In December 2010, Jon Young, with the help of Stafford-Sharp Associates, landed his first Web Design role with Northamptonshire creative agency, Spinbox Media. At the age of 30, Jon took the bold step of making a complete career change in order to both fulfil his passion for Web Design, and also benefit his young family long term.

Kevin Nixon, Senior Consultant at Stafford-Sharp, caught up with Jon to see how he’s getting on after making his life-changing career move.

Where the magic happens

“In 2008, I found out that my wife was expecting our first daughter, and that prompted me to sit back, take a look at my career and assess where my life was going. I knew that I had a passion for web design, and in the sales job I had at the time, I felt that I had gone as far as I could have in terms of job prospects.

As I had always had a big interest in IT, I decided to enrol on an evening Web Design course at college (National Diploma in Web Design and Flash). I set an action plan, including designing my own portfolio and taking on freelance projects in the evening and weekend. It was tough, sometimes meaning I was working 9-5 in my day job, and then until 1am in the morning on my web design work. However, I hoped that demonstrating my design skills in a commercial way would impress prospective employers.

Unlike all of the other agencies I had spoken to previously, Kevin took a real interest in my work and although I had limited commercial experience, he recognised the quality of my portfolio and was more than happy to submit my CV to Spinbox. I was delighted when I landed the job after just one interview”

Kevin catches up with Jon at work

After Jon’s first 3 months in his Design role, Spinbox Media owner Rehan Butt has been more than impressed with his progress. Kevin quizzed Rehan on what he felt made Jon stand out from the numerous other candidates he had previously interviewed.

“Through our interview process, we came across quite a few graduate candidates, even some with Masters degrees. The problem I found was that although they had a full educational background, their practical design skills weren’t at a high enough level. Jon’s portfolio was at a much higher standard due to his hands-on experience.

Also, Jon’s desire to learn his skills and enhance his portfolio in his own time, whilst looking after a small family and holding down a full-time job, impressed me massively and made him stand out from the pack.

Since he has joined, his speed has increased and his coding standards have proven to be to a high standard. Considering the amount of time he has taken to learn things such as HTML, Jon’s skill level is excellent.

I would definitely use Stafford-Sharp Associates again and would have no hesitation in recommending them to any other Creative Design Agency looking to recruit new staff. Throughout the recruitment process, Stafford-Sharp acted with complete honesty, and gave us a very detailed overview of the experience and skill level of each candidate.

My primary concern was that my time didn’t get wasted interviewing unsuitable candidates, so this was extremely helpful”

*Spinbox Media are a leading creative agency based in the heart of the Northamptonshire countryside. They work tirelessly to produce innovative concepts, amazing functional websites and leading online advertising and marketing campaigns. To check them out, visit www.spinboxmedia.co.uk