Author: Summer White

Product Management FAQs – Answered by Product Experts, like Janna Bastow

Posted on by Summer White

Our recent ‘Exploring Careers in Product Management’ webinars unpacked product management as a career choice and delved into the challenges everyday Product Managers face across industries.

The events featured industry experts Janna Bastow, CEO of ProdPad and Co-founder of Mind The Product, Laura Kirsop, Product Consultant at 1870 Education, Randeep Sidhu, Chief Product Officer at Reliance Health and Marc Abraham, Senior Group Product Manager at Intercom and author of the bestselling book, My Product Management Toolkit: Tools and Techniques to Become an Outstanding Product Manager.

As leaders in their field and expert contributors to the design of the King’s Product Management Career Accelerator’s course content, alongside Professor James Smithies of King’s College London, they answered some of the most commonly asked product management questions.

Here are some of their key takeaways.

What advice would you give to someone starting out in product management?

Laura: Spend as much time as possible getting to grips with the insights relevant to your part of the product or the product that you’re managing. Seek out any information that already exists, like customer data, previous user research or market research. Aim to become the expert on the part of the product or the product that you’re managing because I think that that is critical in order to be able to make credible decisions going forward. 

Janna: Getting a lay of the land is really important. Make time to talk to everyone and meet with all the key stakeholders. Take advantage of the fact that you’ve got fresh eyes, that you’ve come from somewhere else – whether that’s grad school, a teaching, law or software development career – wherever you’ve come from, whatever it is, you’ve got fresh eyes on this. That’s valuable because you can’t assume that the company that you’re joining knows what it is that they’re doing. It can be really helpful to call things out and say, “Hey, why is it done this way?” and ask about how things have been done before so that while you’re unpicking why they work in certain ways, you’re learning. By taking that approach, you’ll even possibly help the company figure out better ways of doing things as you go.

Randeep: You are going to feel like an imposter constantly. You’ll feel like you’re failing because there’s no one size fits all. From what I’ve seen – especially at an entry-level, you feel the need to justify your presence. Whenever you’re showing something, you end up trying to prove it. And actually, sometimes you can put all the proof in the appendix and go, “I think X because of Y, and I’ve done a piece of research, which you can find at the back. Here’s the outcome.” You spend so much energy and oxygen proving your place at the table that actually, you probably don’t need to do that. Most functioning companies won’t ask you to do that. 

Marc: Listen and learn is my simple advice. Really take the time to understand the product and build relationships. Understand the competition.

Hear more from Janna and Laura

How easily can one pivot into product management?

Janna: Somebody can pivot into product management so easily sometimes that they do it accidentally. I know a lot of product managers who sort of fell into it and were doing product management before they were actually given the title of ‘Product Manager’. Oftentimes, the Product Manager is the person on the team who’s the jack of all trades and picks up all the little bits around them.

Laura: There are lots of people that just ended up doing it because we were drawn to it or could naturally fill that role in an organisation. Where I’ve seen people struggle to get into product management is when that opportunity isn’t available to them in their current organisation. They can find it quite hard to find entry-level Product Manager roles in other organisations, and so I think that courses like the King’s Product Management Career Accelerator are going to be really good for that because it’s going to give people ways to demonstrate that they have the skills, and then hopefully they can take that step into the more junior or associate Product Manager roles. The really good thing about this role is that you can take skills and things that you’ve learned in other roles and apply them to Product. So much of what I do, I remember doing when I was a teacher, so there really are transferable skills from other disciplines and other forms of work.

How can you demonstrate to an employer that you will be a good fit for the role, even if you don’t have much product management experience?

Janna: As a Product Manager, your job is to find the right problems to solve and then solve those problems. No two Product Manager roles are the same. What you should do is figure out what the job actually calls for and what problem they’re trying to solve by hiring a Product Manager. If you can – if you’re the right person for that – then outline in your application why you are the person who’s going to solve that problem.

Marc: It’s a bit fake it til you make it kind of thing. If you’re coming from a different field, it’s helpful if you can apply product thinking and show an example from a course that you’ve done or a project you’ve done in your spare time or maybe some pro-bono work for a charity – it doesn’t have to be taking over the world kind of product – but to me, that’s a real indicator of curiosity and some application. If you’ve got something that you can talk through and I can see you’re hungry, that’s a plus for me, personally.

Randeep: Take the time to research the organisation. I’ve been impressed when I’ve had candidates turn up and say, “I looked at your website, I understood your challenges, and I did a side hustle in X, and here I can show you how I can use that learning to help you.” This shows me how you think and your level of curiosity and makes me think, “Oh, this is someone I could work with.”

Hear more from Marc and Randeep

What are the differences between a project manager, a product manager and a product owner?

Janna: A Product Manager is the one who generally sits between the business, what the user needs, and what the technology team can feasibly pull off. Classically, the Product Marketing Manager sits a little bit closer to the marketing side and so is often the go-between and using the product as a marketing tool. It takes different shapes at different companies, depending on the company’s goals and aims and things like that. Product ownership is a special thing in itself because the Product Owner depends on the company. It depends on the country as well because if you go to certain locales, like if you go to Germany, for example, the Product Owner is often what some people would consider the Product Manager based on the job titles and all that sort of stuff. From the more UK/US-centric version of it, product ownership is generally considered a scrum role. It’s more of a project management role aimed at the IT teams who do Scrum like an agile project management process. Classically, it isn’t actually a person – it’s a hat that somebody in the team wears. But if you do have a Product Manager and a Product Owner, typically the Product Manager is the more strategic one working on things like the discovery and the strategy and figuring out what the problems to solve are. The Product Owner is the one breaking it down and figuring out how it stacks together and fits into the sprints to be done. 

