How Bella was matched with her perfect role at Purple Story
Bella recently landed a role she describes as “exactly what I want to do” – Business Development Executive at Purple Story, the Home of Operational Excellence.
Here’s how she went from remote sales in the “middle of nowhere” to building in-person relationships again, with a job that lights her up – and how Candid helped make it happen.
“Backdated views around hospitality are bad pay, long hours – My experience of hospitality is great fun, great money!”
Bella, Business Development Executive @ Purple Story
Bella’s love for hospitality runs deep. She’s been in the industry since she was 17 and spent time working within much loved brands such as Turtle Bay and Gusto.
After a stint in internal recruitment and a long stretch travelling (while doing remote recruitment and sales on the road), Bella came home looking for something that felt like a real fit.
But it wasn’t easy.
Stuck in the middle of nowhere
“I wanted to get back into hospitality but didn’t really know what I wanted to do because I don’t drive and I’m in the middle of nowhere. I was searching for ‘head office restaurant jobs’ but couldn’t really find anything”
Bella, Business Development Executive @ Purple Story
Then she stumbled across Candid.
“I was shocked because I’d only answered a few questions but they (the matched roles) were all perfect for me! Really good matches and nothing like these roles I could even see online.
All the jobs that came through, I could have seen myself doing all of them.”
A platform that got her
As fate would have it, amongst the jobs Bella was matched with on the platform, was the sales role at Purple Story. An amazing business headed up by a familiar face:
“Karen (Purple Story’s CEO) used to be my Ops Director at Turtle Bay. We really connected. She picked three of us to be brand ambassadors – so we’d already done loads of work together years ago.”
When she saw Purple Story’s name pop up, she was delighted. Bella had been following Karen’s story, but had held back from reaching out – Candid gave her the opportunity to connect anonymously, removing all the risk: .
“She’s such an inspiration to me but when I’d finished uni I didn’t think I had any skills to offer! Maybe I had a confidence block, self rejection, why would she even reach out to me type thing”
What it’s like now
Bella’s just four weeks into her new role, but she’s already thriving:
“At Purple, we’re the Home of Operational Excellence Solutions – we have five divisions now: training, coaching, health & wellbeing, HR, and recruitment. So many People Teams are getting smaller, and we can offer support where it’s needed.”
Her role combines her hospitality roots with her love of people, events, and connections.
“I’ll be meeting people at events and workshops – it’s so much easier to build relationships in person. That’s what I love.”
Why Bella believes in Candid
Bella followed up with a message after her interview and said something we just had to share:
“From the moment I first came across Candid, I genuinely thought it was amazing. I remember saying to my boyfriend at the time, “This is such a brilliant idea – a new way to apply for jobs anonymously, without a CV, based on your personality, your skills, and what you’re actually looking for.” Especially in hospitality – an industry I love and have been in since I was 17 – it just makes so much sense. It’s thoughtful, fresh, and honestly just really works for the people it’s built for.”
Bella, Business Development Executive @ Purple Story
Her advice for job seekers?
“Follow your heart. When I came back from travelling I was really in the mindset of ‘I won’t be able to do what I want to do, options are so limited because of where I am’ but I’ve found this and it’s exactly what I want to do!”
Time to get Candid
If you’re on the hunt for a role that feels like you – where you don’t need a CV, just a handle on what makes you happy – start with Candid.
Effective Date: 09.07.2025 Last Updated: 09.07.2025
Welcome to Candid’s Refer-a-Legend scheme – our way of rewarding you for growing a community of incredible hospitality talent.
These Terms & Conditions outline how the referral rewards work, what you need to do to qualify and the fine print we need to cover to keep things fair for everyone involved.
1. Who Can Take Part The Refer-a-Legend scheme is open to all Candid users who:
Have signed up as a candidate.
Are based in the UK.
Have a unique referral link generated by the Candid platform.
2. How It Works You complete your Candid profile.
Receive your unique referral link via email and/or in your dashboard.
You share your link with your network via WhatsApp, socials, email, text… wherever you like.
When someone signs up using your link and completes their candidate profile, it counts as a referral.
You’ll receive updates as your referrals come through, and rewards will be unlocked as you hit key milestones.
Note: Referral links must be shared organically. Paid promotion, bulk messaging or use of bots/automated scripts is not permitted.
3. Reward Milestones You’ll earn rewards based on the number of successful candidate sign-ups using your unique link:
3 Sign-ups
Community Builder badge on your candidate profile, visible to employers
5 Sign-ups
Exclusive Candid merch drop delivered to your door (UK only)
10+ Sign-ups
Upgrade to Candid Champion badge + invite to join our private community group
Referral leads to interview
Receive a £25 voucher each as a thank-you from the Candid team
4. The Small Print (But Important!)
Referrals must be genuine new users who haven’t previously registered on Candid (duplicate or spam accounts won’t be counted).
Referral links must be shared organically (e.g. through personal messages or social posts). Paid promotion, bulk messaging, or automated scripts are not allowed.
We reserve the right to monitor, verify or disqualify any referral if fraudulent or suspicious activity is detected.
Physical rewards (e.g. merch) can only be shipped within the UK. Rewards are non-transferable, have no cash value, and cannot be exchanged or resold.
The £25 voucher will be issued digitally via email. Voucher options are selected at Candid’s discretion.
A referral voucher is considered when the referred candidate is progressed by an employer via the Candid platform.
Referral milestones and reward structures may be reviewed or updated at any time. If changes occur, we’ll communicate them in advance.
Candid reserves the right to suspend or terminate the Refer-a-Legend scheme at any time. If we do, we’ll give reasonable notice via email or platform update.
We process referral data in line with our Privacy Policy. No personal information about your referrals will be shared without their consent.
5. When Will I Receive My Rewards? Badges are added to your profile automatically once a milestone is hit.
Merch and voucher rewards will be processed within 14 days of reaching your milestone.
You’ll receive an email confirmation with next steps when a reward is unlocked.
6. Data & Privacy We process your referral data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Rest assured:
Your referrals’ data remains private
No personal information will be shared without consent
We remain GDPR-compliant and committed to protecting your data
7. Need Help or Have a Question?
We love hearing from our community!
If something’s unclear or you want to chat about your referral progress, drop us a message:
