Bursary candidate Harvey Hounslow: ‘things have changed with incredible pace’

Harvey Hounslow

After experiencing a personal tragedy in late 2021, I found myself back at work in 2022, drifting along in a job that I neither particularly enjoyed nor hated. While I could honestly say at the time that I was doing my job to the best of my ability, I also didn’t feel any particular connection to the industry I found myself in, and I knew that there was more out there for me. Noticing my predicament, a family friend kindly introduced me to the bursary scheme at Finito.

Following initial introductions, phone calls and, before long, an in-person meeting with Ronel Lehmann, I became aware of how unusual and compelling a proposition Finito really was. This wasn’t your typical recruitment consultancy! This was a firm that offered top-class mentoring and career guidance but with a true and noble ethos underpinning everything: the idea that work should be a positive force in the individual’s life and society at large.

More than anything, Finito gave me the opportunity to talk to a group of mentors who share in this ethos and have achieved great success in the world of work. Amanda Brown, Robin Rose, Merrill Powell, Derek Walker, Matt Thompson, Claire Ashley, Claire Coe, Sophia Petrides, Sam Pearce and of course Ronel were all a pleasure to speak with, and each had unique insights to offer. But there was also a common thread in these conversations – that employers are looking for character as much as they are for credentials.

Perhaps it’s easier to see this when you’re not actively involved in looking for work, worrying whether your qualifications and career history are quite good enough or whether you’re the right fit for a particular role. But it’s really important to remember why you are trying to make a positive change in your life and career, and to convey this sense of positivity to your prospective employer. Of course, this understanding comes naturally with age and experience in the world of work, much like any technical skill or strategic vision takes time to master.

And so, armed by Finito with a polished new CV and a newfound confidence from my conversations with the aforementioned mentors, I soon secured a new role at an exciting firm in an industry only tangentially related to my previous one. I even negotiated a modest increase on the initial salary offer, something I’m sure I would have found difficult to do without the support and counsel provided.

Fast forward three years and things have changed with incredible pace. During that time, the company has acquired five others and maintained its position as a market leader. Inevitably, my role and responsibilities have also changed. I now find myself asking whether it would be more rewarding to pursue my career internally or to begin seeking my next move. Either way, I am happy with my current position, and I am grateful to have the flexibility to work from home but also from the company office in the City on a regular basis. I believe there’s nowhere more interesting to work in the UK (and perhaps the world) than the City of London, with its unique blend of history and hypermodernity.

Speaking of hypermodernity, something which has contributed massively to the radical change of the last few years is the advent of Large Language Models (LLMs) and (perhaps) the first true stirrings of artificial intelligence. In my company we are not only encouraged but required to use AI in our work and I suspect this is not now unusual. AI competency is an increasingly important skillset and we are entering an era where it may become routine for organisations to leverage AI to perform entire business functions, roles that once required whole teams packed full of people with years of education and experience to fulfil. If it becomes evident that AI can perform as well as or better than a human when given executive responsibilities, then I believe we will soon see AI-run companies, regardless of the ethical implications.

Given the incomprehensibly broad knowledge base of LLMs, it seems inevitable that knowledge itself will begin to lose some of its currency in the marketplace, perhaps leaving room for other qualities to come to the fore. Within artistic fields, AIs trained extensively on the output of the very best humans will have no trouble in producing works – in fractions of a second – that feel indistinguishable from a Mozart symphony or a Rembrandt painting. But even still, a true artist should find that they are able to stand apart with a spark of creative genius that is not derivative but original.

We have existed for millennia within economies that have demanded specialisation and the division of labour. This in turn has shaped our perception of the world and our understanding of ourselves. Most people’s sense of self-worth is in some way tied to being good at something or other. But by demonstrating superhuman levels of performance in almost every field of endeavour, perhaps AI will ultimately prompt a change in the way we think about ourselves. Can we refocus the source of our self-worth away from being good at something and instead towards ‘just’ being good?

Classically, one of the first questions asked when two people meet for the first time is ‘What do you do?’ Not so often is this question followed up with ‘and why do you do it?’ I envisage a society where it becomes increasingly common to ask the latter question. Individuals – and organisations – that are driven not just by a list of contingent goals but by a true underlying ethos will be better equipped to weather the coming storm of technological change. Finito is unquestionably one such organisation.

Having become a father recently, these topics increasingly give me pause for thought. I do worry that our daughter’s childhood could be stymied by technology dependency; quick answers and instant gratification do not provide the challenge and stimulation which are essential for early intellectual development. There is something very grounding about going back to basics and actually doing or creating something – however simple – with your hands, from beginning to end. My partner and I will ensure that our daughter knows this simple fact.