We will update this statement on a twice-yearly basis to share our progress. If you would like to discuss DEI at Futureheads please contact team@wearefutureheads.co.uk. (Updated Jan 2024)

<div style="text-align: center;"><strong>We aim to be brave. We won&rsquo;t get it right all the time, but we believe it&apos;s better to say and do something rather than nothing, and to learn from our mistakes.</strong></div>

 <p>                     <strong>                       But we’re now striving to be better and to drive positive                       change. We firmly believe that everyone is welcome at                       Futureheads, and we aim to demonstrate that in everything                       we do.                     </strong>                   </p>                   We’re committed to creating a culture that reflects the                   make-up of society, we believe diversity promotes innovation,                   growth and equality. We are committed to being intentionally                   inclusive by understanding who we have in our culture and how                   we can best add equity to each individual, and contribute                   towards their professional development. We are actively                   helping our clients do the same. We celebrate the difference                   and rich experience that diversity brings, and we commit to                   ensuring that everyone we interact with, both within and                   outside our business, is valued, respected, and treated                   equally, regardless of their background, identity or                   circumstances. We aim to understand every individual’s                   capabilities, and to give them what they need to succeed to                   their fullest potential.

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Futureheads in Numbers

Lead AI Product Designer<br><br>Role: Lead AI Product Designer<br>Business type: Start-up / Agency<br>Location: London / Hybrid<br>Salary: £75-80k<br>Note: Candidates must have valid right to work in the UK<br><br>We’re working with a start-up product innovation studio dedicated to AI and data-rich applications, with work to date centred in healthtech, sustainability, and B2B services, primarily.<br><br>Having delivered several successful client projects with a team of trusted freelance partners, our client is now looking to make their first permanent hire – A Lead AI Product Designer to lead and deliver client project work, and act as the founders right-hand as the agency grows.<br><br>This is the perfect opportunity for a Lead Product Designer who wants to play an active role in business growth and strategy as well as leading teams and delivering hands on project work.<br><br><br>Essential experience:<br><br>Brilliant client/stakeholder management skills; able to persuade and influence in order to deliver brilliant work<br>Has led design project work and managed teams in delivering work<br>Possesses a multifaceted design toolkit, skilled in exploring user and business needs, working through ux and interaction design into crafting beautiful and functional user interfaces<br>Has experience of working in AI & data-rich products, with understanding of foundational design principles for said products.<br>Has worked in either start-ups or agencies/consultancies, and has experience of meeting project-based deadlines<br><br><br>This isn’t your conventional Lead Product Designer role – it’s an opportunity to really help to shape and grow something. If you’re ready for something new and different, get in touch!<br /><br /><em><em>We encourage applicants from all backgrounds, so if there is anything we can do to make our recruitment processes better for you and to allow you to show your best self, let us know. We also understand that some people require extra time to complete assessments, require alternative application methods and can also benefit from having interview questions or a guide to the type of questions pre-interview. We are open to any suggestions or requests that you may have and are always looking for creative ways to assess talent. Our commitment to you is that you should always feel safe and secure when you’re working with us. Futureheads is a B Corp™ accredited digital recruitment agency based in London. We specialise in recruiting permanent, contract and freelance digital and tech professionals in creative, data, design, digital marketing, engineering, product, project and programme management, UX and service design jobs.</em></em>

Lead AI Product Designer

🚨 Product Designer (UI-focused) 🎨<br><br> We’re working with a fast-growing, profitable SaaS company that’s on the lookout for a talented Product Designer to join their small, in-house design team.<br><br> What we’re looking for:<br>✅ 2+ years of commercial product design experience<br>✅ Strong UI craft with a clean, minimal style<br>✅ Comfortable in fast-paced/startup environments<br>✅ Based in or near London – 2 days/week in the office<br><br> 💰 Up to £46k (DOE) + benefits<br>📍 Central London (hybrid)<br>🧪 3-stage interview process with a whiteboard task<br><br> If you’re a detail-oriented designer who enjoys turning complex problems into elegant interfaces, apply now! 👇<br /><br /><em><em>We encourage applicants from all backgrounds, so if there is anything we can do to make our recruitment processes better for you and to allow you to show your best self, let us know. We also understand that some people require extra time to complete assessments, require alternative application methods and can also benefit from having interview questions or a guide to the type of questions pre-interview. We are open to any suggestions or requests that you may have and are always looking for creative ways to assess talent. Our commitment to you is that you should always feel safe and secure when you’re working with us. Futureheads is a B Corp™ accredited digital recruitment agency based in London. We specialise in recruiting permanent, contract and freelance digital and tech professionals in creative, data, design, digital marketing, engineering, product, project and programme management, UX and service design jobs.</em></em>

