”* when I was young I wanted to work in television. This changed as I grew up to wanting to work in advertising. I started my career in recruitment advertising, moving over into candidate management, assessment and ultimately recruitment consultancy with Escape.
*Andy Crane, if you are too young to remember, was most famous for being a children’s TV presenter in ‘The Broom Cupboard’ in the late 80s and had a puppet side-kick called Ed the Duck
What was your first job? My first job was as a check-out and cashroom assistant at William Low (aka Willie Low’s). I worked there while I was at school in a rather fetching peach dress with a grey cravat! Although that was nothing compared to the electric blue and white kilt I wore when I worked at Romanes & Paterson as a student.
What are you working on now? We have recently launched our new website which has been a big project for me over the last few months. I’m now working as part of Escape’s AWR (Agency Worker Regulations) project team preparing information for our clients and temporary workers before the regulations take effect on October 1st.
What do you love most about recruitment? There’s nothing better than being able to tell someone they ‘got the job’. I still remember the very first candidate I placed and how thrilled she was when she got my call.
“You got the job!”
What’s your top tip for jobseekers? Remember to read your CV carefully when you are preparing for interview, even the older information. I’ve often asked a candidate about something they mention in their CV and they’ve forgotten all about it as they’d written that section years before and never gone back to read it.
….and finally:
What 3 words would your colleagues use to describe you? Err, I’d like to think ‘Organised’, ‘Helpful’ and ‘Knowledgeable’ but it’s probably more like ‘Picky’, ‘Serious’ and ‘Hungry (always!)’
Well we asked them and here’s what they said: “Just, Ask, Laura” – you can ask her anything about anything at Escape…and we do!
Want to learn more about Laura?
- Connect with Laura on Linkedin
- Follow Laura’s posts on the Escape Blog
- Tweet with Laura via Escape’s Twitter account
- ‘Like’ Escape’s Facebook page (managed by Laura…she likes it when people like our page!)
Escape: the blog 