A collaborative and inclusive work placement program

Tess Cooper, founder of Collaborative Future, shares how her personal experience led her to develop a work placement program built on flexibility, collaboration and trust.

At the age of 18 I left school and started working at our family print company full time. I was extremely lucky to have that as an option. Prior to this I’d sent out hundreds of applications to ‘entry-level’ admin jobs - many of which specified the need for 2-5 years experience or required a 2:1 University degree. I generally received no response from most of the organisations and when I did manage to get an interview it meant travelling to London, feeling intimidated by an interview panel and ultimately being rejected with little feedback. 

Working for a small family business meant I got thrown in at the deep end - at the end of the day we were all responsible for making sure salaries could be paid. I was tasked with doing sales pitches, developing marketing collateral, reconciling accounts, managing workflows and occasionally turning my hand at design work. Throughout the year I not only developed technical skills but more importantly I learnt how to work effectively with team mates, suppliers and customers.

A year after leaving school I eventually landed an admin job at the Guardian. My manager there would later reveal to me that when it was down to two final candidates the director decided he couldn’t be bothered to spend time interviewing us. He glanced at our CVs and simply said “Hire the one with the Oxford degree”. I was lucky that my manager was passionate about not simply basing recruitment decisions off of people’s backgrounds but instead focussing on their potential. She forced him to interview me and by the end of it he’d turned round to her and said there was no doubt they should hire me. That said, he did then spend the next two years telling me how I’d get nowhere far in life unless I had a degree.

Fast forward 10 years and I now run my own business. I was promoted multiple times over at the Guardian and was managing a team of 6 project managers by the age of 21. I looked after £6million worth of business for them and was eventually seconded to help build their pioneering mobile-first website. I was head-hunted to work for Comic Relief and helped grow FutureLearn from 20 staff to 130 staff. I went from a Junior Product Manager to Director of People and Culture in less than 4 years due to my deep understanding of how to build and manage effective teams, and also due to the trust I was repeatedly afforded by many of the managers that I’d worked with prior. 

My story however could’ve been very different if I’d never met people that believed and invested in my potential. I grew up with foster siblings who were repeatedly written off by the education system before they’d even had a chance to prove themselves. I’ve worked with extremely talented people of colour who have been locked out of the opportunities they deserve due to discrimination. I’m friends with women who have had children and never thought it was even an option for them to ask to return to work on a flexible basis. 

The Collaborative Future work placement program is a culmination of all that experience and knowledge. It is our mission to reimagine the world of work and build businesses and teams in which everyone is empowered to thrive. Work should be a place where everyone is supported to achieve their potential in a way that works for them and meets their needs and desires. 

We’re innovating with how to create more fulfilling, inclusive and sustainable ways of working which generate value for all. Our 6-month programme will bring together a community of small businesses, freelancers and underemployed young people to work and learn together. It will not only provide an opportunity for young people to develop the skills, connections and mindset that will help them navigate their career but it will also build resilience and community among existing small businesses as well as providing them with support and training to become better managers. 

The core of our programme provides 18-24 year olds not in full-time education or employment with paid, flexible and remote work experience among a community of small businesses. Along the way we provide them with coaching and training to really hone their skills, develop their passions and work out what the next steps are for them. 

Not only does the flexibility of this program make it more accessible to a diverse range of young people, it also makes it more accessible to small businesses. So many small businesses can't offer work experience or apprenticeships because they don’t have the capacity to commit to it full-time, or they don’t feel comfortable taking on that responsibility. Our program means small businesses can access diverse talent on a flexible basis to suit their needs, whilst also getting the chance to learn how to be a better employer. 

This experience isn’t just about connecting people to work together, it’s also about supporting them with how to work together effectively. In addition to accessing paid intern support the businesses involved in the program will also get to access a wide-range of leadership and management training workshops, 1-2-1 coaching sessions and opportunities to exchange knowledge and ideas with other businesses. 

I believe that bringing people together in this way has the potential to transform the future of work. And we’d love to have you build that future with us. Apply to become a Collaborative Future intern or find out more about participating in the scheme as a business.