National Careers Week 2023: Nick reflects on his 7-year career with the Growth Company
- Tuesday, March 7, 2023
- Posted By The Growth Company
To celebrate National Careers Week 2023, we’re turning the spotlight on our brilliant colleagues- and celebrating some of our colleagues who have recently been successful at achieving a promotion! Our next chat is with Nick Shepherd, who has been with us for over 7 years now, working across the company- we sat down and spoke with Nick about his experiences with the Growth Company, and why it’s the career for him:
What do you like about working at the Growth Company?
I work for the Growth Company as I love the genuine social impact which we make to people’s lives every day. Whether that be through supporting growing businesses or supporting the employability skills of everyday people and helping then access further education. It’s also about promoting my home region as the best place to visit, meet, invest and study.
Our services support the growth and prosperity of businesses in Greater Manchester. We report back on aspects like an increase in turnover or brand new jobs created in a business as a result of growth. Seeing these results from businesses who you’ve introduced over the years makes the job so fulfilling!
What do you enjoy about your role?
The world of economic development is one of the best kept secrets and until you’re in the world, you wouldn’t be able to truly appreciate it. You can’t see how much work goes into a lot of the activity which you see across Greater Manchester, and other regions across the UK, to create successfully bustling communities.
The Growth Company encourages looking at ways to do things differently to support our client base allowing innovation to flourish and thrive. This aligns with my own vision and values. They put their staff at the forefront of everything that they do with topics around health and wellbeing and equality, diversity and inclusivity hot on their agenda. I would absolutely recommend working at Growth Company to anybody.
I am the Chair of the employee-led LGBTQ+ committee and we have driven so many of the changes which we want to see in the business. It’s has always had an openness for how we can make changes to become a socially inclusive employer.
What was your old role, and how did it help you in securing your promotion?
I have spent almost 7 years with The Growth Company. Over my time here I have embarked on roles which have allowed me to understand every aspect of our business and how we compliment the Greater Manchester ecosystem. Then came more senior roles where I ensure I can service our clients, partners and stakeholders to best of my ability. I initially started in a co-ordinator based role in GC Business Growth Hub where I understood the contractual requirements behind our activity.
I then moved to Marketing Manchester to promote Greater Manchester as the primary region to visit, meet, invest and study in, before re-joining GC Business Growth Hub in 2020. The combination of these roles gave me a fully rounded approach to the ways in which we support business, people and place before stepping up into my current role as Business Development and Partnerships Manager.
How do you feel about securing the promotion?
I was absolutely over the moon to secure my promotion into my current role - I genuinely feel as though I have the best job in the world as my job never feels like work to me! I get to manage the relationship between our Partner Network of 80 partners who all share the same vision and value for business and for Greater Manchester.
Our Network represents the fabric of our region and I love looking for ways which we can collaborate with our network to add value to the work which our teams deliver daily and expand our knowledge and reach.
What are you looking forward to most in your new role?
I am looking forward to continuing to build a successful and thriving Partner Network and assessing where partners can add value to both our activity and to other partners within the network. I love doing the right thing by connecting people and it is great to see where the favour is often returned further down the line!
