There are two reasons you’re reading this, the first is that you’re looking for a job (unless you are so bored you’re just browsing obscure websites for fun, in which case you should change jobs or get one, because believe me that is not a sign of a healthy life). The second is that you must be interested in fundraising.

Depending on what you’ve been through so far on your job hunt, you are probably thinking the hard bit is finding a job at all – actually the hard part is finding a job you will enjoy. You spend a large part of your waking life at work (a large part of your sleeping life too if it’s that dull) so you owe it to yourself to try to find something you want to get out of bed in the mornings for.

At UrbanLeaf we will only employ people who love what they do. In order to achieve this we first had to work out exactly what made people enjoy their job (apart from not having a manager they hate) so we had a team of crack scientists working round the clock for months to find the essence and this is what they found; if you’re good at it, chances are you’ll enjoy it. Now, I don’t just mean ‘good’ I mean actually talented at it (all right there weren’t any scientists, we just asked our staff, which is a lot more than most companies do).

“So if you need to be talented at it to enjoy it, what are the talents I need”, you ask (insert drumroll here), there are two talents we are looking for (only two);

The first is communication (that means listening as well as talking, before all you blabbermouths get too excited), the second is the ability to communicate well after loads of people have given you the brush off. So if you’re good at talking face to face and you don’t take rejection personally, you have the talents we’re looking for.

Because we only employ people who are genuinely talented at fundraising there are a few things we do and don’t do that other companies might;

We don’t try to change you – we just don’t take on people we think will be a pain or lazy and we are frighteningly good judges of character, so all we have to do is bring out the best in you, not try and stop the bad bits of you coming out.

We do trust you and we don’t pay commission – because we are good at picking hard working people, we trust our staff, so everyone is paid a salary and no one is paid commission. Paying commission is a bit like saying “I think you are lazy and will only work if I dangle a carrot in front of you”. All our fundraisers (and managers for that matter) want to be excellent for the sake of excellence so we pay them as if they are doing well and because they want to, they always do anyway.

We don’t have targets – the problem is a company wide target doesn’t make any sense; we trust all our staff to do the best they can and understand that everyone performs at a different level depending on their talent. If you have the talent to sign up around 3 people a day once you’re up to speed, that is good enough for us and we won’t tell you to achieve above your ability range (although we will try and help you get better), if you’re excellent and sign up loads more people than that, we would be pretty stupid to ask you to do less well.

What the hell do we do then? – I know what you’re thinking, if you aren’t even going to bother to manage me, what are you going to do? Well, firstly we choose the right people, those that have the talent to naturally excel at the job and those who want to do well for the sake of doing well. If we get that right there are only two things left to do. The first is to give you the skills needed to do well; we have a lot of experience, we’ve all done this for a long time and we know what works and what doesn’t and of course we give you training on the charity you are going to represent (you also might get to meet them if you’re lucky). The second thing we do is find other people you are happy to work with, you have to spend all day with them after all.

The point of the job is to raise money for the charity you’re representing in the form of direct debits, which is very effective because unlike a one off cash donation they will hopefully be lifelong gifts and therefore a lot of money. There are of course lots of ways of doing this, but the one we have found to be most effective is to stop members of the public on the high streets as they go about their daily business and make them understand that other people don’t deserve to suffer or die in pain and get them to put their money where their mouth is (If you disagree with this sentiment don’t come in and talk to us, we’d rather not meet you). As for the finer points, pay, hours, the process of getting a job with us and so forth read on;

If you’re interested, ring up for a chat with us and we can answer any questions you have and maybe invite you in for a chat face to face. If all’s good after that, the next stage is a selection/training day which gives us a bit more time with you, lets you see if the job is for you, if you like what you see, and a second chance for us to see if your right for it. After that for the first 4 weeks you are on a probation period and the salary is £12 – £16 per hour. There is the potential to earn more after a few months if you are an excellent fundraiser, up to 29k a year in fact.

It’s a full time, permanent position (Mon – Fri, 35 hrs at site, per week) with around an hour and a quarter paid breaks a day. You work in teams of between 4 and 6 (the same people everyday) with a team leader who is there to coach you in the skills you need and keep you happy.

We currently have teams operating out of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham and London and they will visit towns and cities in and around these hubs.

If you are still interested after all that waffling, give us a bell, the number is 020 7580 2496.