Product Designer - B2B / SaaS

💼 <strong>Job Title</strong>: Business Development Roles (Corporate Events & Sponsorship Sales)<br>🏢 <strong>Company</strong>: Consultancy<br><strong>📍 Location: </strong>Fully Remote, UK<br><strong>💰 Package: </strong>£45,000 – 70,000 base + competitive OTE<br><br>Futureheads is working in partnership with a strategic business development consultancy that supports a host of globally renowned brands across multiple sectors.<br><br>They specialise in producing carefully curated events and peer-to-peer discussions, designed to connect C-Level execs with fellow senior decision makers and relevant solution providers, thus enabling them to overcome complex challenges, push boundaries and drive growth.<br><br>The business is in excellent shape, has been steadily building it’s reputation over 26 years and has around 500 employees. But with ambitions to further expand their reach, they’re now looking to recruit a number of new Sales / Business Development experts for their UK team.<br><br>They’re open to hiring new business specialists at multiple levels (midweight BD execs, Senior Sales Managers, Directors), and are exclusively focused on people with prior Sponsorships Sales and/or Events Sales experience.<br><br>Furthermore, they’re looking for dynamic, passionate people that are comfortable selling at corporate director level, have pitching and closing experience, and have worked in short cycle selling environments.<br><br>Requirements:<br><br><ul><li>At least 4 years of experience in B2B sales / business development roles.</li><li>2+ years of sponsorship / events sales experience.</li><li>Excellent communication skills (must be fluent in the English language).</li><li>Great network builder with 500+ connections on LinkedIn.</li><li>Pitching and closing experience.</li><li>Comfortable selling at Director level.</li><li>Proficient in a range of different sales tools.</li><li>Specialism for winning new business, rather than managing / servicing existing accounts.</li><li>Must be setup for home working.</li></ul><br><em>Please note: Our client is not currently open to candidates working in Tech / Software sales roles.</em><br /><br /><em><em>We encourage applicants from all backgrounds, so if there is anything we can do to make our recruitment processes better for you and to allow you to show your best self, let us know. We also understand that some people require extra time to complete assessments, require alternative application methods and can also benefit from having interview questions or a guide to the type of questions pre-interview. We are open to any suggestions or requests that you may have and are always looking for creative ways to assess talent. Our commitment to you is that you should always feel safe and secure when you’re working with us. Futureheads is a B Corp™ accredited digital recruitment agency based in London. We specialise in recruiting permanent, contract and freelance digital and tech professionals in creative, data, design, digital marketing, engineering, product, project and programme management, UX and service design jobs.</em></em>

Business Development Roles (Corporate Events & Sponsorship Sales)

<strong>🎨 Head of Design – B2B SaaS </strong><strong>🚀</strong><br>📍 London (Hybrid, 3 days in-office)<br>💰 Up to £100k (DOE) + equity + perks<br><br> We’re hiring a Head of Design for a fast-growing SaaS company that’s shaking up the legal + finance space (yes, it’s cooler than it sounds 😎).<br><br> <strong>What we’re looking for:</strong><br>✅ You’ve led and scaled design teams before<br>✅ You’re strategic, but still love getting stuck into the work if needed<br>✅ You’ve recently worked on B2B products (ideally with complex workflows)<br>✅ You care deeply about craft, creativity, and clean execution<br>⭐ Bonus points for legal tech experience<br><br> You’ll manage a team of 5–6 across product and brand, shaping design at the heart of the business.<br><br> Aside from that there’s:<br><br> 🍽️ Free lunches<br>🚉 Free travel <br>✈️ Offsites<br>🎉 Great culture<br><br> Sound like you? Click the link to apply!  <br /><br /><em><em>We encourage applicants from all backgrounds, so if there is anything we can do to make our recruitment processes better for you and to allow you to show your best self, let us know. We also understand that some people require extra time to complete assessments, require alternative application methods and can also benefit from having interview questions or a guide to the type of questions pre-interview. We are open to any suggestions or requests that you may have and are always looking for creative ways to assess talent. Our commitment to you is that you should always feel safe and secure when you’re working with us. Futureheads is a B Corp™ accredited digital recruitment agency based in London. We specialise in recruiting permanent, contract and freelance digital and tech professionals in creative, data, design, digital marketing, engineering, product, project and programme management, UX and service design jobs.</em></em>

