Kate - from Editor-in-chief at PRWeek to Associate Director of Communications at World Vision

A bit of background

Before joining World Vision I was Associate Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of PRWeek, the leading magazine for the corporate communications and public relations industry. I’ve written extensively on PR, reputation management and corporate social responsibility for titles such as The Observer, The Independent, The Business, Business Life and Ethical Corporation.  Prior to my career in journalism I worked in communications in the NGO and private sector with Amnesty, UNICEF, and advertising agency TWBA.

Why the move to World Vision?

As my career progressed I felt that I was moving further from those things that really mattered to me. A publisher has to be driven by the profit imperative and (while supporting fundraising remains a key part of my work) I increasingly realised this was not enough to motivate me. My employer was great and I was on an accelerated development path with a view to further promotions, but I was looking for something else. And I spotted that ‘something’ when an advert crossed my desk for our PRWeek recruitment page – a job in international development, with a focus on children, heading up Communications, in a Christian organisation, and based locally! I remember sitting in my office an thinking ‘Thank you Lord! I see a way forward!’

It was still a big decision to move to World Vision though – my job had enabled me to build great connections in the world of PR and I was aware that moving into lucrative consultancy work was an option. A move to World Vision had significant financial implications for me, and we had to look as a family at the practicalities of what that would involve.

What swung the decision?

Communications is a real driving force of a successful NGO in influencing its ability to read the public and work with various groups to influence their opinions and worldview. So for me it provided an opportunity to make a difference in things I care about.

As a Christian, I was also seeking a more holistic approach bringing my faith and my work together. The job with World Vision was opportunity to use the skills God’s given me to make a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable children, and to gain greater peace by being able to integrate my faith and my work.

Highlights to date

Winning PRWeek’s award for Broadcast Innovation in 2008 was a major highlight, recognising the team’s work in the Millionaire’s Mission TV series.

We’re really thrilled to be a Finalist in the 2009 Chartered Institute of PR Excellence Awards for Outstanding In-house team of the year!

Differences between private sector and NGOs

As the world of communications becomes a more competitive and fragmented space, you need a great deal of energy and breadth of vision to encompass all the transition and new media channels. When profit is the motivation you often work on accounts that are less than inspiring, and it’s hard to generate the passion required for the amount of effort required. At World Vision, the difference when you come to work in the morning of knowing you’re making a real difference in the life of a child is quite profound.

 

Working through consensus is another major difference. The media cannot function as a democracy and one of the biggest adjustment I had to make coming from a senior media role where you were able to shape things from the top, was to turn the organogram on it’s head – to learn to lead from within and gain support. It’s a tremendous growth experience both spiritually and professionally, learning to articulate arguments and rationales in order to gain support and seeing things from the perspective of others.

Visit to World Vision’s work in the Field

It was life-changing. I felt anger at the injustice and inequality. I felt upset and hope all at the same time. I was massively humbled by the spirit of the people I met. And my hope lay in them – in their faith, in their ability to cope with and overcome what seem insurmountable odds. It gave me hope that we could help them.

As communicators it’s our privilege to bring that experience home for our sponsors and stakeholders – it’s very powerful.

Advice if you’re considering a move into this Sector

Consider how much of a team player you are – we make things happen through relationships, often with colleagues who work in very different contexts. You’ll need an open mind and cultural sensitivity.

Don’t consider it if you’re easily discouraged by every hurdle you meet. Poverty eradication is a long-term game and there will always be more work but you’ll have the chance to make a small but profound difference.

While World Vision compares fairly well with other organisations in the sector in terms of rewards, if you’re coming from the private sector you’ll probably take a drop in salary and need to be very aware of the decision you’re making. The benefits you’ll receive and your measure of success will be more subtle. Opportunities for career development are great given World Vision’s global reach; we have 300 communicators all over the world and secondments or permanent moves are common.

Current Opportunities

View our current opportunities and download a full job description here.

Need help or want to talk to us in person call: 01908 841090

Richard - People Management from Astra Zeneca to Nepal, Bangkok and back to the UK

Career Pre World Vision

After graduating in Psychology & Law from Nottingham University I joined what was then ICI Pharmaceuticals (now Astra Zeneca) as a Graduate Trainee. My three roles there covered both commercial and research sites, and as HR Manager of one of the manufacturing sites there were many opportunities opening up for fast track jobs both inside and outside the organisation.

I remember thinking ‘Is that it’, and read Bob Geldof’s book of the same title. The question for me was – what do I really want to do? When I looked around at those who had ‘succeeded’ in my commercial environment, they didn’t seem very happy – failed marriages, stress, ulcers, and poor work life balance. The things that mattered to me didn’t revolve around status but were more about the difference you can make in the relationships in your life.

At that point I took a major career step to leave Astra Zeneca and move to Nepal to work with a Christian Charity in Kathmandu. After several years building the capacity of Nepali colleagues and founding a training consultancy there, I moved with my family to Bangkok where I held the role of Regional HR Director for Asia with World Vision for three years.

