Tina Harrigan-James
Super power: Integrity | First job: ‘Table Cleansing Engineer’ (oh alright, a server in a department store restaurant) | Rejection: Waterstones rejected me because I didn’t say that I wanted to progress through the company. In all other respects I interviewed well. Good tip! | Qualifications: Degree in English and American Literature; PGCE in Secondary Education; Counselling Skills Certificate in Personal Performance Coaching; studying towards the Diploma in Personal Performance Coaching | What I wish I had known at 20: Achieving a degree does not guarantee a job!
I would describe myself as permanently fired up to challenge inequality and create opportunity. I can’t help but react proactively to the challenges presented by inequality, getting results but usually giving myself a tremendous amount of work in the process!
The first time I saw the results of this kind of response happened when I was 15 and my best friend came rushing to me in school with the news that Cornwall County Council had reversed a decision to build a badly needed youth centre in my town, choosing instead to invest in roads. With a small group of friends, we raised 1,000 signatures on a petition and appeared on the regional news, ultimately facing the council themselves and persuading them to perform a second U-turn in our favour. Although I didn’t personally benefit from the facility, it still stands now, which gives me a tingle of pride.
Surprisingly, I only came to realise that my career should really be an extension of that passion for providing opportunities to all in my early twenties, after a couple of years of careers confusion brought about by the total absence of careers coaching or advice at university. I then spent 12 exhausting but incredibly fulfilling years in teaching, especially enjoying my time as a Head of 6th Form and engaging with local businesses to support the English curriculum
It was in many ways devastating to walk away from teaching, but the decision opened up the possibility of a complete change of career, a real cliff edge moment. Since then, I have volunteered for a range of organisations; worked in Business Development in the charity sector for Adviza Partnership, with a focus on holistic support for vulnerable people, including the provision of careers guidance; and as a Careers Consultant, engaging across a range of projects in different roles, including a trainer, with exciting creative people, principally the award-winning career development company Talentino, the well-respected Good Schools Guide and the Careers and Enterprise Company. I was privileged to deliver training to careers professionals for the Career Development Institute, served on the Social Mobility task group for Careers England and as a panellist for the Public Policy Exchange.
The creation and existence of Careers Collective represents a positively disruptive force in the careers sector and the potential, via our inclusive virtual approach, to engage and support young people and adults across the country to become confident leaders of their own career and personal development. This prospect fills me with excitement and I am, once again, fired up to provide opportunity and support to everyone who engages with us