Nicolas Weir, Head of International Sales and Delivery

Describe your role

As Head of International Sales and Delivery, I'm responsible for looking after our international area managers. I also devise our strategy for how we can grow the international arm of the business, and how we can best look after our current network of partner schools to make sure they use our platform effectively.

On top of this, I'm the Area Manager for Switzerland, so am personally responsible for growing our number of partner schools there, and maintaining great relationships with the schools we work with there already!

What’s at the top of your bucket list?

I love snorkelling, snowboarding, fishing and climbing - any 'outdoor' sport really! Last summer I went to the Alps and climbed the Zinalrothorn, from where you get to see lots of other peaks in the Alps. One of them was Dent Blanche, or ‘White Tooth’, which is just over 4,000m high - it’d be great to climb that next summer.

What motivates you at Unifrog?
 
I’d say there are three main things: firstly, I love building great relationships with counselors and teachers at schools around the world; secondly, it’s great to provide students with access to a fabulous tool that I would have found immensely helpful myself when I was a student; finally, I love working with a brilliant team of people and doing my bit to help the company grow!

What’s your favourite memory of being on the road for Unifrog?

Greg and I recently went to a conference in Bangkok and on our way to the venue we were fortunate enough to be able to take a Hello Kitty tuk tuk through the streets. We saw some great views of the city and I won’t forget that journey easily!

Anna Barker, Area Manager

Describe your role

I’m an Area Manager, which means I work with partners in an area (in my case the South East of the UK) and help them to understand Unifrog. This involves going out and meeting new schools and organisations, bringing them on board, and then supporting them in using the platform. That might mean things like arranging meetings with School Leadership Teams or going in for staff training events, but really my priority is getting partners using Unifrog and using it really well.

What’s your favourite thing about your role?

Firstly, it’s really clear whether I’m doing a good job or not. From week to week or month to month, I can see if schools are using Unifrog really well, if we’re bringing on new schools, and if schools are re-subscribing to us.

Secondly, I love that each day is different: one day I could be in the office working with the team, and another I could be out on the road, having meetings across London and the South East. I enjoy my varied schedule and getting to shape my days to make sure I get the most out of them.

What do you get up to when you’re not working?  

I volunteer with a few youth charities that support young people in reaching their next steps, and most recently I’ve been helping out with the Red Cross and their ongoing refugee project. I’ve also just moved house, so I’m getting involved with my local community - I’ve volunteered to be a ‘street champion’, which involves things like recycling, reporting fly tipping, and helping old ladies with their gardening. I also enjoy spending time with family and friends and going to the gym.

What’s your favourite guiding principle?

For me, happiness can’t be underestimated. I don’t just mean laughing and smiling; I mean finding a deep sense of happiness and contentment. I try to do this with my schools and partners by making sure they’re truly happy with whatever they want to succeed in, and it’s important to me that I have a job which makes me happy in lots of different ways. I think that, if you can feel truly content and happy, it can drive so many other positive things later on. That’s my guiding principle that I take into everything - just do things that you enjoy and create positivity!

Jacob Lovick, Account Manager

What does a day in the life of a Unifrog Account Manager look like?

The day breaks. I open one eye, then the other, looking forward to another day of evening out the playing field for school students. I open my laptop and delve into the treasure trove of a fresh inbox, filled with teachers’ carefully worded queries. Perhaps I’ll be out on the road today, plying my craft with a head full of Year Plans and a school network-compatible laptop at my back. I’ll deliver Staff Trainings that change lives, days, moments. I’ll field phone calls that could make a teacher’s day, year, career, with intricately curated advice and feedback. And then I tread satisfied, once again, to bed. Satisfied in the knowledge of an Account that truly has been Managed.

What part of your job do you find most challenging?

Concise answers. Though it is perhaps possible to be too enthusiastic about the services and benefits that Unifrog can offer a partner school, I often struggle to keep my answers tight and focused to the specifics of the question that’s been asked. I find myself stood at the top of a mountain of metaphors with a dizzy head and wondering how I’d got there. But I hope that, like a Sherpa, my love for the tools that we offer, the range of things available and my willingness to help, will overcome this mountain, and get teachers to where they want to be.

What’s the funniest thing that’s happened to you when you’ve been visiting a school?

The teacher that greeted me at the school reception with the phrase ‘Robert! Great to have you back!’ I have never been to this school before, and my name is not Robert. He took me round the school, introducing me as ‘Robert!’ to absolutely everyone, far more than was necessary. He even once or twice stared at my name badge, which clearly read ‘Jacob’, before proceeding to call me ‘Robert!’ twice or even three times in the following sentence. I then stood up in front of his colleagues, having been introduced as ‘Robert!’ by the same man, and began with the phrase ‘hello everyone, I’m Jacob’. Ashen-faced, the teacher stood and left the room. I didn’t see him again.