Head Of Design - B2B/ SaaS

<p>Sandy Manuel is the co-founder of baytree.co, whose mission is to help create a better model of impact and disrupt venture with real ROI. He&rsquo;s taught and led teams within innovation over a 20 year period, creating new innovation frameworks based on the patterns of successful businesses from the last century.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h2>What&rsquo;s the story of your career so far?</h2>
<p>Well I&rsquo;m self-taught and it&rsquo;s been quite a journey. I did pretty badly at school, and found myself at 22 working in a credit control department which wasn&rsquo;t exactly inspiring or fulfilling, so I quit. I had always been fascinated by innovation from a young age and spent the next decade studying the patterns and lessons from those businesses that had succeeded over the last 100 years. This led to managing innovation and business design teams, where I advised the likes of adidas, Burberry, Barclays, Swiss Banks and more. If you look beyond the jargon in our industry, most innovation efforts are effectively just throwing darts at a board (&ldquo;MVP&rdquo; is a good example) so this work led me to create new types of innovation frameworks to better the current ROI on innovation. All this then culminated in me launching baytree.co, where our mission is to help create a better model of impact and disrupt venture with real ROI. We also advocate for half of all innovation funding to go to female-led businesses.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>What&rsquo;s the most important lesson you&rsquo;ve learnt over the course of your career?</h2>
<p>When it comes to innovation, it&rsquo;s all about probabilities and improving the odds in your favour. I learned that to discover new revenue streams, we needed an objective framework to make decisions that have the greatest probability of commercial success. This is why I created the &ldquo;Confidence Model&rdquo; based on the patterns of successful businesses from the last century. For too long we&rsquo;ve been enamoured with the &lsquo;innovator&rsquo;, the strong personality in the boardroom banging the table declaring &ldquo;this is the future&rdquo;. We&rsquo;re not Steve Jobs, so whilst you may get lucky once in your career, subjectivity is not a strategy. Any innovation framework you use should be based on real human needs which are timeless, not the latest tech fad of the week. It&rsquo;s better to say no to ideas, and be more focussed on two or three concepts that have a greater probability of success since they&rsquo;re based on real needs not technology, rather than spreading your finite resources on twenty different ideas. Crucially, this leads to greater transparency in decision-making, reduces bias and inspires your teams.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>How can organisations ensure they thrive, rather than simply survive, as they attempt to return to a &lsquo;new&rsquo; normal over the next few months?</h2>
<p>Very simply, look after your staff. I don&rsquo;t mean asking how everyone is, that&rsquo;s a given, but actually looking at their welfare and wellbeing in this moment. Culture trumps process, and it&rsquo;s this which helps organisations thrive, not a new process we now need to design for today&rsquo;s &lsquo;new normal&rsquo;. It&rsquo;s recognising that we do our best work when we feel happy, confident in ourselves and have a sense that what we do contributes to the wider goal. Today, that&rsquo;s hard &ndash; we all know friends and colleagues working longer hours, trying to adapt, manage childcare, loneliness and more, so genuinely looking to see how we can support our team wellbeing will lead to an organisation that can grow rather than simply trying to survive.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>You&rsquo;ve talked previously about the need for companies to be &lsquo;purpose driven&rsquo; &ndash; what do you mean by this, and why do you consider it so important?</h2>
<p>We need to move from the current mode of survival to becoming a source of employment which means discovering new service models to enable growth. To quote Mike Kruzeniski, &ldquo;you won&rsquo;t discover the future on a spreadsheet&rdquo;, or in other words, the future isn&rsquo;t in ROI. For example, would ROI have led to the invention of electricity, creation of the car, determining the potential of the Web or &rsquo;the next big thing&rsquo;? No. I&rsquo;m pretty sure the iPhone and microwave weren&rsquo;t validated through a PowerPoint presentation. There will also be a war for talent as more individuals become available, and put simply, companies need to ask themselves why these individuals would want to join their team above any other. Being purpose-driven is the answer. ROI isn&rsquo;t a good sales pitch to prospective employees. To be driven by a &ldquo;Return on Purpose&rdquo; as opposed to ROI is what gives us the commercial and intellectual headspace to go from creating the car to creating that next big thing, because we want to have impact in this world. It ensures market relevance, staff retention and growth, and in a world where everything feels unstable, having purpose in what we do is a very welcome anchor.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>What&rsquo;s going to be the biggest challenge in your particular industry over the next 12 months?</h2>
<p>Budget cut and growing job losses. We all agree we need mechanisms for job creation and that&rsquo;s best achieved through creating new service models. Equally, we all know creating new types of service models is incredibly hard, even in a growing economy. Across the world, from Governments to the community outside our window, they are all looking to experts within innovation for new models of growth and impact. Those of us responsible for innovation, whether as a funder or executor, are needed by our industry to meet this call to action.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

Futureheads Five Stories – Sandy Manuel

<p>Rajeeb Dey MBE is the founder and CEO of Learnerbly, a professional development platform supporting employees to achieve their goals by connecting them to the best development experiences and enabling businesses to engage, develop and retain talent.</p>

