We are delighted to introduce Stephanie Oxenham, who has supported our City Of Change campaign through ForrestBrown.
Why did you join the City Of Change campaign?
At ForrestBrown we believe in equal opportunities for everyone, and we are in a great position to help young people by creating an insight into a fast-growing business like ours. We know that due to the pandemic opportunities for work experience have disappeared. The most difficult part of a young person’s career is often landing that first position, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds. We have been looking at ways to help with this, and that’s when we came across Babbasa.
What do you think young people may contribute to your company?
Someone once told me to ‘hold onto those fresh eyes’ and that’s exactly what young people bring to organisations. At ForrestBrown, our focus is on ‘solutions not suits’, we enjoy the freedom of doing things differently and we love hearing from people who have a genuine interest in innovation and technology. One great attribute that young people bring is that they are digital natives. They can leverage their digital brilliance to drive creative ways of working, particularly as we have had to re-think how we do things to account for remote working. Whether this is helping create social media campaigns, revamping a process for the tax team, or filming some of our training content.
What do you hope younger people may contribute to your company?
We’re a tax consultancy, and we are passionate about what we do. We hope that an insight into ForrestBrown will spark an interest in the profession as a whole. We work collaboratively in a fast-paced environment with clients in all kinds of industries from fashion, food and construction. We expect an insight into our firm will provide a new perspective on the world of tax, as well as technology, HR, marketing, data, among many more areas. We love seeing that light bulb moment where young people realise ForrestBrown is a unique tax consultancy and it’s more than just a job. We are united by the common purpose of helping innovative businesses grow, and we hope young people can contribute to this mission too. We also hope they can help us to understand the challenges young people are faced with, and how businesses like ours can help, particularly through this uncertain time.
What do you think companies may be missing by having a lack of younger voices/influence in the company?
Companies without young people may find it increasingly difficult to engage with a whole generation of unique talent. At ForrestBrown we need people from diverse backgrounds to allow ideas to evolve and adapt. It’s important that we keep learning and keep educating ourselves on what young people are looking for in an employer whilst discovering what new skills we can learn from them.
What advice do you wish someone had given you at the start of your career?
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