Episode 67 - James Callander - Freshminds

After our short summer break I’m pleased to say the podcast is back and what a guest we have to kick us off for the autumn. Today’s guest is James Callander, Managing Director of Freshminds, the leading resourcing and research firm for the consulting industry. As you’ll hear in today’s interview, freshminds have a long history in our industry and were actually one of the very first search firm that I signed up for when I was looking to make the move in to consulting almost a decade ago. I still remember scouring their weekly newsletter for potential roles and it was great to get a chance to catch up with one of the people behind it all and find out about James story with Freshminds over his almost 18 year career with the firm. Unlike many of my guests, James’s career actually started while he was still in school, running various business ventures from the school printing press to leading sales for the school magazine. Deciding he wanted to move to London following university James began his formal career with two extended internships, firstly at the strategy consultancy Roland Berger, then followed by another at the then leading public relationships firm Bell Pottinger. It was these early experiences that led James to take the bold step and become a freelance researcher for the, at the time, small start-up research consultancy Freshminds. The rest as they say is history and over the last almost 18 years James’s career has grown alongside the business, which he now runs as Managing Director. Leading a team of over 140 people to reshape the future of resourcing and consulting. Given James’s wealth of experience there was so much for us to cover and we discuss some really interesting topics in this conversation including: - James entrepreneurial start, how his teenage business ventures shaped his career, and how the skills he learnt from that period have helped him get to where he is today. - His almost 18-year career with Freshminds, how he was able to climb from a freelance researcher to Managing Director of the firm and his advice for anyone looking to emulate his success. - And his career advice for those of you looking to take the next step in your career, be that moving to another consulting firm or jumping out and becoming an independent contractor. I really enjoyed this conversation with James. As his story shows you don’t have to follow a structured consulting career path to reach the top in our industry and that with hard work and dedication, anything is possible. Whether you’re at the start of your career and looking to break in to consulting or you’re an experienced consultant looking at what the best next step is for you, I know you’re going to get so much from what James has to say. So, with the intro done and dusted, sit back, relax and enjoy my interview with James Callander. To get in touch with James find him either through LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamescallander/ Or through Email - jc@freshminds.co.uk You can find out more about Freshminds at - https://www.freshminds.co.uk/ James' book recommendations: Too Big to Fail: Inside the Battle to Save Wall Street - https://amzn.to/32EHSDo Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup - https://amzn.to/35G7q53