Interview with Lee McQueen, 2008 winner of The Apprentice

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an interview with Lee McQueen, 2008 winner of The Apprentice , who has recently started up a new business called “Raw Talent Academy”. The aim of the Academy is to provide small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and corporate organizations with the opportunity to build internal sales academies into long‐term staffing plans and to encourage organizations to look at the wider talent the UK and not just graduates. Design/methodology/approach – This briefing is prepared by an independent interviewer. Findings – The paper finds that Lee is currently working with one of Britain's biggest recruitment organizations, Resource Solutions Group plc (RSG), who have enlisted the skills of Raw Talent Academy to help find fresh new sales talent for their flagship recruitment centre in Bristol. Lee is able to draw on his previous experiences in the area of recruitment and offer advice to people wanting to start their own business. Practical implications – The paper provides guidance on starting a new business, focusing on new models for academy‐style training programs. Originality/value – The paper is useful in that Lee previously worked in recruitment and spent ten years in this industry before his success on The Apprentice , so is able to provide useful advice from the perspective of employee, manager and entrepreneur.