Titles are a difficult thing in this space. Spend more time paying attention to the job description and understanding that because the titles aren’t transferable between companies. Figure out what the job description is that best matches your skills and what you want to do. And then if needed, negotiate the best title to fit that.

If you’re interested in learning more, our experts have shared a list of recommendations for product management blogs, podcasts and other resources you should follow:

Have you registered for the King’s Product Management Career Accelerator yet?
Don’t miss out on your chance to learn from Janna, Marc, Randeep and Laura directly. Register today to secure your place.



VIDEO: Meet the Experts Behind the King’s Product Management Career Accelerator

Posted on by Summer White

Registrations for this programme are still open. 

The demand for Product Managers is growing around the world across tech and other industries. With the changes brought about by the pandemic, more organisations are moving towards a digital-first approach and, as a result, adopting more product-centric goals. Product Managers who have the skills to effectively connect tech, business and customers play a crucial role in delivering results, making them an invaluable part of any team. 

The earning potential for Product Managers is high, with Glassdoor reporting the median 2022 annual base salary in the UK at £60,656 (experience dependent). Beyond this, the job satisfaction in this role is high – sitting at 4.1 / 5. With the opportunity to earn well and enjoy the work, it’s no surprise that more and more people from varied backgrounds are considering a career in product management. 

Learn more about how this Career Accelerator can equip you with the skills needed to succeed in a high-growth, well-paying Product Manager role from the experts who designed the programme, including:

If you’d like to learn more, request to download the course brochure. If you’re ready to register for this Career Accelerator, book a call with one of our Enrolment Advisors here.

Places in this programme are limited.

Why Human Skills Will Set You Apart as a Product Manager

Posted on by Summer White

The last few years have seen many organisations accelerating a digital-first approach to organisational strategy, shifting the focus of multiple sectors towards product-centric goals. This product-centric approach, in theory, makes it easier to rapidly innovate and iterate because they focus on customer experience, evolving needs, and the strategic differentiation of a product or service.

One of the central consequences of this is that Product Managers are now one of the most sought-after new hires across every business, with the role now listed as the third-best job in the UK for 2022, with high job satisfaction and an average median base salary of £60,656. Hiring portals like Glassdoor are also seeing significant growth in demand for this role in terms of job listings.

Yet, like in many professions and sectors, there is a notable divergence in the demand for Product Managers against the supply and pipeline of future talent. Taking these two factors together, organisations must now start to think about upskilling existing employees and increasing the hiring rate of both entry-level and more advanced Product Managers.

But what exactly should they be looking for? If you’re upskilling an employee, what skills do you need to be nurturing? And if you’re looking to move into the field, what do you need to be focusing on to stand out?

A focus on human-centric skills

We recently interviewed several product management industry experts that actively work in the field on a day-to-day basis, with a range of insights emerging that can help provide answers to these questions.

Most notably, there continues to be a legacy perception that Product Managers need to have a technical background, one that is more aligned with software engineering. While this is still a vital skill set, many of the industry experts we spoke with are now arguing that good Product Managers need to possess a breadth of skills like design thinking, product marketing and people management that don’t necessarily come from having a purely engineering background.

This is for good reason: Product Managers are now being asked to oversee multiple departments and manage relationships between distinct teams that range from marketing to sales, product, finance and business operations. In addition, they’re being asked to liaise between customers and external stakeholders as organisations seek more of an ‘outside-in’ perspective.

Strong communication and collaboration are key for success

The technical skill set is still in demand, but companies looking to upskill existing employees or hire new recruits should place a greater weight on finding and nurturing interpersonal and metacognitive skills. This is imperative as the role continues to evolve, with Product Managers increasingly expected to deploy a broad and diverse skill set that spans from storytelling – to help steer internal and external stakeholders from idea to implementation – to an understanding of how to use data science to deliver deeper product insights.

The need to nurture ‘human’ skills stands out above all else, but for those looking to build a future pipeline of new talent, or to shift to a Product Manager role themselves, there are other important considerations. For example, many of the employers we spoke to stressed that a candidate with project experience often makes it to the head of the queue because they know they have a candidate who can demonstrate what they have learned in a practical way, rather than understanding product management in just an abstract or intellectual format.

Overall, product management is one of the fastest-growing careers in today’s digital economy, and as businesses look to follow through on digital transformation promises and investments made through the pandemic, this is only going to increase. Finding and nurturing candidates with a softer set of skills is of vital importance, and those organisations that do so will establish the edge they need to thrive.

If you’re looking to gain the technical, organisational and human skills you need to become an exceptional Product Manager in today’s digital economy, request more information about the King’s College London Career Accelerator in Product Management. Developed in partnership with digital humanities experts from King’s, industry leaders and FourthRev, the project-based learning programme will set you up with everything you need to succeed. 

