Last week Spearfish Security took part in a remote Work experience programme in partnership with Ark St Alban’s Academy.
We had the pleasure of spending time with students Aleesa, Imran and Jerusalem and Joseph. The goal of the programme was to open the students minds to what careers are available to them and how a SME works. We asked the students to write an article on their experience and their understanding of the company, read below their thoughts on the team!
Introduction:
Spearfish is a security business, originally set up in 2009 by Dan Hooton, that aids companies in matters concerning security of employees during foreign travel or operations taking place abroad. Spearfish have four main offices based in; UK, South Asia, West Africa and (most recently) Ukraine. They offer a range of services such as planning design, training, crisis response.
Managing Director- Dan Hooton:
Every business requires a brilliant leader and at Spearfish, Managing Director Dan, who set up the company in 2009, provides exactly this. He wanted to continue his consultancy work as part of a brand, and by 2023, has increased the team to 25 people. As Managing Director, Dan has 3 main roles; managing clients; developing new products; and managing the team. For now, the focus is growing in Ukraine, and his recent visit to the capital consolidated his positive opinions about the place.
“‘This has taught me about the importance of everybody within the team having a synchronized effort to achieve the task at hand, be it the founder/the CEO, or the people behind the scenes that still have the same prevalence, without the same notoriety.‘ ”
Office management – Aisha Gekpe ( Abuja) and Angela Farrington ( UK)
Angela, working alongside accountants like Aisha, plays a big role in the financial operations of Spearfish; recording and managing cashflow with the business, both in present and for the foreseeable future to allow the business to be prepared. However, as well as company finances, Angela will also ensure the office can properly function. Evidently these jobs are all extremely important for Spearfish to operate, but they generally aren’t brought to light as much as their counterparts, so it was nice for us to gain an insight into them.
“‘Personally, I think that this work experience has taught me a lot about how to work together with people and listen to other people’s ideas so that everyone is included.’ ”
RSAs (Regional Safety Advisors):
RSA’s will generally operate globally and so are also employed internationally, as we found with some of the people we had the privilege of speaking with; Darren in the UK, Fouad in Lebanon, Fida in Pakistan and Charlie who is now in Ukraine. The process seems to begin with the gathering of information on the clients, including where they intend to travel, the number of people involved, any medical technicalities and more. This work is of course vital to Spearfish and requires a lot of careful thought and consideration. This links into the many training programs among the RSA, including first aid, skills like changing Tyres and their H.E.A.T (Hostile Environment Awareness Training), which allows them to act out real life scenarios and their appropriate response to allow employees and clients to be prepared for worst case scenarios.
Digital & Marketing- Rosie Turner:
Marketing is at the heart of Spearfish. Rosie, Head of Digital Marketing, plays a major role in many parts of this. Rosie also mentioned that she worked closely with gathering information on clients and gaining client’s trust, helping them to better understand the processes carried out by the business that may be unfamiliar to clients who are not familiar with security firms. This greatly interested those of us interested in careers in tech and media and Rosie was able to give us an insight on how these jobs were incorporated in businesses like Spearfish.
“‘This experience has led to me discovering new ideas and interests in what career path I want to take in my ambitious strive for success.’ ”
Intern Conall Hornett
Conall is studying at the University of Winchester and has a bachelors in criminology and is working on his dissertation which he has received help from Spearfish for. He came into Spearfish on the basis of this interest and study and greatly enjoys his time within Spearfish. He said this has allowed him to experience a lot of hands-on work and work while applying his degree and gaining confidence and research experience.
There were of course challenges with the internship, having to learn while you work and gaining confidence in public speaking and larger workloads. However, he was able to tell us that these challenges improve over time as one becomes more experienced, which was very encouraging for ourselves.
The Spearfish team thoroughly enjoyed our time with the school students who were clearly interested and engaged. We wish them all the best of luck with their future careers and hope our paths cross again.
“‘I think it was really nice to see how different sectors came together to form such an important business and I think this experience has allowed me to practice my teamworking skills and information organization and retrieval.’
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