Guiding young talent can help the region's business community thrive - says Hull & Humber Top 30 Under 30s founder Simon Jones

For Jones, however, helping the region's young talent is also a way of helping the communities in which they live.

“I think for any region - the future of its success lies within the talent it possesses,” he says.

“And if we as a region are not doing things to enhance that talent - to develop that talent and to give that talent confidence to take bold ambitious steps in their lives - then we are going to stagnate and start falling backwards in an ever changing world.”

Now in its 6th year, the scheme allows businesses to nominate employees under the age of 30 who they believe are worthy of recognition and celebration.

It then puts the winners through its year-long LEAP Programme, run by industry professionals.

“It's not just about helping the established businesses,” says Jones, “some of these people may go on to be entrepreneurs themselves, and if they do, that's brilliant.

“I think regardless of if they become entrepreneurs or directors of existing businesses or heads of department or whatever else, our business community will be better through this process.

“It will be better through these young people understanding what good leadership is all about, as well as understanding themselves better, and having a tool kit to deal with the pressures of life, not just at work but at home as well.”

Jones’s first job was as a waiter at what was then the KC Stadium in Hull. “Drafted” in for an Elton John concert with many of his fellow 16 year-olds, he soon became the first in his family to go to university, studying psychology at Nottingham Trent.

After leaving university, Jones would go on to found his own recruitment firm, Identify, at the age of 27, founding the company with a close friend he had made at the company he previously worked for.

Three years later, It was his background studying psychology that in part inspired him to found Hull & Humber Top 30 Under 30s.

“I was always looking for ways to be self aware and self develop,” he says, “and I think that reflection at the time really helped.

“I set up the scheme when I was 30, so I think being able to reflect and understand that the experiences I went through were not unique to me, but more generic, allowed me to shape something that hits the mark for a whole bunch of people.

“I’ve always thought if you do good things, good things come back out, and I was at this point where the recruitment business was doing well, and I knew I wanted to do something else.

“I thought ‘wouldn't things have been easier if I knew what I know now at an earlier age?’”

It was this thought that inspired Jones to create the scheme, hoping to help others to avoid the pitfalls he faced in his early career.

In creating the awards, Jones also wanted to make sure that he was also doing something different to schemes which already existed.

“We had come across these kinds of awards before, and there was something that appealed to me about it,” he says, “but I focussed on the fact that it can't just be about a trophy.

“So that's where the reflection came in, and I thought we could train people to become more effective leaders and managers.”

This desire to do leadership training also came from what Jones believes is an outdated method of leadership still practised by many companies and organisations.

“Leadership training is delivered in a lot of companies out there, but for your average SME business, leadership training is either not done, or is only done when you have a problem,” he says.

“So in many cases you end up in a position where a person probably shouldn't be in a leadership position but is, and when training is done it's only done as a solution.

“Thinking back to my own experience, I’ve been in environments where there was an amount of toxic masculinity, or where years of service was the determining factor as to whether your voice was heard or not.

“And I disagree with that, I believe years of service should not be a determining factor, and in fact, it's probably more of an anchor to the past than it is the engine towards the future.

“So when I put these things into a melting pot and asked ‘what can I do?’, that's where the scheme came from.”

Though training has now begun for the 6th year of winners, Jones still believes that getting the project off the ground for the first year was his biggest achievement.

“I was basically saying to people ‘this is my pen and pad, and here's an idea, I hope you support me,’” he says.

“I was doing it not for profit, and it took a lot of calls and a lot of meetings, but I needed the first year up and running.

“We learnt a lot of lessons and it was a lot of hard work, but I don't think I will ever have a high again like the relief I felt when we first got over the 30 nominations mark.

“And It's hard to think about now, because now we have people who have won who said it was the best year of their life.”

Jones also notes how he hopes the confidence gained through the 30 under 30s scheme will help people to lead happier lives.

“I think a lot of people often hold themselves back because of imposter syndrome, or because of lack of confidence in their skill set, so I believe you need to grab a hold of life and make the most of it,” he adds.

“I believe that you’re often more in control of your life than what you think, and that making decisions - whether good or bad - often leads you to a happier place in the end.

“Maybe short term it won't leave you in a happier place, but long term it will.”