<p>Rajeeb is a graduate of the University of Oxford and was appointed as the world&rsquo;s youngest Young Global Leader (at 26) by the World Economic Forum in 2012. Following university, he went on to found Enternships, a portal connecting students and graduates to roles in over 7,000 start-ups and fast-growing businesses for which he was named the &ldquo;02 X Young Entrepreneur of the Year&rdquo; and became the youngest recipient of the Queen&rsquo;s Award for Enterprise Promotion in 2013.</p>
<p>Rajeeb is also the Co-Founder of StartUp Britain, a national entrepreneurship campaign launched by Prime Minister David Cameron in 2011 and served as Trustee of UnLtd, the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs for over 10 years.</p>
<p>He was appointed Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen&rsquo;s 90th Birthday Honours List in June 2016 for services to Entrepreneurship and recognised as one of the 1,000 Most Influential People in London by The Evening Standard.</p>
<p>Rajeeb spoke to Futureheads as part of our FFS series, a regular interview series where business and industry leaders share their insights and personal experience. Other articles in the series can be found&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 25); background-color: transparent;" href="https://www.wearefutureheads.com/tag/ffs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here.</a></p>
<h2>1. Tell us about the impact that Covid-19 and the lockdown measures have had on your business?</h2>
<p>Internally, we had to do what many others have had to do, and that was transitioning to full-remote. We&rsquo;re a tech company and already have team members who are remote 100% of the time. The structures were in place already; we just had to expand them to the whole team. Where COVID-19 has really had an impact is externally.</p>
<p>L&amp;D is the only work-related activity that furloughed employees are allowed to engage in, so we created a free version of the Learnerbly platform featuring our curated content. We want to help organisations support their furloughed employees, and this just felt like the right way and the best way we could do that.</p>
<h2>2. How have you adapted your operational and hiring practices?</h2>
<p>We&rsquo;re spending more time actively communicating with each other, and we try to be as transparent as possible in that communication. To deliver clarity through video calls and messaging, our new primary mediums of communication, we need to make conscientious efforts and have structures in place. One way we do that is by having conversations on public slack channels rather than private messages.</p>
<p>With hiring, our process has become virtual. Our in-house hiring practices were already clear and structured, making the switch relatively easy and streamlined for what questions we ask, why we ask them, and what makes a good answer.</p>
<h2>3. What are your top tips for successfully managing a remote onboarding and/or recruitment process?</h2>
<p>Offer clarity, provide structure, implement social time and make them feel welcome.</p>
<p>Before you do anything, say what you&rsquo;re going to do, whether it&rsquo;s in the form of a &lsquo;first-day agenda&rsquo; email or a stand-up call you should openly communicate as a first step. We also value our&nbsp;<a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 25); background-color: transparent;" href="https://linkscan.io/scan/ux/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubm90aW9uLnNvL2xlYXJuZXJibHkvTGVhcm5lcmJseS1zLUVtcGxveWVlLUd1aWRlLTNhMDk2NGVlNjNhYTQ5MGE4NjA2ZmI3YmViZTQyNzIy/570E29765F79BDB328441905F6A34E923AD8D1C00F89236C361BFB8EF16AD7E8?c=1&amp;i=1&amp;docs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Employee Handbook</a>&nbsp;which is visible to anyone and clearly communicates to prospective applicants and hires our culture and values whether we&rsquo;re onboarding them virtually or traditionally.</p>
<p>Provide structure. Written guides, agendas, and action points drive productivity and keep everyone in the know for what they&rsquo;re supposed to be doing and when they should be doing it.</p>
<p>Implement social time to compensate for what is missing in a virtual work environment. Organise virtual coffees for people and encourage non-work related conversations over video and messaging channels.</p>
<p>In general, with virtual onboardings, it means making an extra effort to ensure new joiners feel welcome. I schedule check-ups with them to get feedback, and we try to continue our onboarding rituals which include taking people out to lunch on their first day. Now we ask people to get food delivered and expense it, as well as the team signing and sending virtual welcome cards rather than giving a physical one.</p>
<p>We&rsquo;ve long had Empathy Guides that each new joiner fills out to help people get a better insight into their colleagues, how they work and what their interests are, but these guides have become even more important given that we haven&rsquo;t met many of the people who have joined the business over the last two months.</p>
<h2>4. Has this crisis made you look at your business differently or consider changes moving forwards?</h2>
<p>We&rsquo;re working surprisingly well given the circumstances. We know this is not a regular WFH situation because there are threats to physical and mental-health impacting all of us but that doesn&rsquo;t mean we aren&rsquo;t seeing sustained productivity and employee engagement. Our Officevibe employee engagement score is at an 8.9/10 &mdash; putting us in the top 10% of Officevibe companies. These results in a time of crisis do prompt us to think about our office of the future and reflect on how we will work going forward. We&rsquo;re listening to our team and surveying their attitudes towards returning to physical office space and whether a permanent office for all will even be the best way forward or not. We&rsquo;ll go ahead with what we think is best for everyone.</p>
<h2>5. What advice would you give to anyone in a similar position to you at the moment?</h2>
<p>This too, shall pass. If you&rsquo;re making decisions that are good for your people, then the stability of your business should follow. Make sure you over-communicate during these times as people can feel uncertain and anxious.</p>
<p>The more transparent and compassionate you can be during these difficult times, the more your colleagues will respect and appreciate you fostering a happy and engaging environment. If you can be anything, be kind to yourself and to others as the way you respond as a leader during this challenging period will be a defining moment for how your colleagues perceive you and your employer brand in future.</p>

Futureheads Five Stories – Rajeeb Dey

<p>The business landscape is changing fast.</p>
<p>As more businesses transition to remote working to keep their staff safe and slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus, hiring tactics are shifting to accommodate for self-isolation, with smart businesses increasingly turning to digital recruitment. While the circumstances are unfortunate, the outcome of these tactics is proving beneficial to both businesses and candidates.</p>