Written by Mark Lester

Also published by TechRound – 25/07/2022

How a Career Coach Can Help You Reach Your Career Goals

Posted on by Summer White

What do you want in your career? When asked this question, many of us might answer, “I want the opportunity to grow,” or “I want to make a difference at my company.” 

Knowing what you want to achieve is the first step, but knowing how to do it is often where we get stuck. When our goals are to change career paths or step into a leadership position, deciding on the steps to take can be a daunting and even lonely process.

Turning your ambitions into a reality takes goal setting, planning, and actionable steps, and often, a bit of professional guidance and support. That’s why we’ve integrated career coaching into the learning journey on our Career Accelerators. 

From the start of orientation, you’ll meet with your coach to map out a tailored approach to the next six months and your career. Our learners have said that they had no idea what to expect, and a few have doubted the value coaching could bring them. That doesn’t last long. When our learners achieve results – like changing careers, getting a promotion, salary increase, or advancing in their current role – they often say that their coach was essential to helping them do it. 

Here’s a closer look at how FourthRev Career Coaches support learners on Career Accelerators. 

What is a Career Coach?

A Career Coach is someone who helps people set and achieve goals, and overcome challenges in their careers. They offer a personalised service by working one-to-one with someone to understand their particular career goals and develop a tailored solution to help them move forward.

When working with a Career Coach, you’re in the driver’s seat. The coach’s job is to provide you with career support that will help you reach your own decisions and outcomes. They cannot make things happen for you, like getting a new job or securing a better salary, but they can help you lay the right stepping stones to get there. 

This is how coaching has impacted our learners:

The goals our coaches can help you achieve

We’ve listed a few examples of the work our past learners have done with their coaches:

My Career Coach helped me boost my confidence

Iryna was transitioning from a career in fashion to product management. With no previous experience, she assumed she’d be starting as an intern. Her Career Coach helped her see the value of her experience and transferable skills. She said: “Just this one hour was so important for me because she boosted my confidence so much.”

It also motivated Iryna to aim higher – in the last two weeks of the programme Iryna landed a job as the sole product manager in an exciting startup. 

Rethink my career as I prepared to make a change

Transitioning careers and totally reskilling is no small feat, but our coaches turn it into a manageable and exciting journey. 

So I think the most rewarding thing from this programme was just how manageable and bite-sized the pieces of advice were. So rather than thinking about: ‘I need to get a job in this industry by this time’, it was: ‘have you thought about what motivates you, what interests you,’ then think about where you’re most engaged or at least engaged, and then you start thinking about where those skills might be most applicable.” – Hussein Farook, LSE Data Analytics Career Accelerator 

For Hussein, his coach gave him a foundation to rethink what was possible in his career and gave him the skills to build his brand on LinkedIn, which ultimately helped him land a new role just four months into the programme. 

Take stock of my transferable skills and potential

Elodie’s coach helped her realise the value of the skills she gained and mastered during her 16 years in education. She was able to take those transferable skills and apply them to a new career in data analytics; she’s now a data scientist. 

It’s been a complete eye-opener for me. As someone who’d just turned 50 when I started the course, I really questioned whether it was too late for me to do something completely different. My coach completely opened my eyes to the world of possibilities that are out there. It’s never too late to start something new.”

Prepare for interviews

Aman felt her Career Coach was invaluable, and it was one of the features of the Career Accelerator that stood out to her.

My Career Coach was really helpful in prepping me for interviews, telling me what I was doing right and also what I needed to improve on, and just helping to build my confidence because I think that was personally something I was lacking when I first joined. To have that mentorship was really valuable.”

Our coaches have also supported our learners in approaching their managers to discuss their career ambitions, like promotion goals and salary increases. 

You can listen to Clare, our Career Coach Community Manager, explain the benefits of coaching here:

Professional, unbiased support for your goals

Our coaches are here to support you in achieving long-term fulfilment in your career – whatever that may look like for you. It’s totally tailored for you and can evolve depending on what you need at that point in your journey. Iryna said “They study your needs and explore your background. After that, they offer you the best plan for you.”

It’s through this professional and unbiased lens that they’re able to reframe your challenges, limitations, and insecurities, and offer solutions and perspectives that could radically alter the career choices you make and opportunities you chase.

The coach is fantastic and was able to take what I was saying and reframe it in ways that I hadn’t thought about that offered clarity to my personal and professional goals. And so that’s been super helpful just to have that unbiased outside perspective, saying, you know, ‘have you thought about it this way?’”– Kelli Wingfield,  King’s Product Management Career Accelerator learner

A structured approach to making your career goals a reality

Our approach to working with learners during the Career Accelerator is three-fold: 

  1. Goal setting: During the Orientation phase of the programme, coaches work with you to reflect and gain insight into your strengths, values, and career drivers to develop meaningful career goals, which then enables you to start building your personal brand. 
  2. Developing key outcomes: Once you’ve identified your motivations, your Career Coach will help you craft the practical components you need to move forward. These include polishing up your LinkedIn profile, resumé, and cover letter. They also work with you on strengthening your leadership skills and networking strategies. 
  3. Walking the journey with you: With the foundation for your progress solidified, you’ll set short-term priorities that your coach can assist you with during the programme. This might include support during the interview process or guidance as you implement leadership practices at work.  

