Paul Lancaster - Project Manager, voluntaryskills.com
Paul Lancaster worked as Project Manager for voluntaryskills.com until December 2008, and now works as Web Development Excecutive for Shell Livewire (managed by PNE Group) in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Q. What was your background before working for PNE?
A. When Paul left University his first job was for Sage dealing with helpline enquiries about the Sage Payroll software. In his spare time, Paul began teaching himself basic web design, and after 2yrs with Sage, landed himself a job with British Airways as a Graduate Trainee Web Editor based in Newcastle.
During this time, Paul received a considerable amount of training in IT programming and web design, and was also part of a small team that spent 3 months based in London helping to redesign the new ba.com website. Unfortunately, following the September 11th World Trade Centre disaster, Paul was one of many people made redundant by the airline and spent the next 12 months working as a freelance web programmer.
Paul also decided to concentrate more on his work as a DJ, producer and club promoter. Eventually, although Paul learnt a great deal about the music industry and developed a lot of new skills and confidence he decided it was time to get a more stable job. He began working for HMV and BT Broadband before leaving to work for Generator North East, a music development agency based in Newcastle.
"Looking back, I think the main reason I got the job at Generator was all the voluntary work I did as a DJ and music promoter"
After 2 years at Generator Paul decided the job wasn't quite right for him and started looking for a job that would combine all the skills and training he had learnt so far. In 2005, Paul started working for PNE as a Project Assistant on voluntaryskills.com.
Q. Tell me about the role you play on voluntaryskills.com
A. After just over a year, in September 2006 Paul took over as Project Manager of voluntaryskills.com, and spent the next 7 months getting to grips with running the project on his own, keeping the website up to date, marketing and promoting the site, and attending lots of meetings and events to help raise the profile of voluntaryskills.com and increase his knowledge of the sector. In recent months Paul has become a line manager for the first time, recruiting a new Project Assistant to work alongside him and help free up some of his time to concentrate more on strategic planning and development of the project.
"I now have a greater influence over how the project develops"
Q. Why did you choose this career path?
A. When Paul stopped working for British Airways he saw an advert in the local newspaper offering free training by PNE for people who were thinking about starting up their own business. Paul came along to the training which helped him set up his own record label in 2005 and since then kept coming back to PNE for advice and support. What's more, the people who delivered the training had a major impact on Paul's decision to work for the organisation in later years.
"I was just really impressed with the quality of the training provided and the people involved"
The actual role of voluntaryskills.com Project Assistant appealed to Paul too as it enabled him to make use of his web and IT skills whilst helping others and working for a worthwhile cause.
Q. Have you attended any training course that has helped you inside and outside your work?
A. The most useful course Paul has done in recent years was the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Introductory Certificate in Marketing at Newcastle College between September and December 2006.
"I already had lots of informal experience of marketing and promotion from my time at Generator and as a club promoter but it was good to have some formal training under my belt"
After the course Paul introduced a new monthly voluntaryskills.com e-bulletin to help keep people up to date with new training courses on the site and drive more traffic to the website.
Q. What stood out from the course?
A. Paul found it useful to do the course with a colleague, as they could talk about what they had learned on the course and how it could be used within their roles at work.
Q. What can you do now that would have been more difficult before you attended the course?
"Definitely plan things better"
A. Paul said that he now understands the importance of proper planning and research before introducing any new marketing campaign and has written a new marketing plan for voluntaryskills.com which he is using.
Q. Do you have any training planned for the future?
A. Paul has recently started the Introduction to Voluntary Sector Management by Mark Butcher Associates (MBA) and is always on the lookout for new training courses featured on voluntaryskills.com that will help develop his skills and knowledge.
Q. Do you have any advice for people thinking about going into training?
Paul believes that new knowledge and ideas can come from attending events and seminars as well as courses and that it is important to read around the subject you are interested in.
Also, although people may be very busy at work it is important to make time for training and development.
"Stay curious! Always be willing to learn new things and keep your mind open to new ideas"