What about you always surprises people when you tell them?

I also do a lot of writing and comedy outside of my work for Unifrog. People tend to find this extremely surprising.

Lizzie Brennan, Data Manager

Describe your role as Data Manager at Unifrog

As Data Manager, I help to maintain and update all of the information we have on our opportunity search tools, as well as researching and designing new tools to add to the platform. This means my job can have an instant impact on hundreds of thousands of students all around the world, which is very exciting! It's super important we have the most up to date, impartial information to show to students to allow them to make informed decisions about their future.

What’s the most challenging part of your job?

I'd say the most challenging part of the job is making sure that we are always on top of the latest developments and releases in education-related data. There are lots of great data sources which release data on a whole range of different areas in education, from the amount of students who go on to a graduate job once they finish a particular course at a particular institution, to the latest Ofsted reports for a school or apprenticeship provider in the UK. We need to make sure we have the most recent, relevant information to share and also look out for any new data points which we could use to supplement the information we already have. Getting feedback from students and teachers using the platform is also crucial to making sure we achieve this.

You were very involved in Unifrog’s move to a new office. How did you make sure that this would be somewhere the team were happy in?

People spend a good chunk of their day at work so we wanted to try and make the new Unifrog office a place people enjoy coming to, rather than just somewhere they have to be! We've made sure the space has lots of light, plants and colourful furniture to promote a happy, positive environment and we’ve also made sure people have the chance to add their own touches to the space. As we've now moved over from a shared to a private office, we've also invested in an office radio and it has exposed us to lots of questionable music tastes…

What are the best and worst bits of being an Arsenal supporter?

I was brought up an Arsenal fan, with my family all having their roots in Islington, but unfortunately during our glory days I was too young to appreciate how good we were. It's good to know our history, but since I started taking a serious interest it all went downhill and let's just say the struggle is real and I'm missing my favourite Frenchman…

Mitchell Purnell, Area Manager

Why did you decide to work for Unifrog?

When I first researched Unifrog, I was drawn to the idea of working for a social enterprise with a product that I could be genuinely passionate about. Then I saw Unifrog's apprenticeship content and search tool in action, which completely sealed the deal! When I dropped out of college, I spent weeks trying to search for, and get my head around, apprenticeships. Something I hear a lot is ‘I wish this existed when I was in school’, which is exactly what I was thinking when I decided to work for Unifrog!

Describe your role

My main priority is making sure my amazing partners in the South West utilise all that Unifrog has to offer; not only with platform usage, but also by taking full advantage of our wider network. There really is no such thing as a standard day or week. I run staff trainings, strategy meetings, best-practice CPDs, conference talks/workshops and network meetings. Essentially, I do whatever is required to make sure staff are supported in providing students with the very best careers education, across the South West.

A lot of miles, a few too many fast food restaurants (for the free Wi-Fi) and plenty of work, but I love it.

What's the best thing about working with teachers?

The best thing has to be when you mention something that sparks their interest and sends them off on a passion-fuelled rant. No matter how tired they may be at the end of a long working day, one trigger conversation shows just how passionate they are about what they do, and why they do it. Plus, they’re super competitive if chocolate is on the line!

Please tell us two truths and one lie about yourself.

• I represented Bristol in the UK Junior Tiddlywinks Championships 2002 and came a very respectable 3rd place.
• I hit my peak of stardom at the age of 12, when I directed an award-winning series of short films based on climate change.
• I had chicken pox 3 times as a child, much to the disbelief of my local GP

Stephen Rodwell, Operations and Finance Lead

Describe your role as Operations and Finance Lead at Unifrog

I'm responsible for the smooth running of the office from day-to-day, whether that means coordinating our programme of UK and International conferences or helping to improve our team workspace. I also manage the company's finances along with Hayley, our Head of Operations. Essentially, this means I keep a close eye on our income and expenditure and try to save money wherever possible! If I ever find a spare moment (rare!), I really enjoy getting involved in other parts of what Unifrog do, whether that's writing and editing for the Unifrog platform or getting stuck into data research.

When you first started, what struck you about Unifrog?

It's a great team of people who support one another and celebrate each other's successes; everyone is eager to help and push the platform forward. It's also inspiring that we have a group of experts in Higher Education and post-16 opportunities who are helping lead the discussion about the future of young people.

As a former teacher, why do you think that what Unifrog is doing is important?

Although I worked in a primary school, I know that my Year 1 pupils would still have loved exploring the different careers on the platform! Every year my class made a ‘Book of Dreams’ where each child drew a picture of what they wanted to be when they were older. In a way, Unifrog is just a grown-up extension of that! Even from a young age, giving children ideas about what careers are out there is hugely important in shaping their aspirations.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what three items would you want with you and why?

A corner sofa, the Beatles discography, and a lifetime supply of cheese. What more could you want?