The Brokerage The Overlooked Advantage - Flipbook - Page 11
Recognising the historic lack of diversity within their organisation, another employer pointed out
that these new perspectives offered development advantages to more experienced staff. Through
engaging with young people the senior staff were practising skills that would be relevant when they
connect with external customers who have similar backgrounds and needs:
“It is also great for our associates’ development – because they get an opportunity to develop
skills on how they explain the law, what they are working on, to someone who has very little
awareness of the sector.” - Employer
4. Creativity
- Employer
Creativity has been consistently highlighted as a skill that will grow in importance over the next
decade[20], with forecasts suggesting creative occupations would grow twice as fast as the average
growth in UK jobs by 2024.[21] As new technologies are introduced in the professional services
sector, increasing automation of routine tasks means that employers are looking to complement
these with soft skills that machines are not capable of, such as innovation, creative thinking, and
complex problem-solving.
Drawing on previous experience of navigating a way around a situation with limited resources is an
important and distinct ability of those growing up in a context of disadvantage. For some young
people this context will prove to be just this kind of challenging environment that underpins
development of new skills and abilities to make the most of a difficult situation, harness the limited
resources available, and maximise the outcome.[22] Several employers described the
resourcefulness and creativity in how The Brokerage Candidates tackled challenging tasks:
“They brought very different problem-solving skills [to the task], being focused on how they can help, how
they can get to the outcome the company needed. When we were looking for our next charity partner,
they went out to do their own research, contacted our offices in the US to get their perspective and tap
their networks, presenting three options to choose from. It gave us a whole new world that we weren’t
experienced in terms of our funders. Their work had long-term impact, and the approach they took is now
embedded into how we find partners.” - Employer
“To help the team develop their skills she found and attended a few LinkedIn webinars and then shared her
learnings with the team in a professionally formatted deck. She outlined key highlights and considered her
audience well with the delivery. She also enriched her presentation with conversations undertaken with
LinkedIn account managers, helping to build knowledge and awareness within the team, with positive
feedback across management. She also built good relationships with other parts of the business to
- Former
experiment and implement her learnings in real time.” - Employer
Brokerage Candidate
[20] Easton, E. & Djumalieva, J. (2018). Creativity and the future of skills. Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre.
Nesta.
[21] BEIS. (2017). Industrial Strategy: building a Britain fit for the future. London: BEIS.
[22] Suor, J. H., Sturge‐Apple, M. L., Davies, P. T., & Cicchetti, D. (2017). A life history approach to delineating how harsh
environments and hawk temperament traits differentially shape children's problem‐solving skills. Journal of Child
Psychology and Psychiatry, 58(8), 902-909.
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