Last year I had an idea.  A good idea as it turns out.  Take the skills of people who’d love more meaningful work and match them with a pioneering charity for a 6-month placement.

Everyone involved was driven by the same belief – that the skills and experience of people in mid-life are an untapped resource.  One that could be the answer to the sector’s skills’ gap.

Fast forward and we have arrived at the end of the pilot.

What have we proved?

That commercial skills are transferable.  And needed in the charity sector now more than ever.  Belief in a cause is why someone joins a charity. It’s what drives them.  But charities are also businesses, (a term I know many will bristle at).  They need income.  They need to run efficiently.  They need to measure and report impact.  To make tough choices about expenditure.  To tell a compelling story.  Why wouldn’t charities throw open their doors to job seekers who have the experience to do this?

Sometimes all people need is to be given a chance to prove their capabilities.

What have we learnt?

That a mix of ages leads to much more interesting conversations and outcomes.  The benefit of a co-generational team is diversity of thought.  The term ‘co-generation’ is so focused on age. Let’s stop using it. Focus on experience, not age.

That charities needn’t consider someone switching from the  commercial world as a risk.  Yes they’ll need more support at the beginning to learn about how a charity works.  Yes they’ll need to adapt to a new culture.  But with decades of experience they won’t need to learn how to do their job.

Thank you

There are so many people I want to thank for helping me get to this point.

Firstly NCVO for incubating the idea.  To Sarah Vibert for opening doors to charity leaders and to Laura Crandley who guided me and answered my (often basic) questions with patience.

Our charity partners who created the placements. Alison Marshall at Age International, Elisha Augustin at Age UK, Ingrid Courtney at British Heart Foundation, Lyn Pornaro at Disability Equality Scotland and Katie Davies at Alzheimer’s Society.

The amazing associates who were up for an adventure Christina Chan, Caroline Heartfield, Dee Carswell, Kaz Becker, Mills Leney and Stella Beale.

Their line managers Maja Vucicevic, Julia Lagoutte, Laura Clark, James Davidson, Charanjit Kaur Osahn and Barney Ross-Smith.

My advisory team Eleanor McBrien, Dawn Mcnish, Tiku van Houtem and Woosh Raza.

The Well Placed directors Lynne Norman and Magnus Willis.

Our recruitment partner Charity People.

Clare Richmond author of ‘The Scavenger Mindset’ for her leadership training.

Editors for Impact and Tom Barker at Test Creative who designed the logo for The Well Placed.

Damian Peachey who led the comms and content for the launch.

Dave Hills at Glude TV who produced and directed the launch film.

Justin Ford at Hubert & Ford who artworked the visual content.

My daughter who didn’t complain about ready meals when I was too busy to cook.  Maybe she was a little too happy?

To all of you, thank you.  What we have done has made a difference.  It may be small, but you have to start somewhere.

And we go again in November.

If you want to join us visit https://thewellplaced.org/ and get in touch.