Monthly Archives: June 2019

This year at Joyce Guiness we have decided to support two London based charities. With this, we intend to raise awareness for these charities and raise money through hosting an event and setting ourselves a challenge or two throughout the year. We have selected two very different charities and we hope that they will both benefit from our efforts.  The first of these charities is The Graham Hughes International Charity, for patients with Hughes syndrome (also known as “sticky blood”).  This syndrome was only reported for the first time in 1983 and can have serious complications and negative health effects to those who have it.  “Sticky blood” affects all ages, and both sexes.  It is a major cause of thrombosis and a cause of stroke and heart attack if untreated.  It can cause migraine, memory loss, and balance and visual problems.  In women, Hughes syndrome is the most common, treatable cause of recurrent miscarriage. The charity’s aim is: “to educate and empower patients by raising awareness globally about Hughes Syndrome” and to “promote better understanding and management of the condition by medical professionals, thereby improving patient care”.  We hope that through supporting this charity, we will be able to raise awareness to help reduce the number of people affected. The second charity that we have selected is They Mayhew. This is a charity that’s aim is to inform, change and..

This week we spoke to Kate, one of our Consultants, for our third #JGStory. Kate has worked at Joyce Guiness for almost two years and has shared some information about herself below, telling us what advice she would give herself if she could go back in time to when she first moved to London and talking about where she would travel to if she had the chance as well as her favourite TV box set. We hope that you enjoy reading and learning more about Kate and if you are a client or candidate and would like to feature in one of our #JGStories, then do not hesitate to contact us! If you could go back in time to when you first came to London, what advice would you give yourself and why? Always take a job that you enjoy.  It is so important to enjoy the job you are in and the people you work with as we spend more time with our colleagues than we do our loved ones! I know I had no clue what I wanted to do when I left Durham University and I was lucky enough to find a job quickly but I did take the first role that I was offered.  I would suggest to always do lots of research before accepting an interview to get a real feel for the company and..

Rewind to a year ago and I knew nothing about recruitment agencies and neither did my friends. We were all talking about moving to London and looking for jobs and we thought the way we would do this would be by looking online and networking. We didn’t realise that there were people who would help us find our dream jobs. A couple of months into our year of studying on a secretarial course, some recruitment agencies came in and started talking to us about our options following our graduation. Two of these talks in and I was still none the wiser. Why would people help find us jobs and if they would, how much would it cost us? At the end of one of these talks, someone plucked up the courage to ask how much the service of using recruitment agencies cost, and they told us “nothing”. That couldn’t be right could it? Fast forward a year and I have been working at a recruitment agency for a few months now, and I couldn’t recommend signing up with an agency any more. Thinking back to my naivety and now seeing how the job market works, I wonder how anyone can get a job without the help of an agency. Using an agency to help you find a job couldn’t be any easier. All the hard work is left to your..

This week, we spoke to our new Resourcer and Office Coordinator, Indy Bamber. Indy joined the team permanently at the beginning of March having worked at a school for over a year. This week we asked Indy some questions about herself and the decisions that she has made to end up where she is today, working t Joyce Guiness. She tells us why she didn't go to university as well as her decision to stay in London, having spent a lot of time here when she was growing up. We hope you enjoy getting to know Indy as much as we have! If you are a client of candidate and would like the chance to feature as one of our #JGStories, don't hesitate to get in touch! Why did you decide not to go to University? The main reason I decided not to go to university was because I didn’t have one subject that I was set on studying. I am an outgoing and sociable individual and so thought that I would go down a more practical route and put my skills into place. That was when I came to the decision to enrol at Quest Professional. Quest is a secretarial course which provides young individuals with the key skills to get into the workplace. I decided to do the 9 month course which provided me both with business skills..

London is full of famous landmarks and sights and if you are visiting for a weekend, there is enough to see without having to take a step off the beaten track. However, if you are looking for somewhere more adventurous to eat and drink, rather than the chains that you can go to at home, then there is an abundance of cool, sophisticated and quirky places for you to go to. Four Thieves Based in Battearse, Four Thieves offers something that not many other places in London do. Imagine a room filled with old arcade games, mini golf, virtual reality and an electric car race track. Can’t think of anywhere with all of that? Four Thieves has it all under one roof. Head down for a fun filled evening with a group of friends! Bobby Fitzpatrick If you fancy an evening surrounded by vintage décor, great pizza, delicious cocktails and some old school music, then take yourself and your dancing shoes along to Bobby Fitzpatrick in Hampstead. Spend the evening sipping on old style cocktails and toe tapping in this bar which has been sent back in time. Tonight Josephine With two locations in London, one in Waterloo and the other in Shoreditch, Tonight Josephine offers a picture perfect cocktail in a glitzy pink neon surrounding. With high tables with benches and bar stools, a black and white patterned floor..