<p>Having spent decades creating a hyper-connected online environment for people to communicate irrespective of location, we now have no option but to take full advantage.&nbsp;<strong>Could this be the defining moment that sees organisations move to digital recruitment as the norm?</strong></p>
<p>As a means of promoting accessibility and speeding up time to hire, many of our clients have already explored remote interviews for the first or second stages. As a result, our team is well-versed with the concept of interviewing from home and the benefits it can bring.</p>
<p>To help get you started, we&rsquo;ve put together a step by step guide to adapting your process for the current climate.</p>
<h2>Shift your mindset</h2>
<p>Interviewing remotely may seem like the second-best option when face-to-face meetings aren&rsquo;t possible due to busy schedules or, in this case, a public health crisis. As fitting as this attitude may have been in a time before video calls, we now have a range of tools to make remote screening a simple and seamless process.</p>
<p>The moment you start taking advantage of these tools, the moment you start to reap the rewards. Without the need for a face-to-face meeting, you can allow for flexibility in your schedule to screen the best candidates quickly and not miss out on talent due to a diary clash &ndash; and that&rsquo;s not all.</p>
<p>As remote working becomes the norm, we expect candidate location to be far less of an influential factor in hiring decisions. Shifting your mindset in line with this standard is key to securing top talent in a new era of remote-first operations.</p>
<h2>Evaluate your current process</h2>
<p>Before you make the leap, it&rsquo;s wise to take stock and evaluate your current hiring strategy. Can each step be completed without face to face contact? Do certain stages in the current process 100% require a candidate to be present in person?</p>
<p>Upon evaluation, you may find that these stages can be adapted to accommodate &ndash; this might also be a chance to remove or simplify stages that have historically caused early dropout and find new ways to engage your candidates throughout the process.</p>
<h2>Ensure clarity for everyone</h2>
<p>Taking your hiring process online calls for formal comms that provide clarity for everyone involved. If you don&rsquo;t have a remote working policy in place, now is the time to create, formalise and share both internally and externally. The more information you can give your candidates ahead of time, the better &ndash; that way, they know what to expect and can prepare adequately for their interview.</p>
<p>We have always flown the flag for accessibility in the hiring process, and believe that clarity and flexibility are both critical in giving all candidates &ndash; no matter their age, race, background or cognitive style &ndash; the best chance in landing the job.</p>
<h2>Get the right set up in place</h2>
<p>Adapting your hiring strategy to account for the current circumstances and, in all likelihood, a new era, requires businesses to have the right technology in place. The ability to share screens and present can make a huge difference, so choosing software that allows for these is essential for keeping the process smooth and hassle-free for both parties.</p>
<p>With the right software and communication tools in place, you can ensure an engaging experience that keeps your candidates in the loop with the latest decisions.</p>
<h2>Integrate the new team member digitally</h2>
<p>Once you&rsquo;ve decided to take someone on board, it&rsquo;s as important as ever to integrate them into the team. This can seem difficult in the absence of an office, but there are plenty of digital tools that can help. For example, make sure they join all team meetings as you check in with each other at the beginning and end of the day, as well as add them to any informal team channels on Slack or an equivalent.</p>
<p>Equally, it&rsquo;s worth engaging them on your company&rsquo;s social channels by announcing their joining on LinkedIn or twitter, and asking the wider team to follow their personal accounts. With a process like this in place, your new hire should soon feel like part of the team and wider culture of your business!</p>
<h2>Seek feedback on the process</h2>
<p>Even with preparation, there will naturally be a bedding-in period in which key stakeholders adjust to the new process. During this time, collecting feedback will be imperative to making the tweaks that enhance the interview process and improve efficiency.</p>
<p>As well as asking candidates for their thoughts, give line managers and recruiters a chance to provide honest feedback on the recruitment process from their perspective. They will undoubtedly have suggestions from initial pain points that arise in the early stages of deployment &ndash; the best way to iron this out is to encourage contribution in improving the process for everyone.</p>
<p>At Futureheads, we&rsquo;re firm believers that digital technology coupled with the right attitude can help make the hiring process more accessible for everyone. While the impact of the coronavirus has been unprecedented, businesses are now in a position to ensure candidates can still put themselves forward for exciting new roles.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Should you need further advice or assistance in planning for remote interviews, we&rsquo;ll be more than happy to help.</p>

Digital recruitment – how to adapt your hiring process during a public health scare

<p>When you are starting out it can be hard to navigate the office landscape, so here are a few tips that have served me well over the years.</p>

<p>Having worked in the recruitment industry for over 20 years, I have seen some examples of good behaviour, and some examples of not so good behaviour that has impacted someone's career. When you are starting out it can be hard to navigate the office landscape, so here are a few tips that have served me well over the years:&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Do dress appropriately</strong>. It's important to make a good first impression, this may mean a suit but also may mean smart casual depending on your industry and company. If you are unsure, always err on the side of caution and go smarter!&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Do be on time</strong>. Employers want people that are well prepped and ready to go from your start time, not just falling in the door. This also applies for meetings, both internal and external &ndash; create the right impression from the start.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Do be respectful of others</strong>. You need to be polite, courteous and don&rsquo;t fall into the trap of engaging in gossip or negative talk in the office.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Do communicate effectively</strong>. Make sure you are clear and concise in your written and verbal communications, and actively listening when others are speaking.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Do work collaboratively</strong>. Office work often involves teamwork, and it's important to be able to work well with others.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Don&rsquo;t be needlessly noisy</strong>. This includes speaking loudly on the phone, playing music without headphones, and generally making excessive noise that might distract others.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Don't be a clock-watcher</strong>. Constantly checking the time or counting down the minutes until the end of the workday will not give the impression that you're fully committed to your job.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Don't be negative</strong>. Complaining or being negative can bring down the morale of the office, and it's important to maintain a positive attitude.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Don&rsquo;t neglect your company kit</strong>. This includes office equipment, supplies, and facilities. For example, if you are going out after work then you need to leave your laptop in a locker in the office.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Don&rsquo;t maintain a messy desk policy</strong> &ndash; think of the environment and don&rsquo;t print unless you need to. Also, a clear and organised desk is a good insight into your personal mind. Too much clutter can get in the way and even be a distraction.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>It's important to remember that office culture can vary from company to company, so always be mindful of the specific norms and expectations of the office you're working in.&nbsp;</p>
<p>It's also worth mentioning that office culture includes some unspoken rules and values, for instance 'response time' for email, meeting culture, and who is allowed to access certain information. It's important to learn and understand these things within your first week or so, so don't be afraid of asking questions or clarify.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

