00:00:02 My name is Arif Rampuri, I work for Certus Sales and I’m a recruitment consultant. My role involves meeting candidates, meeting clients, talk to sales directors, HR managers and really position our self to become a preferred supplier or partner or supplier of sort of sales professionals to their organisation who go out to the market and obviously promote their product and services.
00:00:31 I was never the bright spark at school. I’d probably say I was... every parents' evening, it was always 'Arif talks too much, Arif talks too much, doesn’t listen enough'. So I was very much more the sort of, I wouldn’t say a rebel, I wouldn’t say I was a bad student but I wouldn’t say I was a good student either. It never really crossed my mind at school but I think the one thing I really did want to do was not pursue a career through education. I just never was the sort of academic. I just really wanted to sort of learn, make mistakes, fall down, get myself up again, try and try and try again. I feel quite glad making the decision that I did leave school at 16 and I think the most sort of beneficial thing for me has been the mentors I work with. They’ve massively helped me develop and learn, not just from a career point of view but from a truly life skills point of view.
00:01:26 I started off here at the age of 16. It was my first ever interview actually working for the organisation. I came here on Thursday, it was actually in this room and I was basically being interviewed as a potential candidate. At that time the sales director, Rob Popham, was looking for a personal assistant. Didn’t really understand what the role of a personal assistant was at the time, but I just naturally bought into him and the business and, you know, where they wanted to go. So, I kind of accepted it on the Friday, started with them on Monday and been here ever since. And my role for the first sort of three to nine months was pretty much being a personal assistant, dry cleaning, doing the admin, sort of tea boy, all that sort of stuff. Absolutely great fun and then I just wanted something a bit more of a challenge. So then they gave me the opportunity to sort of get into much more very sort of proactive role rather than a reactive role and sort of one thing lead onto the other and sort of two years down the line I’m now a consultant, carry revenue target, and it’s just been an awesome experience over the last two years.
00:02:33 There’s a guy called Anthony Robbins, I read a book, it’s called “Notes From A Friend”, it’s a only a short book, 60-70 pages but it’s all to do with not giving up, never giving up. There’s always...somewhere along the line there’s always going to be a “Yes,” somewhere. It’s just a case of being persistent for the right reasons, to just keep on going until you get that “Yes” and from experience, I’ve done that. Whether that be through cold calling or, you know, just trying to get hold of somebody or actually anything. Just having that want for something for the right reasons. And it’s just a case of not giving up and, you know, I can guarantee you that if you don’t give and you then get to that “Yes”, you’ll never give up.
00:03:14 I’d like to become a consultant who one day can sort of give back to somebody else what I’ve been given and that’s both from a sort of training, learning development and life skills point of view. I think that would probably be my ultimate goal, not sort of financial wealth or recognition or anything like that. It’s to actually give back and mentor someone quite young, quite green, quite raw who’s just very, who’s got the right mind set, really wants to make a go of themselves but just needs to be shown a path. I’d love to give that back to somebody else, you know, later on in life once I’ve got enough experience, wisdom and all that sort of stuff. But that would probably be the highlight of my career.
ENDS
Arif Rampuri
ARIF RAMPURI
My name is Arif Rampuri, I work for Certus Sales and I’m a recruitment consultant. My role involves meeting candidates, meeting clients, talk to sales directors, HR managers and really position our self to become a preferred supplier or partner or supplier of sort of sales professionals to their organisation who go out to the market and obviously promote their product and services.
I was never the bright spark at school. I’d probably say I was... every parents' evening, it was always 'Arif talks too much, Arif talks too much, doesn’t listen enough'. So I was very much more the sort of, I wouldn’t say a rebel, I wouldn’t say I was a bad student but I wouldn’t say I was a good student either. It never really crossed my mind at school but I think the one thing I really did want to do was not pursue a career through education. I just never was the sort of academic. I just really wanted to sort of learn, make mistakes, fall down, get myself up again, try and try and try again. I feel quite glad making the decision that I did leave school at 16 and I think the most sort of beneficial thing for me has been the mentors I work with. They’ve massively helped me develop and learn, not just from a career point of view but from a truly life skills point of view.
I started off here at the age of 16. It was my first ever interview actually working for the organisation. I came here on Thursday, it was actually in this room and I was basically being interviewed as a potential candidate. At that time the sales director, Rob Popham, was looking for a personal assistant. Didn’t really understand what the role of a personal assistant was at the time, but I just naturally bought into him and the business and, you know, where they wanted to go. So, I kind of accepted it on the Friday, started with them on Monday and been here ever since. And my role for the first sort of three to nine months was pretty much being a personal assistant, dry cleaning, doing the admin, sort of tea boy, all that sort of stuff. Absolutely great fun and then I just wanted something a bit more of a challenge. So then they gave me the opportunity to sort of get into much more very sort of proactive role rather than a reactive role and sort of one thing lead onto the other and sort of two years down the line I’m now a consultant, carry revenue target, and it’s just been an awesome experience over the last two years.
There’s a guy called Anthony Robbins, I read a book, it’s called “Notes From A Friend”, it’s a only a short book, 60-70 pages but it’s all to do with not giving up, never giving up. There’s always...somewhere along the line there’s always going to be a “Yes,” somewhere. It’s just a case of being persistent for the right reasons, to just keep on going until you get that “Yes” and from experience, I’ve done that. Whether that be through cold calling or, you know, just trying to get hold of somebody or actually anything. Just having that want for something for the right reasons. And it’s just a case of not giving up and, you know, I can guarantee you that if you don’t give and you then get to that “Yes”, you’ll never give up.
I’d like to become a consultant who one day can sort of give back to somebody else what I’ve been given and that’s both from a sort of training, learning development and life skills point of view. I think that would probably be my ultimate goal, not sort of financial wealth or recognition or anything like that. It’s to actually give back and mentor someone quite young, quite green, quite raw who’s just very, who’s got the right mind set, really wants to make a go of themselves but just needs to be shown a path. I’d love to give that back to somebody else, you know, later on in life once I’ve got enough experience, wisdom and all that sort of stuff. But that would probably be the highlight of my career.
ENDS
Arif Rampuri works for Certus Sales as a recruitment consultant - two years after leaving school at 16. "It's just a case of being persistent for the right reasons". He started "pretty much being a personal assistant, dry cleaning, doing the admin, sort of tea boy, all that sort of stuff." He says "I'm now a consultant, carry revenue target, and it's just been an awesome two years".
External links
Sector Skills Council for Creative & Cultural Skills
As part of icould's continuous development, we plan to include additional material from icould storytellers in the form of Blogs and other information which will enrich their filmed stories. So watch this space!
The tag map below allows you to explore some of the many stories here on icould.