From the coaches’ perspective 

Reflecting on her experience working with the learners who were enrolled in the LSE Data Analytics Career Accelerator, one of our Career Coaches shares: 

“I’ve had the chance to meet and work with people who come from multiple backgrounds with completely different career goals. Taking the time to really dig into who they are and what brings them a sense of joy and success as an individual has helped us work together to achieve incredible results. Over the last few months, I’ve seen learners double their salaries, secure positions at dream companies and even pioneer new teams. My goal is always to help people build a “bigger picture” path so that they can take the next step and keep on going as the future unfolds.” 

So, how can we help you go further in your career, faster? 

If you’d like to find out more about how Career Accelerator works, visit this page.

Announcing: FourthRev Launches Career Accelerator in Product Management with King’s College London

Posted on by Summer White

The COVID-19 pandemic has instigated an accelerated digital-first approach to organisational strategy, shifting the focus of multiple sectors towards product-centric goals. A Product Manager is now listed as the third-best job in the UK for 2022, with high job satisfaction and an average median base salary of £60 656.1 Hiring portals like Glassdoor are also seeing significant growth in demand for this role in terms of job listings.2

Consequently, the need for upskilling existing employees and increased hiring of both entry-level and more advanced Product Managers has emerged.

To meet industry demand, King’s College London has partnered with FourthRev to launch the King’s Product Management Career Accelerator.

The 6-month programme has been developed by the Department of Digital Humanities, in collaboration with leaders from organisations such as Atlassian, Dropbox, Mr Yum, Linktree, and industry expert, Janna Bastow, Founder and CEO of ProdPad. With a curriculum co-designed by global technology companies and leading employers, the programme provides an immersive, project-based experience for learners seeking a career as a Product Manager. The Career Accelerator’s capstone Employer Project allows students the opportunity to work on real-world industry problems, where they have the chance to demonstrate and apply the capabilities they have developed throughout the programme while creating meaningful organisational value for the partners.

With the advent of FourthRev’s second Career Accelerator, Chief Partnerships Director, Mark Lester, says:

“We are thrilled to be launching the Product Management Career Accelerator with King’s College London. Whether you’re looking to break into a product management career or deepen your expertise in product management, the Career Accelerator brings together the rich practical insights from veteran Product Managers, the experience of doing authentically-designed business projects from employers, and the academic rigour and analytical skill development from a world-leading research university, so that learners can acquire the job-relevant and critical abilities to achieve their career goals.”

Professor Marion Thain, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at King’s College London adds:

“King’s is delighted to be developing shorter courses through this partnership to supplement our more traditional degree-length offerings because it enables us to share our expertise more broadly. We are really proud of the incredible talent we have in this important area, placing us at the forefront of digital developments, and we want as many people as possible to be able to benefit from that talent. The skills and knowledge we offer are essential to tackling the major challenges of the twenty-first century. It is King’s’ mission to make the world a better place, and supporting the progression of people who are already in the workplace (as well as the more typical degree student) must be part of that. It’s also great to have this route to working more with industry experts and we look forward to developing those relationships further to the benefit of all parties.”

Janna Bastow, who has joined the King’s Product Management Career Accelerator as a partner, shares:

“I’m excited to see this course and its curriculum put together by King’s College London. For too long, product management has been a role that so many of us ‘fell into’ by chance or accident, and certainly didn’t have training or dedicated courses to guide the path there. When hiring a Product Manager, as I am right now, I look for a good mix of practical knowledge and know-how about how the product development process works, along with experiences and stories that show the person has put those skills to use in a real-world environment. With the continued growth in the product management field, and with the wider tech sector, there’s going to be a huge demand for people with product management skills, and I’m glad to be working with King’s on bringing some of my own expertise into the mix with their students.”

What is a Career Accelerator?

At their core, Career Accelerators seek to address four knowledge and skill groups that lay the foundations for sustainable career success:

  • Technical: Learn the skills you need to perform in high-demand technical roles
  • Organisational: Gain a broad understanding of how to apply your technical skills in a business context
  • Employability: Master the human skills you need to get a job, go for a promotion or meet employer-specific outcomes
  • Personal: Work with a coach to understand what you want from your career and how to actively work towards achieving your goals

What does the King’s Career Accelerator in Product Management entail?

  • Skill level: A programme developed for career starters or changers taking their first step into product management, as well as for those already working in product management wanting to formalise their existing experience
  • Learning time: A flexible learning programme that runs for six months and requires 12 hours of study per week
  • Important dates: Enrolment opens in July, with the first learners commencing their studies on 10 October 2022

The King’s Product Management Career Accelerator has been designed to accelerate your progress and personal development, no matter where you’re at in your career. Course content focuses on foundational product management knowledge and skills in product strategy, design and launch. Other topics that you will explore include Agile product development, prototyping and testing, design thinking, and product analytics, amongst others.3  

The six-month programme starts after three weeks of student onboarding, where you’ll familiarise yourself with the online campus, get comfortable with the learning software, be introduced to your support team, connect with fellow learners and plan your studies. You’ll then progress through three courses and an Employer Project, where you’ll build a portfolio of evidence to showcase your new skills and competencies. You’ll need to commit 12 hours a week to engage with the course content effectively.

To maximise the value that you get out of the programme, only a limited number of learners are admitted, so early registration is encouraged. Enrolment opens in July, with the first learners commencing their studies on 10 October 2022.