Office Etiquette - 10 Dos and Don'ts

<p>This is the introduction of my upcoming series where I deep dive into the gendered issues of the UK&rsquo;s tech sector. I&rsquo;ll cover statistics that will shock you, how far we&rsquo;ve come, and how far we&rsquo;ve yet to go.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>I want to cover this extensively because I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s good enough to just address the issues and say &ldquo;look, the pay gap shrunk slightly this year&rdquo;. I want to name it, shame it, and provide you with ways that we can all be proactive and make a change today. Whether you&rsquo;re a hiring manager or a tech professional, I want you to walk away from this series with valuable insight into how you, personally, can make a difference.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We&rsquo;ll cover the pay gap, gender disparity, core statistics, tips and tricks on overcoming bias and increasing diversity, CV reviews and career advice for women in or entering tech, guidelines for inclusive copy, initiatives and creative benefits that might close gender gaps in your company, and resources and communities available online doing great work that you might not be aware of.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The first part to come in the series will address why this conversation needs to happen. I&rsquo;ll lay out the most shocking statistics that lay at the heart of these issues; including gender imbalance across different organization sizes and leadership levels, importance of diversity policy to applicants, female tech leadership stats, and so much more.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

Women in Tech. It’s a big subject and there’s a lot to talk about.

<h2><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Bias. It is everywhere, and the hiring process is no different. Everyone can fall victim to their own unconscious bias. The good news is, there are ways to beat it, but the process begins with addressing and understanding it.</span></h2>

<p>Here&rsquo;s what I learned from our session with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jomajordiversityinrecruitment/?originalSubdomain=uk">Jo Major</a>, founder of <a href="https://www.diversityinrecruitment.com/about/">Diversity in Recruitment.</a></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>What the studies say:</strong></span></p>
<p><strong>Hiring managers are more likely to:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Prefer a particular candidate profile, often based on education history, career journey, employer brands and perceived cultural fit.</li>
<li>Make quick suitability and selection decisions, based on previous success with similar profiles.</li>
<li>As a result, overlook alternative talent, assume competence, and pressure recruiters to fill shortlists with similar candidate profiles.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Recruiters and hiring managers alike can fall victim to bias in the form of these four factors:</strong></p>
<p>1. Affinity:</p>
<p>People tend to favour those that they share similar qualities or experiences with. Hiring managers and recruiters may act warmer and speak in favor of prospective hires to colleagues and clients. They often look for affinity to break the ice, with education, sports, hometowns and music being popular ways to find affinity.</p>
<p>2. Horns &amp; Halo:</p>
<p>Interviewers may focus on one positive effect and ignore things that make them unsuited to the role, or conversely focus on a negative characteristic and ignore the positive. They can make assumptions based on a candidate&rsquo;s employer or the layout of the CV. They may even be put off simply by a weak handshake.</p>
<p>3. Beauty:</p>
<p>Psychologically, interviewers may favor and pay more attention to attractive candidates. Studies continually show a bias toward hiring good-looking people because they are perceived as more kind, talented, honest and intelligent. This phenomenon is often called the beauty premium, or lookism.</p>
<p>4. Non-verbal:</p>
<p>One might make judgments based on another&rsquo;s &ldquo;professionalism&rdquo; based on a superficial trait. Factors like body weight, tattoos, clothing, and height can all have interviewers drawing assumptions.</p>
<p><strong>The science behind unconscious bias:</strong></p>
<p>Your brain processes 11 million bits of information every second. The majority of the decisions being made by your brain are made subconsciously. Your conscious mind only handles about 40 pieces per second, so our brains look for patterns to make sense of things. These cognitive shortcuts use past and present experiences to make decisions. This is natural human behavior, a holdover from the days when prejudging people could literally save your life!</p>
<p>Factors like social background, personal and cultural values, education, and life experiences can influence your decision-making. Add in the pressures that interviewers can face to make quick decisions and bias can influence the outcome. Studies continually show that interviewers are likely to favour people that look like them, sound like them, have a similar background, share interests, and have a similar education history.</p>
<p>It is important to understand our natural human behaviors in order to control them so talent can&rsquo;t slip through our fingers and ensure the best candidate always gets the role.</p>
<p>So what&rsquo;s the solution?</p>
<p>Understanding the difference between &lsquo;Automatic Thinking&rsquo; and &lsquo;Reflective Thinking&rsquo; is key if you want to reduce the impact of bias on your hiring process. Ensure that you&rsquo;re utilizing your reflective thinking throughout the hiring process, and as Anne Marie Murphy recommends, Practice the Pause:</p>
<p>Stop and ask yourself: Why am I making this decision? What is influencing me right now? Where am I getting my information from? Did I build a mental picture of the best candidate? Do I have a concrete reason as to why I made that decision? Is bias playing into this?</p>
<p><strong>Don&rsquo;t trust your gut:</strong></p>
<p>Take control of your automatic thinking. Your automatic thinking is unconscious, fast, and instinctive, and it dominates. Your reflective thinking is conscious, slow, rational, self-aware and controlled.</p>
<p>Once you&rsquo;re aware of these biases, you can use your reflective thinking to address them and how they affect your hiring process. So here are some practical suggestions for how to make your hiring process less affected by subconscious biases.</p>
<p>Take a bias test. This will help you directly confront what you need to be aware of. These tests can quickly surprise you!</p>
<p>Create any interview and assessment plans well in advance. This way you can take your time spotting and eliminating bias from each step in your hiring process and create truly objective results.</p>
<p>If you can, use hard evidence-based questions in your interview. This will help you avoid a tangent that leads you further into what you&rsquo;ve subconsciously decided.</p>
<p>Use a scoring system for your interview feedback. This way, you can reach an outcome where &ldquo;Just not the right culture fit&rdquo; isn&rsquo;t an acceptable conclusion.</p>
<p>Document your candidate&rsquo;s feedback in a timely manner. This protects you from recency and primacy bias, meaning that you can ensure the results are factual and not a potentially biased recollection of what was said.</p>
<p>Once you&rsquo;ve reached a conclusion, see what your team thinks independently. It can be easy for you to lead your team to the same conclusion. How you frame things can have a serious impact on how others react, skewing results.</p>
<p>If you keep these things in mind, you will be able to not only identify your own subconscious bias, but also stop it in its tracks before it affects your hiring process and results.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Further recommended reading and watching:</strong></p>
<p><strong>Coded Bias</strong></p>
<p>A documentary about MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini&rsquo;s discovery of racial bias in facial recognition algorithms.</p>
<p><strong>Messengers</strong></p>
<p>Stephen Martin and Joseph Marks identify the powerful and hidden forces that determine who becomes society&rsquo;s prevailing messengers while others end up ineffectual and under-represented.</p>
<p><strong>Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men</strong></p>
<p>Caroline Criado Perez&rsquo;s book explores the &ldquo;gender data gap&rdquo; and how data often makes a default assumption skewed towards males.</p>
<p><strong>Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People</strong></p>
<p>Psychologists Mahzarin R Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald explore hidden biases that we carry as a result of parameters such as nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, and age.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>If you&rsquo;re a tech industry professional looking to make your next move, or a junior looking to kickstart your career, you can learn more about me and the roles we&nbsp;recruit for <a href="https://www.wearefutureheads.com/jobs/">here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>We&rsquo;re always writing about the tech sector, if you want to stay up to date on current trends and news, you can read more <a href="https://www.wearefutureheads.com/news/">here</a>.</em></p>