Key Differences from Commercial Sector

It can feel like Blue-chip’s are all about share prices – that’s the main measure of success. It’s much more rewarding to see the impact of what we’re doing in a community – the longer lasting benefit.

In terms of people management, at one level it’s not that different in this sector – people are people everywhere, and some of the challenges of leadership development and attracting & retaining the best people for each job will be at the top of every HR professional’s priority list. Very few people in World Vision though view their work as just a job; people bring a lot more of themselves to work. That results in a high level of commitment, and also in higher expectations which means they can be disappointed more easily that elsewhere.

Advice for those considering a move

I was determined to get a good grounding in my chosen professional discipline so that I had something to bring into the sector. Coming as an Occupational Psychologist with seven years commercial experience, I was able to easily contribute both in Nepal, Thailand, and now here in the UK.

My advice to others would be to look for and take the opportunities that connect with your heart, with your areas of interest, whether that’s in advocacy, international development, fund-raising or another aspect of work. Ultimately no-one’s going to be solely focused on your own career and development except you, so I’d encourage people to take charge of their own career direction and make sure that what they’re doing is what they really want to be doing.

The non-financial rewards are so much higher in a role that combines something of who you are and something of what you want to become.

Worst Bits of the Move into this sector?

Knowing that negative information has 20 times the impact of positive, I’ll choose my words carefully! Sometimes it feels like we’re trying to do too many things at the same time – our ambition is greater than our resources. Constraints sometimes force us down a pragmatic route when the problem needs solving at a deeper level – that can be frustrating.

When I look back...

I’ve never regretted my decision to move into this sector. On leaving Astra Zeneca I was asked if I wanted to take a five year career break, but I declined because I knew that I didn’t want to just ‘do my bit’ for a couple of years. This was a life choice, and it’s been a good one that has afforded me more opportunities to connect with real life around the world and opportunities to grow my career in ways that I’d not have anticipated at the time.

Current Opportunities

View our current opportunities and download a full job description here.

Need help or want to talk to us in person call: 01908 841090

Jon - Finding satisfaction in Finance at World Vision

My job at World Vision

As Head of Finance I manage three ‘sub-teams’ – finance, banking, and appeals. It was really amazing when I looked at the job description that it seemed to draw on every single strand of my experience to date!

I’m involved with the whole reach of financial activities – planning & budgeting, year end, audit, projects such as new systems development, and moving the team towards a business partnering model.

Previous Career

After a phD in Chemistry, I completed my CIMA training at a logistics company which gave me great all-round experience in auditing, treasury, financial and management accounts. A move into the healthcare sector enabled me to focus on research & development accounting, and here I looked at strategic five year planning to influence potential acquisition decisions.

When we bought a small company in the US I was made CFO and was tasked with integration, and the with a larger integration challenge when we got taken over by GE Healthcare! I moved from marketing finance into commercial roles focused on managing European sales effectively.

Move to World Vision

I became increasing uncomfortable with GE’s way of doing finance, focused solely on managing the bottom line. I felt that we were missing out on some of the people aspects and that I was just flogging myself for someone else’s return. I just didn’t feel it was a good use of my time.

I’d been doing some voluntary work in my spare time with a friend making small business investments in Kosovo and at a micro-enterprise conference in Romania I met a few people from World Vision. It was a whole new world to me and challenged me to consider whether I could use my finance skills for something much more kingdom focused and that has a longer lasting impact on the poor people rather than helping rich institutions have a better share price. It was a real conviction in terms of ‘what am I using my time for and how can I make the world a better place through what I do?

Best bits

The best things about my job are variety and the challenge of managing the great people who work here!

The culture is different here – just as much focus on looking after the money well, but a more consensual approach with less ‘command and control’. People’s feelings are taken into account too which can mean decisions take longer, but overall is a good thing.

I am enjoying every minute of it, and find it very refreshing. The challenge has been to ensure that I hold onto ideas for improvements and make enough time to reflect on how to implement these in the midst of the busyness of life at World Vision! There is much more a sense of being able to be imaginative and to change and improve things – you can make ideas stick and you can really bring your whole self to work which makes a real difference.

Worst bits

Obviously you do get things that aren’t quite perfect. Even though World Vision in the UK is a fairly small organisation, because you are part of World Vision globally it’s hard to get a sense of the whole vast partnership, and something that I find quite hard to penetrate. It would be good to know more because you hear about partnership initiatives but you don’t really understand what they mean so that for me is a key thing that I need to learn more about.

Also, because there’s so much focus on our development work around the world, you don’t always get the immediate response to finance queries that I’m used to elsewhere. So it is getting used to a different way and a getting used to a different place in the pecking order really. People really want to drive the ministry forward and finance is obviously a part of it but finance is not the be all and end all.

Current Opportunities

View our current opportunities and download a full job description here.

Need help or want to talk to us in person call: 01908 841090