Our team (Team JG) did something different this week; we went to Shaftsbury Avenue to try out the new Crystal Maze. If you were ever a fan of the show you will know how the game works.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with the 90’s show, you are led through a ‘maze’ or different themed rooms with various challenges in each. Led by an enthusiastic host, you are left to work as a team and must help each other pass each challenge. This was not just your everyday work outing, this was a team building exercise! This was a time for us to combine our expertise and skills to work together and encourage each other to win the game and therefore collect as many crystals as possible. In our day jobs at Joyce Guiness we very much rely on each other as we all have our individual duties to complete, which when put together, complete the main task.  It is important therefore that we are able to work together as a team and coordinate ideas and skills. When doing team building activities these can highlight various characteristics and skills of individuals that you might not have known about before. Not only this, it can also help to build trust between you all. Having trust within a team is crucial as it means that people are comfortable to share ideas..

If you follow our blogs and social media, you will know that we have followed Kiko Matthews over the past year or two and you will know what amazing challenges she has overcome. Among other things, in March 2018, Kiko became the fastest woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean as a solo rower. She did this 3284 mile row in 49 days, 7 hours and 15 minutes, which is a whole week faster than the previous record holder. Kiko is now taking on a different challenge; cycling the coast of the UK and Northern Ireland with the intention of raising awareness of the problem of single use plastic. In recent years, the dramatic effects that plastics are having on the environment and the world’s oceans has been much more publicised and more steps are being taken towards the prevention of the amount of plastic. The amount of plastic straws being used has been cut down drastically, people are carrying reusable coffee cups, metal and glass bottles are becoming more and more popular and cotton buds have been changed from plastic to paper stems. Shops are slowly taking steps towards reducing their plastic consumption as well, with new plastic free aisles being introduced by various companies. This change won’t happen overnight however and so the work that people like Kiko are doing is helping to educate the public and support everyone..

This week for our fifth #JGStories, we spoke to one of our Partners, Jessie. Jessie has worked at Joyce Guiness for 8 years' and started as the Office Coordinator before working her way up through the ranks! Prior to working at Joyce Guiness, she worked at Savills having completed a ski season in Meribel after graduating from the University of the West of England. Jessie makes everyone laugh in the office everyday and the below has given those of you that don't know Jessie the opportunity to know her like we do! When you are not working, how do you like to spend your time? Living in London, there is so much to do and always new places to discover. I do love popping out for a glass of wine or two in the evenings or going to explore new pop ups, restaurants and bars. However, as much as I love discovering new places, I am a home girl and always like an evening in, catching up on a recent series or cooking and hosting for family and friends. Of course, one must counter all of that with some fun in the gym or a sunny weekend outing with friends on my trusty bike along the river to Richmond Park, with a stop en route for a cold beverage of course! If you could live anywhere else in the world,..

  For those of you that have spent a summer in London, you know it can be a very busy, expensive time of year.  When you finish work and the sun is out there is nothing better than to go outside and have a nice cold drink! There is a whole host of things to do in London in the summer other than just going to the pub though. Whether it is just exploring some parks you haven’t been to yet or trying out some new hotspots, we have collated some of the top things to do in London this summer season. Outdoor Swimming If we are in for another scorcher like we had last year, there is nothing quite as refreshing as a dip in some fresh, cold water. Lots of you do brave a swim during the cooler months, but it certainly isn’t as welcoming as when you are doing it to escape the daytime heat or to refresh after a long day. Whether you are looking for an outdoor pool, heated or not, then head over to the Lido’s spotted around the city or, if you are brave enough, you can head straight to the serpentine for some fresh water swimming! Best Parks If you don’t fancy cramming around a swimming pool, what’s better than lying in a park with some drinks and snacks, or even better,..

Last week we had Tess, a student at Oxford Media & Business School working with us and gaining experience of being in an office. She spent her week doing lots of social media, writing job adverts and learning how to manoeuvre around the website and how to add jobs and content to it. We thought she was fantastic and we thoroughly enjoyed having her in the office with us. For those of you finishing school and not sure whether to go to university, straight into the workplace or looking for something different to do, have a read of the blog that Tess has written for us about her time at Oxford Media & Business School. Thank you Tess! I originally had a place at Oxford Brookes to study Anthropology, however during my gap year, I realised that I was picking the course for the sake of going to University. After doing some work, it was evident that I wanted to get into the working world as soon as possible, rather than studying for three more years. After some research into alternatives to University, I came across the Professional Business Diploma course at Oxford Media & Business School. This course was exactly what I was looking for and so I made the conscious decision to withdraw my University offer. The course has given me the opportunity to spend a year in..