Bias in the hiring process. How to Spot It and How to Beat It.

From helping shape the London-UX market from the early days, to running and sponsoring some of the most well-known UX networking events – our reputation holds in our ability to match top-tier UX practitioners into opportunities. 

<div class="row">
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <p>From helping shape the London-UX market from the early days, to running and sponsoring some of the most well-known UX networking events – our reputation holds in our ability to match top-tier UX practitioners into opportunities. </p>
  </div>
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <h5>Our network includes practitioners with skills across:</h5>
    <ul>
      <li>User Research</li>
      <li>Interaction Design​</li>
      <li>​UX Design</li>
      <li>Information Architecture</li>
      <li>​Service Design​</li>
      <li>Content Design</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

UX & Service Design

With positions across agencies, brands, start-ups and tech companies, we work with Creatives delivering new brands, campaigns and integrated experiences. From hiring freelance Creative Teams to your first in-house Copywriter, we’ve got it covered. 

<div class="row">
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <p>With positions across agencies, brands, start-ups and tech companies, we work with Creatives delivering new brands, campaigns and integrated experiences. From hiring freelance Creative Teams to your first in-house Copywriter, we’ve got it covered.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <h5>Our network include professionals in:</h5> 
    <ul>
      <li>Motion Graphics & Video Editing</li>
      <li>Branding</li>
      <li>Copywriting</li>
      <li>Art Direction</li>
      <li>Illustration</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

Creative

The complexities of AI and Machine learning, as well as the focus on data integrity, means hiring professionals with compliance, system integration and advanced analytics skills can be challenging. Our team is on hand to help with your Data recruitment needs.

<div class="row">
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <p>The complexities of AI and Machine learning, as well as the focus on data integrity, means hiring professionals with compliance, system integration and advanced analytics skills can be challenging. Our team is on hand to help with your Data recruitment needs.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <h5>Our network includes professionals in:</h5>
    <ul>
      <li>Data Engineering</li>
      <li>Data Science</li>
      <li>​Data Analytics</li>
      <li>Business Intelligence</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

Data

Part of our founding offering; since 2009 we have been part of the growth and evolution of the Design market in the UK – With a comprehensive network across all majors skill-sets we have consistently helped businesses hire world-class Design talent. 

<div class="row">
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <p>Part of our founding offering; since 2009 we have been part of the growth and evolution of the Design market in the UK – With a comprehensive network across all majors skill-sets we have consistently helped businesses hire world-class Design talent.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <h5> Our network includes Designers with skills in:</h5>
    <ul>
      <li>Digital Product (UX/UI) Design</li>
      <li>User Interface (UI) Design</li>
      <li>​Visual Design</li>
      <li>Digital Design</li>
      <li>Marketing Design</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

Design

We know that the world of Digital Marketing moves at a quick pace. Digital Devices, Digital Platforms, Digital Media, Digital Data, And Digital Technology never stops. This is why our teams are on hand to support these changing landscapes and are always ahead of the curve.

