Jo Molloy: Why I joined Shape

When you come across Shape, something just sticks. At least that was the case for me.

One day, maybe a year or two ago, I was reminiscing about my days as a fresh young graduate working at Firework PR. I'd heard they'd launched a new website and wanted to check it out. I instantly loved it. The design was just slick and cool. I noticed it was made by Shape and spent the next few hours going through the Shape website, checking out their work.

I immediately got the sense that not only was Shape a creative group with a very cool look, but they weren't the typical, boring, corporate workplace. They care about the team, understand that life is just as important as work and they have a fun sense of humor. From then on, Shape was on my radar. I just needed to wait for the right role.

Over the last 7 years I've worked within PR and content marketing. Whilst I still love writing, doing it every day was affecting my passion and creativity and I knew I wanted a change. I noticed I really enjoyed organising things, structuring processes, making sure projects run smoothly and getting the right people, in the right place, at the right time. But that's not really a job... is it?

New beginnings

My interest in Shape meant that I regularly checked their Careers page. But at the time, I didn't even live in the UK. In 2018 I moved to Denmark where I worked for a software company. But after 3 years and 1 global pandemic, home was calling. Though it was hard to say goodbye, with a simple twist of fate, it turned out to be incredible timing.

Within a few weeks of landing back in the UK, the Account Manager role came up. The responsibilities included organisation, communication, managing workloads, building strong relationships and being a trustworthy, reliable team member. It was everything I was looking for.

When I first spoke to Andy he mentioned that Shape hasn't had this kind of role before. They knew they wanted someone to come and help with team and client organisation, but they valued personality over experience. This was music to my ears.

When you want a completely different role from what's on your CV it can be hard to prove you're the one for the job. But whilst meeting Andy, discussing the role and getting to know the team, it became clear to me that this was both the role I wanted and the place I wanted to be. Gut-feel and a down to earth attitude are so important to me and Shape felt like the right match. Luckily Andy wasn't too creeped out when I made that obvious and I'm gonna guess he agrees with me, haha.