Why is this Career Accelerator the right choice for me?

A FourthRev survey found that 66% of UK recruiters prefer candidates with a combination of an academic qualification and a practical, hands-on work portfolio. 

“The best digital Product Managers have a blend of design, management, communication, and technical skills. These are augmented by an ability to critically reflect on stakeholder requirements, business and organisational strategies, design ethics, and regulatory frameworks. By co-designing the curriculum in partnership with industry, we can be confident graduates will gain the well-rounded educational experience they, and their future employers, need,” shares Dr James Smithies, Professor of Digital Humanities at King’s College London and Programme Coordinator for the King’s Product Management Career Accelerator. 

Leaders from tech companies such as Atlassian, Dropbox, Linktree, Mr Yum and ProdPad, have played an active role in ensuring that everything you learn is relevant to industry. The Employer Project that makes up the last leg of the project-based programme also gives you the chance to practically apply your skills to a real-world business problem and get direct feedback from FourthRev’s employer partners. This is a unique opportunity to learn from professionals working in some of the leading brands in their field and will provide you with invaluable tools and insights that you can use as your career progresses. 

The role of a Product Manager continues to evolve, making it an exciting, dynamic space to be in with unbounded career growth opportunities. While this is hugely exciting, it’s important to remain grounded and focused on how these opportunities will help you achieve your specific desired outcomes. To help you do this, you’ll have continuous support from your own Success Manager and a Career Coach who will meet with you regularly and ensure that you feel comfortable, motivated and confident about the direction you’re heading in. Upon completion of the Career Accelerator, you’ll receive a certificate from King’s College London to recognise your achievement.

Get the Programme Brochure for the King’s Product Management Career Accelerator here.

  1. Glassdoor, 25 Best Jobs in the UK for 2022.{Listing} 2022.
  2. The Product Manager.15 Statistics You Should Know About A Career In Product Management. [Article]. August 31, 2020.
  3. Programme content is subject to change during development.

Are Older Workers Our Answer to Skills Gaps?

Posted on by Summer White

According to the Centre for Ageing Better, although almost a third of the UK’s workforce is over the age of 50, older workers are less likely to receive training than younger age groups in the UK. A decade ago, the company mindset might have been that you’re struggling to get the skills you need and worried about the future of your business, so you upskill your younger workforce to bring more sustainable, long-term benefits, as opposed to expending resources upskilling older workers who are coming to the end of their careers. 

But as skills gaps continue to grow globally, could this mindset be holding companies back from addressing skills gaps both now and in the long term? The theory goes that, as people are living and working longer than ever before, upskilling older members of the workforce could help businesses thrive and grow in the digital economy.  

Spoiler: I don’t think that upskilling older workers is the catch-all answer to fixing our global skills crisis. But organisations that do make the conscious effort to integrate those more established members of their team alongside other upskilling, reskilling and external hiring efforts will be on a far better footing than the rest. Let’s look at why in more detail. 

Changing demographics 

As already alluded to, the demographics of the workforce are changing. We all know that people are now living longer and, consequently, over the last few decades the retirement threshold has risen and we are all working longer on average.&nbsp

At present, almost a third of the UK’s workforce is over the age of 50. Breaking this down further, 50–64-year-olds represent over 10 million workers, while the proportion of people aged 70-74 in employment has almost doubled in the past 10 years.

For employers, this longer life expectancy and employee duration in the workforce creates an opportunity for both longer economic contribution and sustained economic growth. And in terms of the workforce itself, older workers are critical for the success of a generationally diverse team and culture. 

Are older workers easier to upskill? 

In the context of plugging skills gaps, the last point here is a crucial one: older workers bring a unique skill set to the workforce, which even makes them easier to retrain and upskill.  

Put simply, older workers hold vital skills that they’ve built up over years of experience, such as resilience, work ethic and general business acumen. As this article points out, older workers are also able to serve as mentors, coaches, or subject area experts to assist ambitious younger employees, as well as apply their vast networks and contacts, which cannot be replicated in a short period of time. 

The key point here is that older workers tend to hold the ‘softer’ or more ‘human’ skills that are harder to teach, and frequently what younger employees lack when starting out in the workforce. For any career in the digital economy, employers now require both technical know-how, as well as a softer skillset, such as problem-solving and emotional intelligence. This helps organisations and their employees move beyond just having people with the technical knowledge, and towards building teams that can apply, collaborate and drive growth. 

It also means that older employees are probably easier to upskill and retrain. That is, given older employees are more likely to have built up the pre-requisite more human skills needed in the digital economy, much of the work employers need to do to upskill has already been done for them. Contrast this with trying to upskill the younger people or those just entering the workforce, their more ‘human’ skillset is usually far less mature. 

The upskilling mismatch 

Taking all of this into account, it’s clear that the older demographic is a huge, untapped resource of experienced workers, who could help fill digital talent shortages. This is especially true in the tech economy, with a report by the British Computer Society stating that only 22% of those working in the IT industry are older than 50, versus 31% in the wider workforce. When combined with existing programmes that upskill and retrain younger workers, employers that tap into this resource would likely be able to create a more holistic solution to their skills shortages, addressing both young and old. 