<div class="row">
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <p>We know that the world of Digital Marketing moves at a quick pace. Digital Devices, Digital Platforms, Digital Media, Digital Data, And Digital Technology never stops. This is why our teams are on hand to support these changing landscapes and are always ahead of the curve.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <h5>Our network includes professionals in</h5>
    <ul>
      <li>Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)</li>
      <li>Pay-per-Click</li>
      <li>Social Media Marketing</li>
      <li>Content Marketing</li>
      <li>Email Marketing</li>
      <li>Mobile Marketing</li>
      <li>Marketing Analytics</li>
      <li>Affiliate Marketing</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

Digital Marketing

Our niche is technical experts who specialise in IT and digital projects, across multiple platforms and technology stacks. Come and talk to us about all things engineering, from entry to CTO-Level.

<div class="row">
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <p>Our niche is technical experts who specialise in IT and digital projects, across multiple platforms and technology stacks. Come and talk to us about all things engineering, from entry to CTO-Level.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <h5>Our network includes professionals across:</h5>
    <ul>
      <li>Front-end</li>
      <li>​Server-side​</li>
      <li>​Full-stack​</li>
      <li>Native Mobile​​</li>
      <li>Technical Architecture​​</li>
      <li>Solution Architecture​​</li>
      <li>Testing</li>
      <li>QA​​</li>
      <li>DevOps</li>
      <li>SRE</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

Engineering

From recruiting your first Product Owner to hiring your next experienced Product Managers, our recruiters have developed a specialist network in the design and tech space. They have trusted experts in sourcing and delivering both permanent and contract professionals in the field.

<div class="row">
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <p>From recruiting your first Product Owner to hiring your next experienced Product Managers, our recruiters have developed a specialist network in the design and tech space. They are trusted experts in sourcing and delivering both permanent and contract professionals in the field.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <h5>Our network includes:</h5>
    <ul>
      <li>Chief Product Officers (CPO)</li>
      <li>VP's of Product Management​</li>
      <li>Directors of Product Management</li>
      <li>Product Managers​​</li>
      <li>Product Owners</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

Product

With a deep understanding of what is required from Project Managers and Programme Managers in the Digital and Tech space, we can help you find the talent to help you deliver better budget controls, communication, and reporting, to help you find ways to introduce new processes tools and technology that can support more efficient work delivery.

<div class="row">
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <p>With a deep understanding of what is required from Project Managers and Programme Managers in the Digital and Tech space, we can help you find the talent to help you deliver better budget controls, communication, and reporting, to help you find ways to introduce new processes tools and technology that can support more efficient work delivery. </p>
  </div>
  <div class="col-12 col-sm-12 col-md-6">
    <h5>Our network includes:</h5>
    <ul>
      <li>Digital Project Managers</li>
      <li>Programme Managers</li>
      <li>Engineering Project Managers</li>
      <li>Software/IT Project Managers</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

Project & Programme Management

Chris Chapman

<p class="MsoNormal">As Co-MD, Chris is responsible for leading the Futureheads and SyncD businesses alongside Rohan.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Chris has been an integral part of the Futureheads team for almost a decade, spending time within and growing both Futureheads and SyncD. Having run embedded projects with clients spanning digital media, technical consultancy and med-tech, he's not only a digital hiring expert, but genuinely understands how Futureheads' clients work. Passionate about growing an industry-aligned business, Chris has spoken at several universities, and co-organises and attends industry events.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When he&rsquo;s not living and breathing all things digital, he can be found spending time with family, attending live music events, playing football and searching for golf balls in the long grass.</p>

Jamie Perlmutter

<p>Jamie has worked in the tech/digital sector for over a decade and since joining Futureheads in 2016, he&rsquo;s helped a number of leading businesses to scale and achieve their strategic and commercial goals.<br>&nbsp;<br>His recruitment mantra (inspired by a poster in one of our meeting rooms) is to work hard and be nice to people. In practice, this means Jamie strives to go the extra mile, providing clear channels of communication and leveraging his problem-solving skills to create positive experiences for candidates and clients alike.<br>&nbsp;<br>Jamie&rsquo;s a hands-on recruiter and people manager whose experience includes both embedded and 360 contingency recruitment, spanning all talent disciplines across the product development lifecycle. However, his sweet spot is Product Design, UX, Service Design and User Research.<br>&nbsp;<br>Outside of work, when Jamie&rsquo;s not busy being a dad to his young son, you&rsquo;ll either find him at gigs, eating fancy burgers or complaining from the North Bank at the Emirates Stadium.&nbsp;</p>

Joseph Cardone

<p>Joseph is a UI and Product Design Senior Consultant for Futureheads.</p>
<p>He has a background in Sales and previously worked for companies such as Tesla and JIVR.&nbsp;As part of the Design Team at Futureheads Joseph works across a broad range of clients from small start-ups, consultancies/agencies and big brands. His main focus is working with permanent UI &amp; Product Designers.</p>
<p>Outside of work, Joseph is a DJ and Music Producer. He's been doing that for over 15 years. He's also a salsa dancer and loves to cook Italian food.&nbsp;</p>

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