Hugh Chatfield

On Purpose London October 2019 Fellow, now Head of Growth for an organisation that aims to transform education to employment systems to prepare, place, and support people in life-changing careers that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Can you tell me about your background and your career prior to On Purpose?

Prior to joining the Associate Programme, and following an economics degree from the University of Cambridge, I worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company.  Here I conducted a wide range of work advising clients in the private sector and public sector - from advising multinational online travel agencies on how to improve their customer experience, to commercial and strategic work guiding groups of NHS hospitals to reconfigure their services and redesign their models of care, to supporting large public sector organisations in renegotiating large IT contracts. 

However, after a while, I realised I wanted to be closer to tangible, social impact and took a secondment as the tech and retail sector lead in a charity called Generation delivering training bootcamps for young people across the UK facing barriers to employment.   I was hooked, and, looking to find out more about the world of social impact, joined the associate programme.

What are your greatest strengths?

Through management consulting I developed a strong baseline of consulting skills - including the required analysis, problem solving, and presentation skills fundamental to the role. As well as this, I learned how to work in small, fast-paced teams around tight deadlines and how to guide people through change. 

Can you tell me more about your placements?

Whilst on the Associate Programme I completed two placements.  In the first I worked as the Head of Commercial for a start-up called Stay Nimble, building a digital career coaching platform combining real-time labour market analysis with personalised 1:1 coaching. My responsibility was to design and deliver the 'go-to-market' strategy for the platform so it could generate sustainable sources of revenue to scale its impact and reach to more vulnerable groups without charging them. During the project I secured the organisation's first commercial clients and a pipeline of >80 qualified opportunities as well as unrestricted grant/prize funding.

In my second placement I led a collection of strategic projects for Dot Dot Dot, a market leading property guardianship business. In this varied role I developed and implemented a cross-organisational approach to managing industry specific legal risks, led financial planning through the disruption caused by the pandemic securing a required CBILS loan, developed the organisation's theory of change and associated social impact measurement approach, and constructed a proposal for the organisations' LT strategy approved by leadership.

How did you find making the move to join On Purpose?

I was excited to make the move to join the On Purpose Associate Programme - I wanted to try something different, learn more about the world of social enterprise, make some new friends and grow my network. I achieved all those things and have never looked back.