Our Brave Starters

Nick was at Microsoft for over 20 years then had a string of roles in technology organisations as Business Development/Commercial Director, always knowing it wasn’t quite right for him. Now he’s in leadership training and development in a small consultancy and loves it.

When we met Mike, he was already interested in longer lives and research. He was Head of Retirement research at Aegon but following a restructure was made redundant. Working with what he felt strongly about and nurturing his desire to stay in the field we helped make a few connections and now he's CEO of Pro Age.

Simon had previously worked as a country manager for Diageo. A stint running his own consulting business helped him realise how much he valued being part of a team. He came to us for guidance, ended up as a volunteer for us which helped connect him to the land of jobs for people over 50. He's now Commercial Director of 55Redefined!

After more than 12 years in a toy manufacturing business, Rita's company relocated far away from her home. Rather than relocate with the business, she took time out to reflect on what she really wanted to do next. Motivated to help others, she started out volunteering for a charity helping people into work and now has a full time role there. Watch her video to hear her story in her own words.

After a 40 year career as an account and sales manager for large brands, such as Reebok Debbie retired. Finding retirement wasn't what it was all cracked up to be and wanting to be part of something she believed in, we helped connect her with a sector she found interesting (coaching and well being). She joined a small consultancy and last year brought in their largest account! Skills are indeed transferable :) Listen to Debbie tell you her story.

When we started working with Rachel, she'd done a variety of business analyst jobs across a range of financial services businesses. She wanted a change but recruiters kept pigeon holing her – none wanted to help her 'shift' into something new. We worked with her to help her realise she loved the technical, specialist side of work and was really open minded to learning and was happy to do coding courses. She's now a technical analyst at Pepper Financial Group and if you watch this video you'll see for yourself her happiness is palpable. She had to sell herself and convince them she was the asset they needed which is something we're usually pretty good at helping people do!

Alan was a board director at Ricoh Danka and spent time in consulting before retiring and moving to Spain. After a few years Alan was bored. He thrives on work. Hear how his life has changed.

Dimitri spent years as Head of IT at places like Deutsche Bank and other brands in the corporate sector. He thought he wanted a complete change of career – but after our programme changed his mind. He realised he was still interested in the IT world and realised if he wanted to make a difference and do something he felt was more meaningful, he'd have to do it in the same sector. He now works in a hospice as Head of IT. A small team and his ability to save the organisation lots of money whilst making productivity improvements has meant they have the money now to hire 2 more nurses.