But the problem is that, currently, there is a mismatch between opportunity and action. Only one in seven businesses stated that they would consider turning to recruiting or retraining older workers or retirees to tackle skills shortages. Other data shows that even though two in five (42%) said they planned to invest in training and development to tackle the skills gap, just 14% said they planned to recruit or re-train older workers.

The data is clearly varied, but the conclusions that we arrive at are the same: employers are not doing enough to upskill and retrain their older workers. And even if we take away the benefits this could bring for plugging skills gaps, the lack of attention being placed on developing older workers more broadly is incredibly damaging. According to Robert Walters, almost three in four over 50s (72%) were deprived of career growth from their current employer, making their skillsets increasingly less relevant and individuals less employable. 

Embracing a multi-generational workforce 

The contribution that older workers can make in this effort is not yet being tapped into on the scale that you might think. By mentoring and guiding younger colleagues, older workers can pass on their expertise and knowledge, while having the opportunities to reskill and upskill themselves. Surely that’s a win-win for a business? 

Overall, getting ‘future-ready’ doesn’t just mean pigeonholing training and development to younger generations – it means putting the structures in place so your entire workforce, now and in the future, have what they need to thrive in the digital economy. Those businesses that invest in retraining, reskilling and upskilling needs across their workforce, regardless of age, will be the ones that thrive in the coming years.

If you’re looking to learn new digital skills so that you can make a move in your career, find out more about FourthRev’s Career Accelerators.

Written by Mark Lester

Also published by HR Zone – 28/04/22

12 Tips to Ace Your Next Interview: Advice from a Career Coach

Posted on by Summer White

Whether you’re starting out in your career or making a change, chances are you’ll have an interview lined up very soon. For many people, the mere thought of an interview – whether it’s virtual or in-person – can be nerve-wracking.

We spoke to one of FourthRev’s career accelerator Career Coaches, Adele Leah, about what you can do to effectively prepare and go into any interview with confidence. Here are her 12 top tips.

 

Do your research

Way too many people turn up to interviews not knowing any details about the company, the role or who they are interviewing with. One of the best ways to make a great first impression and demonstrate your genuine interest in the opportunity is to prove that you’ve done your research.

  • 1) Spend time looking through the company’s website: It’s important to have a clear understanding of what the company does. Being able to explain this in your own words is a great way to show that you’re interested in what they do. 
  • 2) Check out their social media pages: This will give you an idea of the company’s ‘voice’ and how they communicate with the outside world. This can also be indicative of what the culture is like.
  • 3) Look up your interviewers: If you know who will be interviewing you, don’t be afraid to look them up on LinkedIn. Many people are hesitant to do this because of LinkedIn’s notification feature, but it’s a direct way to show that you’ve done your research. It might also give you a conversation starter!

 

Practice makes perfect

The good news is that most interviews follow a standard blueprint. While you can’t anticipate everything that will come up, there will be a few fundamental questions that you can prepare for.

  • 4) Have a confident answer to the age-old question, “So, tell me about yourself”: Take some time to work out what your personal story is. A good answer will encompass your skills, strengths, a bit about your personality and what you enjoy doing outside of work. Try writing this down to get your thoughts in order, and then practise saying it aloud in the mirror or to a friend. 
  • 5) Map out your answers to scenario-based questions: Many employers will ask questions to get an idea of how you handle challenges and work with others. Go back to experiences you’ve had in the past, the actions you took and the results you achieved. The STAR methodology is helpful for thinking through this. 
  • 6) Be prepared for more negative questions: While much of the interview will likely focus on your strengths and what you can bring to the organisation, you should also be ready for more ‘negative’ questions. These might include, “What are your weaknesses?” or “Why are you leaving your current job?” When you’re feeling the pressure to present your best self in the moment, these questions can cause panic. To avoid this, be honest with yourself in advance and map out a candid answer that offers an explanation as well as a considered way forward. This will demonstrate self-awareness and a positive attitude. 
  • 7) Get ready for ‘curly’ questions: You might get asked something completely random, like, “If you were a sandwich, what would you be?” It’s not guaranteed that something like this will come up, but it does happen. There’s no real way to prepare, so take a deep breath and just roll with it if it does come up.
  • 8) Think about your own questions: Asking your own questions is the mark of a good candidate for many organisations. You want to assess whether the company aligns with your values and whether you feel it would be a character and culture fit. You also want to get an idea of the expectations they would have of you in your new role and if there is potential to grow in your career. Many people forget that interviews are a two-way street, so maximise the chance to get the answers you need to make the right decision. 

If you’d like to get even more practice, there are thousands of websites with interview questions that you can google. Don’t overwhelm yourself, though! Remember, no interview will follow an exact formula. The ideal outcome of your preparation is to feel confident in telling your story, no matter how they ask you to share it.

 

Set yourself up for success

On the day of the interview, you want to prioritise feeling calm. Get everything ready in advance to avoid any last-minute panic.

