Apprentice candidate, Jim Eastwood, has made an impressive start in the UK Apprentice 2011. In the first episode the quiet spoken man from Northern Ireland has demonstrated smooth negotiation skills and the ability to diffuse conflict with apparent ease. Perhaps as a Sales and Marketing Manager it should not be surprising that Jim shone in a slick negotiation with a fruit and veg man when obtaining supplies to make tomato soup for the first task of the series. However, what did shine through was Jim’s skilful ability to appear as if he were doing the vegetable vendor a favour whilst ever so subtlety obtaining additional necessary ingredients needed to make soup. The smooth and skilled transaction was a master class act that looked as if it had come straight out of the pages of Dale Carnigie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” Later in the episode we also saw Jim intervene in the early stages of an argument by distracting one of the combatants and leading him away to another task. The sticky and tense situation was effortlessly diffused and allowed the team to focus on the job in hand. With big egos ready to clash, Jim’s skilful hands may well come in handy in weeks to come.
Jim Eastwood, a 32 County Tyrone man whose father ran a fish and chip shop, has come a long way from his first business experience of chipping potatoes to sell to the locals. According to the Belfast Telegraph, Jim, a former pupil St Mary’s Grammar School in Magherafelt, left school to pursue Sports Studies at the University of Ulster, and then later went on to complete an MBA in North Carolina . A keen sportsman, Jim was an All Ireland cycling champion in his younger days, and certainly has demonstrated that he is not afraid of tough competition. Jim Eastwood’s Apprentice profile can be found at the official BBC Apprentice website, and for those who want to comment on his success, there is even an official Facebook fan page.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login