The company is called First Conferences. It was established in 1991 and there are currently about 90 of us working here. This year’s revenues will be approximately £8.5 million.

Most of our revenue comes from international business conferences and exhibitions. But our business also encompasses increasingly large scale publishing activities – both magazines and email newsletters. We’ve also just started a company that co-ordinates international business research.

Although we’re located in London we trade all over the world. Last year we had customers in more than 100 countries. About 45% of our business comes from Europe, 40% North America and 15% from Asia.

We work in a number of different industries - the main ones are:

• Energy
• Pharmaceuticals
• Healthcare
• Transport and logistics
• Travel
• Automotive
• Ethical business
• Mobile and Wireless
• Retail
• Gambling

It’s important that you realise that we’re conference promoters rather than conference organisers, there is a big difference between the two.

Conference promoters – which is what we are – organise their own events and then hope to sell tickets. We invest (and risk) between Euro 75,000 – 100,000 in a conference and if we don’t sell tickets we make a loss. So the important parts of our job are: researching in order to find the right topic (i.e. one that’s going to sell) and then marketing it properly. Logistics and organisation are only a small part of our job. Which means that creativity and innovation – backed up by sound research is essential in a company like ours.

A conference organiser gets a contract to organise an event, it takes a project fee and does the work, and that’s not us.

The management style of the company is quite simple. We keep the organisation as “flat” as we can and have as little hierarchy as possible.

We are a dynamic and multinational company, people here come from: United Kingdom, Ukraine, Sweden, USA, Argentina, Ireland, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany and South Africa.

What sort of people are we looking for?

We’re looking for people who are able to assume responsibility quickly and make their own decisions.

You’ll have an interest in business and be keen to create something, so you’ll need to be entrepreneurial as well.

Because risk is an important part of our business, it can be stressful at times. So you’ll need to be able to cope with stress and work long hours when it’s necessary.

There’s another thing that’s essential… and that’s that you have great communications skills. Because, you’ll be speaking to business leaders, worldwide, explaining difficult concepts and gathering information.

But, most important of all, you’ll need to be willing to learn… every day, all the time.

What do we value?

Unlike most companies we’re not really interested in your academic qualifications. We’re much more interested in the jobs – or projects - that you’ve done and where you’ve done them.

We want to know about your hobbies, your ambitions and your non-work interests too.