  • 9) Dress the part: Whether you’re interviewing virtually or in person, wearing clothes that you feel confident in will put you in the right mindset. During your research, try to figure out if it’s a more formal or casual company and dress accordingly. You don’t want to turn up suited and booted if your interviewers are all in jeans and trainers, but equally, you don’t want to go the other way either. 
  • 10) Get there early: Don’t agree to a time that you’ll have to rush to get to and turn up flustered. If you’re meeting at their office, plan your trip to get there about 10 minutes early. Check the route the night before so that you know exactly where you’re going – don’t try and figure it out as you’re leaving. If your interview is taking place online, make sure you’re settled in a quiet space, your headphones and laptop have enough battery and all your technical permissions, like mic access, for example, are functioning properly. 
  • 11) Make sure you’re comfortable: Pop to the toilet before the interview starts. Seriously! You don’t want to go into the conversation with that on your mind and not be able to concentrate.
  • 12) Relax and be yourself: Your interviewers are as interested in you as they are in your skills. Let your personality shine through as much as you can. And remember, people don’t remember everything you say – they remember how you made them feel, so the aim of the game is to make them feel like you are a safe pair of hands for the job.

If you’re looking to make a change and want to have the competitive edge in any interview, take a look at our career accelerator programmes. Co-designed by faculty from the world’s best universities and leaders from global tech companies, they equip you with all the technical, business and human skills you need to thrive in the digital workplace. You also get to work one-on-one with a Career Coach, like Adele, to understand your career goals and chart the way to achieving them. Find out more here.

 

Written and compiled by Summer Smith and Adele Leah

Why Remote Work Should Be Asynchronous

Posted on by Summer White

As we reimagine work environments with the return to offices and new hybrid models, we need to consider the challenges global remote workers – often in diverse time zones – face on a daily basis.

Local office co-workers can meet on a whim to discuss ideas or issues outside remote team members’ working hours to resolve issues or determine a new process affecting a team project. However, rather than contributing, remote team members often awaken to emails announcing decisions they were not involved in, resulting in a disconnect and a sense of isolation.

People who once felt connected and valued now struggle to uncover ways to contribute after the fact. Their function has not altered, their investment in the company values and objective has not varied, but the interaction between colleagues is more complex. Additionally, people who feel valued and connected to their team regardless of location are more likely to remain invested in contributing to the company’s success.

The most effective remote teams work asynchronously

During global lockdowns, companies poured resources into supporting employees’ remote working when it was non-optional, but have asynchronous processes truly become ingrained in company culture as hybrid or remote organisations, or are we reverting to synchrony?

As businesses scale, the struggle to maintain connections within global teams demands awareness and sensitivity. We need to ‘consciously decouple’ work from synchronous communication for it to be characterised as ‘remote’. That means cancelling a culture of hyper-responsiveness.

Synchronous work often requires teams to stop and wait on projects when certain employees are unavailable.1 For things to make sense, like a conversation, an IRL meeting, a video call or grabbing a coffee with a colleague, someone else’s presence is always required. On the flip side, asynchronous communication respects independence and values flexibility. Tasks are mindfully set up to ensure their effects are independent of whoever planned or executed them.

A plethora of digital tools is available to assist in working towards complete asynchronous communication. A few that we use at FourthRev include:2

  • Slack: We use this platform to communicate directly and in channels. To avoid the urgency that instant messaging platforms can create, we encourage our team to configure their notifications in a way that works best for them.
  • Loom: Video communication tools, like Loom, allow us to screen share remotely and add comments to videos.3
  • Confluence: We use this tool as our knowledge management software where we share internal ‘wiki’ pages on topics the broader team needs to know about, such as our quarterly OKRs or QA style guides. This platform also connects with project management software, like JIRA, making it easy to keep track of tasks the team is busy with.
  • Asana: Task boards, like Asana, also give us visibility on what others are working on. It permits us to collaborate by commenting and asking questions on tasks that work towards the team or company’s bigger goals.
  • Google Docs: Shared documents are a must for our team that works across time zones and at different schedules. The ability to track changes and comments in real time allows us to move fast.
  • Miro: Visual collaboration platforms, such as Miro, allow us to whiteboard, brainstorm and do strategy work independently.

Leaders need to champion an asynchronous culture

Tools like the ones listed above only work with the complete buy-in of company leaders. An effective asynchronous culture comes down to trusting employees to do their work wherever and whenever best suits their productivity schedule. Moving away from real-time communication allows remote workers to maintain connections within global teams and better structure their days.

One of FourthRev’s Co-founders, Omar de Silva, signs off all of his emails with:

I’m sending this at a time that works for me.

Please only reply at a time that works for you.

When leaders lead by example, employees tend to follow – especially when it allows them more freedom. At FourthRev, we’re of the mindset that it’s okay to decline meeting requests, turn off notifications on Slack or take a long lunch sometimes. You don’t always have to be available.

“Monday to Friday, 9 – 5, always face-to-face… this model was built for an economy and world that no longer exists. Whilst some roles, companies and individuals will prefer this ‘traditional’ approach, there are as many – if not more – who will flourish with something different. It makes sense for all organisations to evaluate whether their norms are what is best for everyone, or if they’re simply following an old model for the sake of it,” says Omar.

Businesses successfully addressing this challenge enhance their advantage in recruiting in this highly competitive environment, both from the allure of superstars to the retention of key personnel.

If you’re interested in joining our global team, take a look at our careers page.

