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Welcome to BIG So you’ve passed the interview, you’ve signed a contract and you’ve turned up for Day One at BIG Towers. Now what? Well, naturally, you’ll want to know more about us. The first rule of BIG is….there are no rules. The second rule is that the first rule is an enormous lie. We have a (long) list of policies and procedures and, fortunately, our lovely HR team have answers to all those burning questions you meant to ask at the interview. Instead of the one you did ask about how many holidays you get. Questions like ‘Why BIG?’ and ‘How do I claim my expenses?’ You’ll find all that (and more) in our Staff Handbook which you must read otherwise HR will hunt you down and kick your ass. Your Boys & Girls Book of BIG, on the other hand, gives you a bit of insight into why we’re one of the UK’s most successful communications companies.
small BIG Let’s get the history out of the way first of all. You pretended at your interview you’d looked at our website so here’s the short version…. At, quite literally, the dawn of the 21st century, three blokes decided to form their own small PR company in Glasgow, the aim being, as one of them said at the time, ‘to get shit in the papers’. Armed only with a shedload of journalistic experience, a ton of ambition and a fax machine (one for the kids there) they made a name in Scottish media circles as an agency that Got Stuff Done. We’ve moved on a bit since then. (One of the blokes – the ‘I’ in ‘BIG’ has also moved on so we’re left with Barr and Gibson.) Having got quite substantial amounts of shit in the aforementioned papers and shown quite how good we were at it, we decided we had more to offer.
BIGGER BIG We’re now the largest integrated PR and digital marketing agency outside London with more than 100 staff across our five offices. While the insertion of ‘shit’ into newspapers still has its place in our work, we now offer our clients a whole range of services across traditional, social and digital media. How many clients do we have, I hear you say? Three hundred and counting and, no, we’re not going to list them all here. From (client A) in Aberdeen to (client B) in Liverpool, they come in all shapes, sizes and sectors. What unites them is that they rely on us for a top quality service – whether that’s boosting their public profile, writing a speech for their chief executive, launching their new product range, creating a killer brand or protecting their online reputation. And while we’re never complacent, we know our clients value what we do. How do we know? Simple. We ask them – we survey them on a regular basis and have a 98% recommendation rate.
Why BIG? Easy. We’re great at what we do. Added to that, we work really hard. But we take the view that we can always do even better by adding more talented people to our team. That’s where you come in. You’ve joined a company with great people, a fantastic list of clients and an environment where you can hone the skills you already have and learn new ones, demonstrate your creativity and carve out a great career for yourself.Oh, yes, and get well paid for it. Prove it, I hear you say! OK. The best way to do that is tell you about our company values.
What is BIG? We didn’t just pluck them out of the air. Or find them on Google. We asked our people to give us their views. And we thought long and hard about what kind of company our clients want to work with. So you want to know what BIG stands for? TRUST TEAM CREATIVE PARTNERSHIP RESULTS Everything you need to know about BIG is contained in those values.
Next BIG thing You’re joining us at an exciting time for the business. We’ve got a list of clients which is the envy of our competitors. And we’re delivering a bigger, more diverse range of services for them than ever before. Our corporate, consumer, digital, publications and events teams are working with some of the UK’s leading companies, creating high quality communications campaigns and helping make a difference to their bottom line. We’re partnering with Scotland’s major public sector organisations including the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Development International and Transport Scotland on initiatives, projects and campaigns which are making a real difference to life in Scotland. We’re also working with some of this country’s rising stars to help create the next generation of business success stories.
How BIG works Cliché klaxon! We work hard and play hard. Our people pride themselves on being there until the job’s done and the client’s happy. So, if that means getting to your desk while the birdies are tweeting or putting in a late shift after the last train home, we’re not going to lie to you. It happens. That doesn’t mean we take you for granted or think we own you. We just make sure that we deliver what we said we would for clients. And, if possible, a bit more… Making connections is a huge part of our business so we also expect you to devote some of your free time to networking, meeting new people, going to events and helping us win new business. You’re our ambassadors so we rely on you to let people know why they should work with us. Since we got really BIG, we’ve had to act BIG so we’ve introduced some systems to help make all our jobs easier. But, at the same time, we’re flexible about how we work and, if you think there’s a better way to do something, we want to hear it.
BIG fun But alongside the hard work, we like to enjoy ourselves. You’ll quickly find that some of your best mates in life are your colleagues at BIG. We help that process along by making sure our people know how to have fun. So you can look forward to some cracking nights out, a monthly Pizza Friday where you can gorge on meat feast or margherita till you burst and a host of other activities that will make you forget you’re actually at work.
BIG ideas One of the best things about our job is that we get to be creative. How great is that? We don’t employ people who just want to do it by the book. We ask you to be inventive, innovative and inspirational. From our board directors to our brand newbies, we’re hungry for ideas. The best way to win clients and keep them coming back for more is to show that we’re always looking for new ways to deliver for them. So we depend on you and your teammates to use your talent and your creativity to make us better. We’ll expect you to bring insight and innovation to the team table and join the wider business in bouncing ideas off your colleagues in brainstorms (or ‘thought showers’ if you prefer.)
BIG finish To paraphrase John Lennon when The Beatles finished their final gig on the roof of Abbey Road Studios, we’re glad you passed the audition. Now it’s time to get stuck in and enjoy building your career with us. We can guarantee you won’t have time to be bored and that you won’t find a better outlet for your creativity than working with our team. It’s time to think BIG!