With the aim to see candidates sitting on a company board within seven years of joining the programme, the Halma Catalyst (formerly Halma Future Leaders) initiative is more than just a graduate programme. It’s a prestigious and comprehensive career route.
With 20 openings every year, this exclusive pathway provides passionate young adults with the opportunity to work around the world on technology projects that are helping to grow a safer, cleaner, healthier future for everyone, every day.
But in addition to just being an amazing opportunity for recent graduates, this programme is absolutely phenomenal for businesses, as we can attest to.
Welcoming Thermocable’s third Halma Catalyst to the team (along with desperately trying to hold onto our second, Shannon Lin), we couldn’t be more excited to announce the appointment of Spike Armstrong as our Sales Manager.
Demonstrating a Fresh Perspective
In his third and final rotation on the Catalyst programme, Spike is, in his own words, a bit of a ‘Halma Guinea Pig’. With the traditional route to the programme being through the study of STEM projects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), Spike’s background shows a distinct proclivity for the arts.
Graduating with First Class BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of York, Spike enhanced his perspective on how to approach business with a focus on morality, outputs and financial benefits. Showcasing this fresh approach to learning, he contacted Halma HQ in Amersham, where he was offered a one month internship, completing several ‘mini-projects’ for the business.
Taking this expertise back to education, Spike completed his MA in Public Administration and Public Policy in 2022, bagging a well-deserved ‘Distinction’, before being selected to re-immerse himself in Halma through the Catalyst programme.
The Journey So Far
Beginning his graduate journey with Halma, Spike’s first rotation was at Static Systems Group, taking on the position as Associate Product Manager. With a strong focus on new product development, marketing and commercialisation, Spike worked across three senior leadership teams, operating throughout Europe and North America.
Taking his international experience into placement number 2, Spike joined China-based Longer Precision Pump as their Global Marketing Manager. Conducting comprehensive customer research to deliver visual marketing and brand strategies, Spike added huge value to the business.
Bringing this wealth of knowledge and experience to Thermocable earlier this month, we could not be more excited to have Spike in our corner. With a broad project brief covering revenue generation through existing and new customers, Spike is already getting stuck into the team.
Moving from rural central England, to rural Yorkshire, Spike’s penchant for outdoor pursuits, academy level sport, and anything physically challenging puts him in good stead for Thermocable team-building activities (competitive, us?! Surely not…).
Claiming to be “most happy in the mountains”, we also can’t help but admire Spike’s collection of animals, including several Guinea Pigs, three working cocker spaniels, a rabbit, and a rescue cockerel who was *supposed* to be a chicken.
Completing the Yorkshire Marathon within his first week at Thermocable, we have a feeling these next 8 months will be very eventful, indeed.
Here’s to the Next 8 Months
Growing from strength to strength, we can’t think of a more exciting time to be a part of the Thermocable journey.
Rotation Lead, Harry Buck, said;
“We are delighted to welcome Spike to team Thermocable. He will be focused on helping us to continue to scale our business and drive more sales. A key part of his role will be continuing some of the great work Antoine did during his project with us – which just shows exactly how much impact a Halma Catalyst can have.”
Watch this space!
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Do you know someone who would be interested in this scheme? Halma are recruiting for Catalysts now – you can find out more and apply here.
