Joining Prospectus remotely: Chris Langan

Chris joined Prospectus remotely in January 2021 as our Marketing and Communications Manager on a maternity cover contract. Below, Chris gives us his reasons behind joining Prospectus, what his first 3 months have been like, and talks about navigating the perceived challenges that come with joining a new organisation remotely.

Why Prospectus?

Aside from the multi-faceted marketing role being exactly what I was looking for, it was important for me to find an employer that was a good company to work for both in terms of its values and in the way it treated its staff. Over the past year, with Covid-19 and various lockdowns, I’d started to think about how I could use my marketing experience in a more purposeful way. Working in recruitment marketing previously was rewarding, but Prospectus’ work placing people at charities and non-profits, their status as a B-Corp and the employee volunteer scheme with charities and community organisations that they had, convinced me to apply to the vacant role. The strong reviews on Glassdoor helped me realise that this was a place that employees enjoyed working, and in my interviews it really shone through how much those interviewing me really enjoyed their jobs and each other’s company. Then, I got the offer!

The onboarding

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit nervous about joining a new company remotely, missing out on those day-to-day training insights and relationship-building activities that you wouldn’t quite get when not in an office together, but I was quickly put at ease with the way I was onboarded.

Firstly, I was sent my company laptop far in advance of my start date, along with log in details, so to feel like I could familiarise myself with some of the company software and processes. From my start day on, I had a series of welcome meetings already planned out with stakeholders from across the business, allowing me a chance to get to know them in one-to-one introductory calls. What has also helped is the “buddy” system Prospectus operates with, where I’ve been connected with two senior members of staff in the company to not only ask questions of, but to socialise with on a few Friday afternoon drinks on Teams (the next best thing to the pub in a lockdown environment!).

Despite not physically being with my new colleagues, I have been included in a number of different calls and groups outside of these “buddy” calls as well. Although working as the standalone Marketing Manager without a wider marketing team, it’s been really nice to be included in daily catch-up and check-in calls with the Advertising team – something that’s been a great chance to find out more about business norms and processes, and to chat and get to know them socially each day.

The culture

What I’ve encountered is a team of people that genuinely like working with each other and have a strong appreciation for each other’s talents. This is perhaps because of the non-commission structure that underpins why this isn’t your typical recruitment consultancy. Staff are approachable from the top-down and, most importantly, are all human beings that understand the challenges that come with work and life as we know it at the moment.

We have a weekly CCT meeting (named after our 3 values; Collaboration, Community and Trust), currently replacing the usual physical meeting of the same kind, that brings us altogether to discuss hot topics both internally and externally. We have also had a number of events promoting positive staff wellbeing, including talks on mental health, a wellbeing day for all staff to take off work in February, and even a remote magician’s show in our Spring social (yes, it was much better than it sounds and we couldn’t stop talking about it!).

The future

It’s been a fun 3 months so far, learning about the organisation and getting to work on a number of campaigns, videos and podcasts for the team. I’m now looking forward to meeting everyone when conditions permit, and hopefully changing some of those remote socials to in-person ones!