Article by returning member Tracey White, White Insight

It’s exciting, weird – and I won’t deny, a little scary to be back. It also feels like I’ve come home after a long trip away without much contact with my much-loved family. I’m wondering what took me so long.

I’ve always told people (and it’s true in my head) that I’ve spent most of my career running my own business/freelancing but I’ve just calculated that after 40 years in the industry (which considering I’m only 39 doesn’t ‘compute’) I’ve been employed agency-side for 28 years and only worked independently for 12. So I’m having to re-evaluate my self-image.

It’s already 12 years since I shut up shop at Fizz Research, left the ICG, and got myself a ‘proper job’. At the time, this return to employment was barely conscious – rather, it was driven by…

1. boredom – or more accurately a need to get out of the house, the desire to put on ‘grown up’ clothes and get – not only a regular salary – but also a pension (perhaps I’m a bit older than 39) – and
2. b) laziness… my client base had dwindled to just 3 or 4 regular buyers who were keeping me (more than sufficiently) busy when the most dependable one announced they’d been bought out – by a big, fancy London Ad. agency – and they needed a Head of Insight. I was offered the job, and if I didn’t take it, that income stream would likely dry up. I’d be facing a daunting new biz drive and I just didn’t have the appetite for the inevitable ‘hustle’.

And it worked extremely well for 9 years… less well for the last 3. You’ll all be aware of the many (potential) pros of being employed; I hardly need to list them. If you’re working for a decent company with authentic ‘lived’ values, and savvy yet fair senior management, all well and good. But if your employers’ values don’t match your own, its only a question of time… that is, if you’re fortunate enough to jump ship and be able to take what is always, to some extent, a risk.

So here I am. Not only is the ICG perhaps 4 times bigger than when I was last in the club (meaning 4 times the expertise and collaboration opportunities), it’s even changed its name (which I love btw). The new branding, the website (and its functionality), the diversity of members and the many varied and thought-provoking events – are all such valuable benefits. At just over £100/year, it was a ‘no brainer’ to re-join. The MRS and AQR will have to wait ‘till my first WhiteInsight invoice is paid (and I’m very unimpressed that re-joining the MRS means I’ll have to stump up £220 for the first year).

The e-group asks are reassuringly similar: it’s such a joy to see the many requests for regionally based individual/independent recruiters… my most recent employment had me convinced qual is now entirely online, asynchronous and panel recruited! Oh the joy of the prospect of engaging with real respondents f2f and being pretty confident they really are who they claim to be! I can’t wait.

Scared to be back? Scratch that – I’m completely happy! I’m also really looking forward to 11^th July when I hope to re-connect with some of those who are still here from 12+ years ago. And say Hello to many more new faces, who have chosen the freedom of an independent life.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

Tracey White; WhiteInsight.

With about 400 members on our egroup, it’s important that we all follow a set of guidelines to ensure that everyone feels comfortable using it and that it remains valuable to members.

Overall:

1. No self-promotion to the whole group
   • you can do so directly to an individual member who has asked for a recommendation
2. Never forward an e-group email to someone who is not in the e-group, nor share a member’s contact details without asking their permission first
3. Never copy in someone from outside the egroup to an email you send to the egroup.
4. Take a moment before sending and checking who it is being sent or copied to.

Egroup The ICG – egroup – Housekeeping Do’s and Don’ts of posting

More Specifically, Do:

• Note that the address for posting a question is uk@egroups.theicg.co.uk
• Remember that if you simply click reply to a post, your answer will go to the questioner only. If you want your answer to go to everyone, type in uk@egroups.theicg.co.uk into the CC box, or click the reply to all button in your email client.
  

  The overall rule is that you should only post to everyone if your answer could be useful to others and you should NOT promote yourself to everyone.

• Compare views, ask for advice, offer advice, post and respond to work opportunities or simply read and learn…about anything to do with being an independent researcher
• Post a question from the same email address that you’ve used to register with the ICG, otherwise it won’t send
• Use meaningful subject-lines, so that people can choose what to read. If the subject drifts within a post, please try to change the subject line (and put the original subject as ‘was xyz’ in brackets next to it).  Please start your posting with some sort of generic label, such as: RECRUITMENT:, WORK OPPORTUNITY:, TECHNICAL:, INDUSTRY:, BUSINESS:, ICG:, SOCIAL:, OFF TOPIC: etc. followed by a short description, e.g.: RECRUITMENT: Recruiter wanted in Dundee.  Note: Try to use ’SOCIAL’ and ‘OFF TOPIC’ only on Friday afternoons!
• Remember to quote only enough of the original email to provide context when replying and delete the rest of the original text before sending. This is especially important for those who receive the daily digest
• Do recommend others (not yourself) if the question asks for it, and be as specific as you can, stating whether or not you’ve had direct experience of the person/business you’re recommending. Ideally, your opinion should be based on experiences within the last year
• Be clear as to who the responses are for; are they for you, or for your client?
• Remember that email is a text-only medium, so the people reading your messages can’t see that wry grin or hear the chuckle in your voice. If you are about to react angrily to something someone has said, bear in mind they might have been joking or merely intending to suggest an alternative point of view. Please do consider others and ensure that messages remain polite.
• To protect members from viruses etc., our egroup email system does not allow you to add attachments or use graphics in your posts.  All html tags are removed so there is just plain text left – however you can include hyperlinks to online resources, web pages etc.
• Consider setting your email software to filter ICG emails into their own folder so you can dip in & out of them during the day as it suits you
• Feel free to post some lighter messages as you see fit (particularly on a Friday), as long as the majority of posts are business-orientated
• Turn off your messages whilst on holiday if you’d like to by clicking here and  logging in. You can then click on ‘Disabled’ next to Mail Delivery
• Set your messages to daily digest if you’d like to using the same link as above and click on ‘on’ next to ‘set digest mode’

More specifically, don’t:

• Promote your own business or services, unless it’s directly to the questioner (only) and has been asked for. Promoting your business should be done via your profile on the Find a Consultant service on the website (please update your profile there for maximum effect)
• Forward any eGroup communication to non-members. Everything discussed on the egroup should be treated as confidential to the group. It’s fine to tell suppliers they were recommended by ICG members, but if you decide *not* to do business with someone (supplier or client) as a result of eGroup feedback, you must not mention this
• Respond angrily or aggressively to a post if you disagree with it. Remember that everyone can see your response and ‘spats’ can easily escalate and upset people.

• Please remember that the egroup is a closed group. Members need to feel comfortable to express their thoughts, safe in the knowledge that this won’t be shared externally. Never share contact details of members, nor their posts, with anyone outside of the group.

Egroup Moderators

• If you have any questions or concerns, please address them to our egroup moderator, Arthur Fletcher

Egroup Committee Member

• Committee member Paul Gebara is responsible for making sure the egroup rules are communicated, useful posts are collated, and making sure members are comfortable using it. He can be contacted on  gebara@pf3mconsultants.co.uk

Searching the archive

• Use the search facility on the egroup so that you can access previous threads: https://egroups.theicg.co.uk/mailman/private/uk/
• These are split by subject, date or author.
• You will need to use your Mailman log in to access the archive.