Small business case studies

Size matters

Sarah Davies is a consultant for Discovery, a specialist graduate recruitment and training company in Birmingham with ten employees. She joined the company in 2000 after spending time travelling following her economics degree at the University of Birmingham.

‘The travelling made me realise I wanted to be in a job where I would get responsibility quickly rather than spending a lot of time just watching other people. Having worked in the blue-chip environment while temping as a student, I realised that I didn’t want to be a very small fish in a massive pond. I wanted to be somewhere where I worked closely with the people who make the decisions.

‘When I came into Discovery, I started off dealing with candidates, finding out what they were looking for. Then I moved into a new business development role where I was doing much more client contact. Now I combine the two – I’ve got my own client base and I’ve got my candidates as well.

‘I’ve felt that my managers have really taken responsibility for my development; they are very keen to make sure that everything is all right because it is a small company and you are there to make a difference – there’s nowhere to hide.’

Rapid career progression

Diane Gates is creative director of bmarketing who build a range of online and offline marketing campaigns, often working with government-funded programmes.

Coming back to Newcastle following a year out after graduation Diane looked on the North East Appointments website (run by the University of Newcastle) and found an advert looking for young, energetic people with marketing experience to join a new start up and help build the business up.

‘I’d studied English and then took a Masters in Communication Studies at Newcastle University. I really loved the North East and I knew my chosen career would be in copywriting, ie marketing and advertising. Once I finished my Masters, I did an Advanced Diploma in Enterprise Management at Durham University, for which I worked in a small business for a year. I knew this was the kind of environment I wanted to work in. It gave me the freedom to develop my own skills and be a key team player as working in a small business you get more chance to make an impact.

‘When I started in March 2001, there was Siobhan (who started up the business) running it with me and another colleague in a marketing support role. This gave me a good grounding, very much learning on my feet. As the business progressed my colleague left and it was just Siobhan and me running it together. After about five or six months I invested in the company, becoming an equal partner. As company directors, Siobhan and I look after a team of six staff (all recent graduates), developing a lot of high-level government campaigns and UK-wide marketing strategies. We’re responsible for maintaining customer relations, developing new business and I’m still involved day-to-day in copywriting, designing and other creative endeavours. I’d say 30–40% of my time is spent on client work and 60-70% the higher level, running the business, dealing with the operations, finances and development of the business.’

Micro computer experience

IT graduate Rob Dale first got to know a small North Wales company, Hmm Software Training, on a placement during his course. After his degree he rejoined the company for a further 16 months of useful experience before the company fell victim to difficulties in the IT industry.

‘I suppose the best aspects of working for a small business were the working environment and the level of responsibility involved. Given that there were only nine of us in the entire company when I started, it took precisely five minutes to meet everyone. Of course they’d all worked together for the last 12 months and had developed a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. Also the level of responsibility (for me particularly) was quite high. Every training course had to be perfect and the PCs had to be correctly configured and the manuals all had to be present and correct by 9.30am every morning. It was particularly rewarding to see everything working on time.

‘The main benefit for me was the experience. After my first month I’d learned every version of Windows inside out and more about Microsoft Office applications than one person was ever meant to know. I’d also been thrown into a disorganised and overworked technical department which previously consisted of one man. So I was able to put forward management theories studied at university and implement them. Who’d have thought academic theories could actually work?’