Founded by Jeff Brades, Focus Grow Progress is borne out of personal experience. After more than three decades living and working on four continents and becoming a senior global executive in one of the largest privately owned companies in the world Jeff established FGP in reaction to his own observations of his son’s (challenging) job search. Despite having a STEM degree from a Russell Group university and schooling at one of the leading independent schools, Jeff noticed that there was a clear gap in soft skills training that he then struggled to find anyone able to offer support for in a clear and structured manner. In forming and defining FGP it was clear that counsellors, life coaches or career guides are not the solution in isolation. FGP focuses in a ‘start at the end and work backwards’ manner, using a deeprooted understanding of the corporate world to build a programme that considers how to fill the gaps based on what is needed to successfully enter the working arena. This then provides access to the marginal gains that will give them the opportunity to stand out from the crowd, to navigate beyond the AI bots and screening platforms and then to prosper in that role when it is secured.

It is for this reason that Focus Grow Progress believe the time to do this work is before commencing employment, to allow the young adult the time, space and guidance to work out what they want from their first role and to give them the chance to practise the skills needed before that work starts, in a safe and trusting environment. Focus Grow Progress is not just one person or one format. It relies on a network of senior executives, young leaders and specific subject matter experts, all of whom are brought into the programme at the opportune moment to interact with participants and offer them the guidance needed. If you are interested in learning more about how you, or a member of your family, might participate in an upcoming programme of Focus Grow Progress there are a number of ways to explore that.