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On Tuesday I sat down in-person to chat with Mark Kennedy

People and behaviour3 min readSam Page

On Tuesday I sat down in-person to chat with Mark Kennedy, after seeing a post about him on LinkedIn. Over two hours later, after tears and a hug, I could have kept talking all evening.

Mark has been out of work for 18 months, and he's got three kids.

This post is to ask for your help, to help Mark.

And this is why...

Mark's sent thousands of job applications this year, and in those 18 months he's had five interviews.

For the first six months he didn't even get rejections. Just nothing. He started sending test emails to himself to check his inbox still worked.

It's easy to assume the problem is him. After hearing his story, I'm certain it isn't.

I get it, hiring is hard right now, and a lot of companies use pre-screening systems to cope with the volume of CVs.

But it means people get filtered out before anyone reads their CV. They never get the chance to be heard, or to show what an asset they can be.

Companies Mark’s rung directly have told him they never saw his application, and if they had, they'd have been in touch.

To me, as a CEO, Mark is exactly the type of person many organisations need right now.

He understands people. He understands sales. He understands projects, product and technology. He's self-motivated, conscientious, reflective and driven.

And he also has a ton of lived experience.

Mark had a difficult childhood, turned his life around and committed himself to helping people, including setting up a youth programme in his local area.

His personal story is incredible, and it's made him an incredible human being.

Some highlights from his career:

  • He he was crowned top salesman at Sky, then moved to the technical side at BT and Six Degrees, provisioning data circuits across the Atlantic and locally. Before his role was outsourced.

  • At BT, he'd drive out to customer sites on his way home when no engineer was free.

  • Led Quail Digital's Pro12 retail headset, with AI voice commands, from concept to ready for launch in one year (the aim was three), with Waitrose and Lidl already sold in.

  • When that role ended, he stayed an extra month to hand those clients over in person, because he doesn't like leaving things incomplete.

He's based in Harrow, London, and looking for product, project, operations, delivery or business development roles, somewhere he can plant his feet and make an impact.

If you're hiring, or know someone who is, please send him a message and talk to him.
Even if your not, please send him some words of encouragement.

I know there are many people in this situation, but given our paths have crossed, I feel compelled to help Mark.

I hope you will too.

Sam x

First published on LinkedIn.

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GEThttps://sam-page.com/thinking/on-tuesday-i-sat-down-in-person-to-chat-with-mark-kennedy.mdtext/markdown; charset=utf-8

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title: "On Tuesday I sat down in-person to chat with Mark Kennedy"
url: https://sam-page.com/thinking/on-tuesday-i-sat-down-in-person-to-chat-with-mark-kennedy
date: 2026-10-08
author: Sam Page
type: Post or article
categories: [People and behaviour]
reading_time: 3 min
summary: "On Tuesday I sat down in-person to chat with Mark Kennedy, after seeing a post about him on LinkedIn. Over two hours later, after tears and a hug, I could have kept talking all evening."
first_published: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn%3Ali%3Ashare%3A7513854910145163264
---

# On Tuesday I sat down in-person to chat with Mark Kennedy

On Tuesday I sat down in-person to chat with Mark Kennedy, after seeing a post about him on LinkedIn. Over two hours later, after tears and a hug, I could have kept talking all evening.

![](https://sam-page.com/img/thinking/on-tuesday-i-sat-down-in-person-to-chat-with-mark-kennedy-li1.webp)

Mark has been out of work for 18 months, and he's got three kids.

This post is to ask for your help, to help Mark.

And this is why...

Mark's sent thousands of job applications this year, and in those 18 months he's had five interviews.

For the first six months he didn't even get rejections. Just nothing. He started sending test emails to himself to check his inbox still worked.

It's easy to assume the problem is him. After hearing his story, I'm certain it isn't.

I get it, hiring is hard right now, and a lot of companies use pre-screening systems to cope with the volume of CVs.

But it means people get filtered out before anyone reads their CV. They never get the chance to be heard, or to show what an asset they can be.

Companies Mark’s rung directly have told him they never saw his application, and if they had, they'd have been in touch.

To me, as a CEO, Mark is exactly the type of person many organisations need right now.

He understands people. He understands sales. He understands projects, product and technology. He's self-motivated, conscientious, reflective and driven.

And he also has a ton of lived experience.

Mark had a difficult childhood, turned his life around and committed himself to helping people, including setting up a youth programme in his local area.

His personal story is incredible, and it's made him an incredible human being.

Some highlights from his career:

- He he was crowned top salesman at Sky, then moved to the technical side at BT and Six Degrees, provisioning data circuits across the Atlantic and locally. Before his role was outsourced.

- At BT, he'd drive out to customer sites on his way home when no engineer was free.

- Led Quail Digital's Pro12 retail headset, with AI voice commands, from concept to ready for launch in one year (the aim was three), with Waitrose and Lidl already sold in.

- When that role ended, he stayed an extra month to hand those clients over in person, because he doesn't like leaving things incomplete.

He's based in Harrow, London, and looking for product, project, operations, delivery or business development roles, somewhere he can plant his feet and make an impact.

If you're hiring, or know someone who is, please send him a message and talk to him.  
Even if your not, please send him some words of encouragement.

I know there are many people in this situation, but given our paths have crossed, I feel compelled to help Mark.

I hope you will too.

Sam x