Notes

  1. Why you should be working asynchronously in 2022. [Article]. 2022.[Listing} 2022. ↩
  2. Remote work should be (mostly) asynchronous. [Article]. December 01, 2021. ↩
  3. 10 types of asynchronous tools for communication & collaboration. [Article]. 2021. ↩

Written and compiled by Tara Rodoni and Marisa Crous

How Project-based Learning Can Accelerate Your Career

Posted on by Summer White
  • A curriculum co-designed by faculty from the world’s best universities and leaders from tech companies
  • All the technical, business and human skills you need to thrive in the digital economy
  • A portfolio of industry-relevant projects that you can share with prospective employers
  • Collaborate with your peers on a capstone Employer Project set by renowned employer partners
  • Support throughout the programme from Career Coaches and your own Success Manager

Now is an exciting time to make a career move. With COVID-19 accelerating the need for digital skills, new gaps are opening in the market, which has seen employers expanding their recruiting efforts dramatically. That being said, they’re not looking for just anyone to fill these positions. With the world still adapting to the pandemic’s significant changes, employers are seeking out individuals who can add value to their organisation immediately. These ideal candidates have strong technical ability, a solid understanding of business operations and the right human skills to work well in a team.

From the outset, we wanted FourthRev’s career accelerators to empower learners to tick these boxes. To do this, we’ve employed a project-based model, whereby you engage with content created by faculty from renowned universities in collaboration with leaders from global tech companies and apply your learnings to practical projects set by employers.

“The more conversations we’ve had with industry partners, the more we’ve understood the value in providing learners with the opportunity to apply their skills in a real-world context,” our Chief Partnerships Officer, Mark Lester, says. “Companies are looking for candidates who can hit the ground running, and that means having the technical skills to do the job as well as the human skills to perform effectively within an organisation.”

Here’s a closer look at how our career accelerators have been designed to help you build a resilient skill set that will equip you with everything you need to make your next career move with confidence.

Learning material backed by industry

At a high level, each career accelerator is comprised of an orientation period followed by three six-week-long project-based learning courses, whereby you complete several industry-relevant projects. The final part of the programme features a capstone Employer Project, which has been set by an employer partner to give you an experience of what it takes to solve a real-world business problem.

Laying the foundation for career success

Faculty members from leading universities work closely with experts from tech companies to develop all the course content you engage with during the career accelerator. In the first three courses, you’ll work through modules that teach key technical, business and human skills. You’ll undertake practical assignments to put your learnings to the test and help you thoroughly understand how what you’ve learned is applied in the real world.

The Employer Project

The Employer Project serves as the final challenge of the programme. You will work with a small group of other learners to solve a business case that has been set by our employer partners. We work with different partners across career accelerators to present you with various problems to solve – whether it be analysing user-generated data from a fast-scaling tech business and making product recommendations, or building systems to help cities introduce greener transport solutions.

ThoughtWorks, one of the world’s biggest technology consultancies, is one example of a company we’ve partnered with to deliver the Employer Project. Danilo Sato, Head of Data & AI Services UK and Europe at ThoughtWorks, says, “Data strategy now sits at the heart of successful digital organisations, and these highly prized data analytics skills are essential to a company’s success. We are excited to collaborate on an employer project that will enable learners to put their newly acquired skills to the test and work together to solve the kind of business problem they’d be tackling at an organisation like ours.”

Building industry insight and the opportunity to solve problems that businesses face into the course content takes the quality education you get from a world-class university to the next level. Applying your learnings to real scenarios throughout the programme helps you grasp concepts more easily and envision how you’ll contribute to your next role. Working with your peers in the final leg of the programme also gives you insight into what it takes to work effectively as part of a team – a crucial skill that every employer looks for, no matter what stage of your career you’re in.

A portfolio of real-world projects

Every project that you undertake as part of the career accelerator has been designed to help you build a portfolio of evidence to share with prospective employers. The course creators have ensured that the outcomes of each assessment track your progress and provide a holistic view of the skills and knowledge you’ve obtained. Throughout the programme, you’ll be supported in gathering this information and presenting it in a way that best showcases your practical abilities as well as your understanding of business and human skills.

“The opportunity to develop a portfolio of industry projects and presentations is a unique way to demonstrate real-world experience. Working with industry, being presented with a challenge and then demonstrating the impact of your solution gives you a powerful story to tell, whether you’re interviewing for a new job or going for a promotion,” Daniel Cairns, our Head of Enrolments, shares.

Being able to demonstrate experience working on challenges set by leading companies will go a long way with employers looking for well-rounded candidates when you enter the job market or approach your manager to discuss your next move.

Support that focuses on your long-term career goals

Undertaking further studies is a big choice. By working through the content and practically applying what you learn, we hope that you’ll feel confident in your decision and your ability to move forward in your career. You’ll work directly with a Career Coach and your own Success Manager throughout the career accelerator to further encourage you to meet your career goals. You’ll meet regularly, and in between courses, you’ll engage in a “reflection week” with them to check in on your progress. This is to ensure that what you’re learning is aligned with your long-term career goals and personal development. “It’s not just about identifying where you are now, but how your choices open doors for your next opportunity and your overall progression pathway,” FourthRev Career Coach, Caroline Rae, says. “Our aim as the support team is to equip you with the tools and resources you need to drive your career, not just in this next move, but in the long-term.”

Find out more about career accelerators

If you’re looking for a change, but you’re unsure if you’ll get what you need to succeed from a short course, get in touch via our website or book a call with one of our Enrolment Advisors. We’d love to tell you more about our career accelerators and how project-based learning can serve as the springboard for your next move.

Written and compiled by Summer Smith