As a follow-up to my recent post about Prof Charles Handy here, I was interested to come across this article in the Times last week that highlights the many entirely new jobs that will be created this century. As my wife reminded me recently, most of the jobs that will employ our children’s generation probably haven’t been invented yet. It’s thought provoking stuff: vertical farmers, avatar managers, memory-augmentation surgeons, and nanomedics to name but a few.
However one section that jumped out at me was the interview with ‘virtual lawyer’ Denise Nurse - who as well as running an innovative legal practice manages to hold down a bagful of other jobs:
She also has another career: presenting the weather on Sky News and BBC Two’s Escape to the Country. This began when she was working as an in-house lawyer at BSkyB and won a competition to find new presenters. “I am first and foremost a virtual lawyer,” she says. “In the future, though, increasing numbers of people will have a portfolio of careers, but no office.”
To my mind that is the perfect example of a portfolio career: lawyer, weather-girl, TV presenter. Clearly Ms Nurse has many talents and isn’t afraid to put them all to good use.
![[Post to Twitter]](http://blog.gazetme.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter-micro3.png){kind=icon}
![[Post to Plurk]](http://blog.gazetme.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-plurk-micro3.png){kind=icon}
![[Post to Delicious]](http://blog.gazetme.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-delicious-micro3.png){kind=icon}
![[Post to Digg]](http://blog.gazetme.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-digg-micro3.png){kind=icon}
![[Post to StumbleUpon]](http://blog.gazetme.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-su-micro3.png){kind=icon}
4 Comments
Hi Ben,
great story - I have partnered with Barrie Hopson to write “And What Do You Do? 10 steps to creating a Portfolio Career” published in Oct by A&C Black. It is written from our experience of wanting to use all our skills and talents. Denise’s story rung a bell because I used to work as a tv news presenter for Five News and BBC. Her story will only become more common.
Ah at last I have seen a photo of Denise Nurse without those dreadful boots she wears on Escape to the Country. Whether it be 90 in the shade or snow up to her knees those boots are worn. I feel so sorry for her at times when I see the othes in sandals and poor old Nursie is plodding on in those boots. Ah well it takes all sorts and maybe they are so comfy she hates to take them off. Otherwise she is great at showing the would be buyers around the properties.
I quite like her boots. She has more than one pair and it is not always as warm as it looks on the TV.
Boots aren’t her only problem – her dress sense is dire! I could have forgiven her attire, as I liked her and thought she might grow into a good presenter, eventually. She has, however, appeared to become extremely ‘pushy’ in the property department and, in a recent episode of ‘Escape to the Country’, she pronounced the Scottish name ‘Killin’ incorrectly (couldn’t someone from that show ask for correct pronunciations of place names? The Cornish pronunciations are often laughable and I won’t even mention the Welsh place names). She also spent an entire show mispronouncing ‘Feng Shui’, when the properties shown were for a Feng Shui enthusiast, who repeatedly gave the correct pronunciation.
I am led to believe Ms Nurse is a Virtual Lawyer. What does that mean? Virtually a lawyer, or a virtual reality lawyer, or what? Perhaps she needed to escape and that’s why she’s on ‘Escape to the Country’!!! I’ll stick with the more professional approach of Jules and Alistair, thank you.