Seeking unique talent to join the TEDI-London team

In this blog, Chief People Officer Michelle Wenham outlines why TEDI-London is such a unique, and exciting, place to work.

The people who work with us reflect our ambitions for our students. We are keen to attract potential colleagues who are creative, innovative, curious and passionate about what we aim to achieve. You will want to try new things – enjoy learning from the experience and having fun doing things differently. Collaboration with colleagues – both locally and globally – is part of your DNA. You will want to continuously develop and improve.

In a start-up, each day really is different.

We work collaboratively at TEDI-London on big decisions, but also need individuals that take initiative and have the skills and experience to manage their own work areas. We are a start-up with huge ambition, but you should not expect to join an organisation with all the answers, and everything mapped out. That is what we need you for, to be part of our journey.

You will not have a huge team and extensive infrastructure in place. One day you might be writing a strategy or paper for the board – another you might be proof reading a letter. You will relish the chance to be in a new organisation with a world of possibilities where you can genuinely see the value that you add daily. The team you work with will be from different functions and levels – all united in one goal -to make TEDI-London a success.

Would I start remotely in light of COVID-19?

Yes – we have already successfully started three new employees, hired before the outbreak of COVID-19, and they are working remotely from their homes. We utilise Microsoft Teams for our working groups and to keep in touch. We have weekly quizzes and coffee catchups. Our wellbeing programme has recently focused on these unprecedented times: Coping with change, coping with pressure, good mental health and maintaining resilience.

We are passionate about ensuring employee wellbeing throughout these times, and beyond, and colleagues are encouraged to share both how they feel, as well as what they are doing in their role.

How secure would my job be at TEDI-London?

We have guaranteed funding from our founding partners for a minimum of five years. The Board have recently reiterated their commitment to TEDI-London as an organisation. We have a generous benefits package offered equally to all our employees no matter what their role.

We also benchmark the rates we offer to our wider group of colleagues who undertake ad hoc work activities and projects for us – ensuring we attract the best talent.

We have worked on several scenarios given the unique times we find ourselves in and are confident we can weather this storm – perhaps more effectively than many larger institutions.

What is unique about working for TEDI-London?

Our ongoing challenge to ourselves is not to just replicate what has been done elsewhere but use our experience and knowledge creatively and deliver differently. It doesn’t matter whether you work in finance or are developing our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). You have the freedom to create and action the changes you have wished to see happen in previous jobs -without excessive bureaucracy – but instead gentle collegiate challenge.

We have values we take seriously – our behaviours and culture matter – we try to ensure we role model the ‘how’ as well as ‘what’ we deliver.

You cannot have great performance without both elements at TEDI-London.

Our approach to agile working assumes all our roles can to a greater or lesser extent be carried out flexibly. We have diverse colleagues and their needs are equally as different – no one size fits all; some of us prefer to be in the office, some of us work from home more, some from coffee shops – we decide as professional teams the best way to deliver great performance.

First and foremost is maximising student experience and this must underpin all we do and how we do it.

Trust is vital and we lead, manage and work to maintain our high levels of trust and personal accountability.

Personal and Professional Development

Ensuring we attract and recruit outstanding people with amazing skills and personal qualities is not enough. We are committed to facilitating Continuous Professional Development across the organisation. We have supported colleagues with time and investment to gain qualifications and new skills and knowledge even in the short time we have been established. We pay for one professional membership for employees and encourage development discussions during regular check-ins and take time during the month to develop ourselves – guilt-free.

We are proud to be different and you need to decide if the challenge and all that we offer is right for you and your next move.

If you think we could be the right fit please do get in touch – we would love to hear from you.