Staff profiles

Claire Bennett

I started working for Common Purpose 11 years ago as a Course Co-ordinator in our Kirklees office. Since then I have worked as a Course Manager in Kirklees and as a Course  Director for our courses in Bradford before becoming Regional Director for Common Purpose in Yorkshire almost three years ago.

"It is so satisfying to see people who have used our courses progressing in their careers and being betters leaders in their businesses and organisations, but also in wider society."

My work as a Regional Director is always exciting, but hard work. I am operationally responsible for the courses Common Purpose runs in Bradford, but also responsible for developing and deIivering our leadership development courses for people at the start of their career across the North of England. I manage the team who work with 13-14 year olds in Yorkshire. I work in and lead a small team, looking for applications from a broad mixture of people from different sectors and backgrounds  to our courses, designing the content for the course with relevant speakers, visits and group work activities. Our work is very hands on and I have to switch between thinking strategically about how we develop our activity across the North, to delivering and chairing leadership development courses. I meet a fantastic range of people and learn so many new things every day.

As Regional Director, I am the public face of Common Purpose in Yorkshire and with my colleagues across the region, am always looking for new opportunities for us to develop here. As an organisation which aims to make leaders more effective, it is so satisfying to see people who have used our courses progressing in their careers and being betters leaders in their businesses, communities and organisations, but also in wider society. Being passionate about Common Purpose and the work we do means that I never switch off. I am always looking out for interesting and relevant information we should be including on our leadership courses.

Andy Coxall

I joined Common Purpose at the end of 2007 working as a Course Co-ordinator in London. Prior to this I studied Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, worked for a charity fundraising company, spent a year in South America travelling and volunteering on a street kids programme in Peru. On my return I then started working for Common Purpose.

My first role was working on our youth course, Your Turn, aimed at year 9 and 10 students helping them to better understand how society works and how they can make a difference and positive impact in their schools and communities. I found this a really eye opening experience, it was amazing to see the clarity with which they saw things, there wasn't any jaded cynicism, just positivity and fresh new ideas and perspectives. After this I started working on our emerging leaders course, which is a 5 month course for 40 - 60 leaders from the private, public and not for profit sectors who are 5 - 15 years into their careers. I worked on this course and progressed up through it over 2 years, eventually running it as Course Director and doing all the chairing and facilitation. This had been the challenge I'd set myself when asked by one of my previous bosses where I wanted to get to within the organization, to be a Course Director and chairing courses because I didn't like public speaking, something which now I'm more than accustomed to and enjoy massively.

That's one of the things I've really valued and enjoyed about my time here, that opportunities to develop and take on new challenges, tasks and roles are forthcoming and that my ambitions have been accommodated and developed.

Working with around 300 emerging leaders across 6 courses has been truly inspiring, it's amazing to meet such bright, driven, remarkable people and be able to play a part in their development and careers. I've come across organizations, ideas, passions, backgrounds, interests, experiences, dreams that I would never come across normally, from such a fantastic array of people.

Alongside this I also worked on our university student course, senior leaders course and bespoke pieces of work for clients as well which held me in good stead for my current role of Curriculum Director.

Jennifer Tate

I started working for Common Purpose as a Course Coordinator in the North East office in June 2007. I joined the organisation straight from university where I was studying Business and Economics.

Common Purpose is such a diverse organisation that the role is always interesting and challenging. My first role here was focused on youth courses, which I helped plan and deliver. After a year I moved over to work on our senior leaders courses. The role was similar but brought new challenges of working with a different age group. I've now almost moved full circle though as we begin to work with more universities in the local area. I have started to work on courses that focus on university students while also continuing to work with senior leaders.

I was promoted to Senior Course Coordinator in 2009 and then promoted again to Course Manager in 2010. There are lots of development opportunities at Common Purpose and if you are willing to work hard, then the organisation is excellent at recognising work and promoting from within.

My Course Manager role has many elements. The main part, which I carried over from being a Coordinator is the planning and organising of events and curriculum - this includes finding venues, contributors, creating information packs and maintaining customer relationships. I also manage finance budgets and work on our marketing and sales strategies.

As part of the Course Manager role we are always focused on personal development while I have also begun facilitating days and attending sales meetings. This is hugely rewarding and enjoyable. I recently completed facilitating a course for international students, which really ignited my passion for working with this group of people. The organisation provides lots of training to help you prepare for these steps but a lot of the role is trying things out and seeing how you get on. I have a lot of support from my teams in the North East and Scotland and we work to support each other through our career goals and with work in general.

Sarah Longfils

I joined Common Purpose in September 2011 after having completed a degree in History from the University of Nottingham. Having come straight from university, my work experience was limited. Then I took a gap year and worked in New Zealand for 6 months as an au pair - I've worked in an arts centre in Birmingham ad hoc for the past 4 years and I have also been teaching private music lessons since the age of 14.

I am a course coordinator for Common Purpose and based in the Birmingham office. It's a very small team but we work well together. Even though I have only been at Common Purpose for just over 6 months at the time of writing this I have already had the opportunity to be involved in some amazing projects. In November 2011 I was involved in the organisation and running of Birmingham's first Young Million course for young unemployed people. We got press coverage and were featured on Midlands Today. However, for me, the best part of this course was seeing the young people (many of whom were very close in age to myself) grow in confidence and ultimately become more positive about their future employment options.

I have also been involved in running Meridian, our senior leader's course - this is a completely different kettle of fish compared to Young Million. Meridian started in January with over 40 senior leaders from across Birmingham and the Midlands. We've been to whistle factories, banks, charities, churches and even a prison so the experience is extremely varied and extremely rewarding.

I have also been involved in running Meridian, our senior leader's course, which is a completely different kettle of fish compared to Young Million. Meridian started in January with over 40 senior leaders from across Birmingham and the Midlands. We've been to whistle factories, banks, charities, churches and even a prison so the experience is extremely varied and extremely rewarding.

Since starting at Common Purpose, I have coordinated and compiled an instruction manual for all Course Coordinators and Course Managers to aid new starters in understanding their role and how to carry out the day to day tasks expected of them. I have also volunteered to chair conference calls and have always been willing to get as involved as I can in course days. As a result, even in 6 months, I have grown so much from working here.