As Pitman Training launches its annual SuperAchievers Awards which recognise those who shine within their industry, overcoming challenges and tackling diversity, this year there’s a new audience also being recognised – those working as volunteers, thanks to a Community Award that’s been launched as part of its 2018 SuperAchievers activity and 180th year celebrations.
With £1000 worth of training up for grabs for 11 voluntary organisations across the UK (& 1 International organisation), volunteers are being invited to tell their story and share their challenges for the chance to win training of their volunteers, that could help the groups to grow and flourish.
From marketing to social media, blog writing to web design, accounts packages to Microsoft training, there’s a variety of training available for volunteers and organisers to help fill skills gaps and improve existing knowledge in areas that often small volunteer led groups can’t afford to invest in.
Pitman is encouraging entrants and those nominating others for the wider SuperAchiever Awards such as PA of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Working Mum/Dad of the Year, and Inspirational Achiever of the Year to also take a moment to nominate a local community group in their neighbourhood, via http://superachievers.pitman-training.com/.
Winners will be crowned across the following regions: North East, North West, Midlands, South East, South West, East Anglia, London, Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Scotland. Community groups also have the chance to submit a video to accompany their entry, which Pitman Training will share on their social media channels, to further raise awareness of the work that these groups do, whether they make it to shortlist stage or not.
Pitman Training Group M.D Claire Lister said: “We’re so excited about this new addition to SuperAchievers, which traditionally just rewards individual career achievements and really hope our SuperAchiever entrants will also nominate volunteers within their local community whom they could help support. To be able to boost knowledge and skill sets within community groups is a really worthy activity as it should help increase profitability, helping them generate more funds, save time through increased efficiency and increase the exposure of the groups through marketing know-how. In these groups there are often many unsung heroes working so hard, if we can support them to help them grow that’s a contribution we’ll be really proud of and they can achieve a lot with £1000 worth of training.”
Claire added: “As part of this award we want to shine a light on local volunteers really contributing to our local communities so we are excited to be able to give them a platform via our social media channels to shout from the rooftops about the incredible work they do. This way we hope to impact more than just those who win and support groups throughout the campaign”.
The UK’s leading independent training provider, Pitman Training launched the SuperAchievers Awards to help reward people committed to driving their careers forward and to inspire others to strive for more. The categories available for entry are:-
- Inspirational Achiever of the Year
- Working Mum of the Year
- Working Dad of the Year
- PA of the Year
- Entrepreneur of the Year
- Pitman Training Student of the Year
- Community Award (for local community groups) **NEW**
Nominations close: Friday 2nd March. The application process is quick and easy and can be completed online at http://superachievers.pitman-training.com/. Once entries have been submitted a shortlist is created, then the public have the opportunity to vote, alongside the judging panel on who they feel should be the winners.
This year’s judging panel includes;
- Claire Youngwho was made famous by her role as the highly driven runner up of series four of ‘The Apprentice’ where was dubbed a ‘Rottweiler’ by Lord Sugar for her tenacious approach in the boardroom and drive not to quit. She beat 40,000 candidates to reach the final and this experience inspired Claire to set up ‘School Speakers an award winning business and now the UK’s No 1 speaking agency working alongside schools, colleges and universities across the world to provide talks to students and staff. She also works as a journalist & radio presenter in addition to advising the government on a range of projects supporting young people and women. She has won several business awards and combines her busy career with being a mum to her young daughter Eva.
- Craig Harris,SuperAchiever winner from last year Craig currently working in the third sector. His experience comes from working in various sectors including finance, utilities, retail and commercial. Craig has described himself as a ‘PA for life’ and does all he can to empower other assistants, encouraging other assistants to support and build each other up. Craig uses his experiences to speak at events and help train other admin professionals. He regularly writes articles and blogs about the profession and was a finalist at the both the London PA Awards and SecsInTheCity awards. Craig uses his experiences to speak at events and help train other admin professionals.
- Abbie Coleman –an entrepreneurial working mum of a 2 year old – a highly qualified recruitment consultant with 15 years’ experience in the industry, and over 7 years running her own recruitment firm, Harrington Norman, before she set up MMB Magazine in late 2015 – a website for working parents with all the information they need to advance their own businesses, careers or get that work life balance.
- Catherine Asta Labbett– a Psychotherapist transforming women to achieve their ‘Disco Ball Sparkle’ through working with to help overcome challenges and blocks that prevent them from living their best life. Catherine is also Founder of Girl Tribe Gang, a national community for women who have aspirations to be a #girlboss or who might be in the transition stage of ditching the 9-5 along with those who are already running their own business. Girl Tribe Gang is growing quickly across the UK as new ‘tribes’ launch nationwide each month and honorary members include Blogger Honest Mum and radio personality Stephanie Hirst. Catherine has been featured on BBC & CNN discussing the rise of the female entrepreneur and is passionate about supporting women through coaching, support, knowledge-sharing and collaboration.
- Han-Son Lee –Founder of DaddiLife, a parenting website for dads which focuses on a range of areas to help, celebrate and inspire the modern day father and 2017 SuperAchiever winner of Working Dad of the Year.
Pitman Training offers flexible, tailor-made courses and qualifications with one-on-one student support in subjects including Office, IT, Administration, Finance and Business, which are recognised by employers. The teams also offer free career clinics and CVs advice.
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Notes to Editor
Key Dates
- Nominations close: Friday 2nd March
- Public vote opens: Monday 19thMarch
- Public vote closes: Friday 13th April
- Winners announced: Friday 20th April
Judges
More information on this year’s judges can be found – http://superachievers.pitman-training.com/the-judges.php
