Sunday, June 07, 2009

Head-to-head: Apprentice finalists!

Kate Walsh and Yasmina Siadatan
Kate Walsh and Yasmina Siadatan made the final after a triple firing

By Fiona Pryor
Entertainment reporter, BBC News

Business tycoon Sir Alan Sugar has revealed his finalists for The Apprentice.

On Wednesday's episode of the BBC One show, Kate Walsh and Yasmina Siadatan were unveiled as the last two remaining candidates.

Both withstood the tough interview process and fought their cases in the boardroom.

In Sunday's final, Sir Alan will employ one of them in a job with a £100,000-a-year salary.

So who has got what it takes to win? Here is a rundown of their CVs.

VITAL STATS

Name: Kate Walsh
Age: 27
Home: Hampshire

Name: Yasmina Siadatan

Age: 27
Home: London

CURRENT CAREER
Licensing development manager Restaurant owner
QUALIFICATIONS
BSc in psychology and management BSc in economic history with population studies
HIGHLIGHTS
In her only stint as project manager, she won the cereal marketing task. She was praised for her strong presentation during the Margate rebranding task - which her team won - despite having just learnt her grandmother had died. She led her team to victory in the second week, winning the city catering task with a profit margin of nearly 200%. She has been on the winning team five times - including on her three stints as project manager.
LOWLIGHTS
In week seven, she ended up in the boardroom after failing to sell any bicycle bags or cat playhouses. She has since admitted team member Philip Taylor had distracted her. However, that did not stop her turning on him in the boardroom which led to him getting fired. She was brought into the boardroom in week four after making a financial error over costings in the cosmetics task. And she came unstuck after exaggerating her restaurant's financial figures, which was discovered during the interview process in the semi-final.
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES
She and Taylor are now an item which he revealed once fired. She is the only candidate who owns her own business.
WHAT SIR ALAN'S AIDES SAY
Margaret Mountford: "Kate would make a good apprentice for Sir Alan. But I think she could learn from him how to let go a bit." Nick Hewer: "She's very structured. She's organised and disciplined in her thoughts."
SIR ALAN'S VIEW
In the semi-final, Sir Alan said she should let herself go and stop being so robotic. He said: "Kate, you've always got the right answers." Sir Alan said he was concerned she would struggle to give up her freedom as a business owner. He said: "Here for the right reason? I don't know."
THEIR VIEWS
"I've performed consistently, I was the last of any of the candidates to be in the final three [back in the boardroom], which I think speaks volumes." "At the end of the day, no matter what, we're here to win. And you might want to make friends along the way but, when it comes down to it, that friendship doesn't mean anything compared to your desire to get the job."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home