Welcome back to the Peer Suite Agenda, your weekly briefing on what matters for your career, network, and next move.

This Saturday, 26th September, we are heading outside for our women’s walk and talk, a relaxed way to meet other professional women while you get some fresh air. Our next curated networking morning follows on Tuesday 20th October, and you can reserve your place now. Details and links for both are below.

There is plenty more in this edition, from what is on our radar this week to a set of free resources and two helpful reads, including how to have a pay or promotion conversation with confidence.

🎨 BOOK THIS FOR OCTOBER The 90s: Art and Fashion opens at Tate Britain on 8th October and runs until 14th February. Curated by Edward Enninful, it brings Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano together with artists including Sarah Lucas, Damien Hirst and Yinka Shonibare, alongside photography by Juergen Teller, David Sims and Corinne Day. Tickets are £22, or £20 for concessions.

📖 A BOOK FOR THE AUTUMN Caitlin Moran's How to Be Hopeful, published this month, follows a year in which she tried to feel better through small, ordinary changes, from leaving social media to swapping the 24-hour news cycle for a local paper and sitting on buses without headphones. She argues that you cannot change the world but you can change your days, and that being hopeful is a decision.

🎧 HOW TO SCHMOOZ The FT's Working It wrapped up in January 2025, but its archive is still online and includes How to master the art of schmoozing. Stanford communications lecturer Matt Abrahams gives a masterclass in chit-chat, and FT columnists Pilita Clark and Stephen Bush then react to his advice from the office.

⚖️ A LONGER WINDOW TO ACT From 1st October, the time limit for bringing an employment tribunal claim extends from three months to six. The new limit applies only where the event being complained about happens on or after that date, or where the last in a series of acts does, so anything earlier still follows the old three-month rule.

☀️ AS THE LIGHT GOES The NHS advises that everyone should consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D through the autumn and winter, because from October to early March there is not enough sunlight in the UK for your body to make it. The clocks go back on Sunday 25th October, so this is a sensible week to start the habit!

Networking Strategies: From Introductions to Relationships. A six-hour beginner course on Coursera that covers how to activate the network you already have, hold better conversations at events, write outreach messages that get replies, and follow up properly. It finishes with a 30-day networking plan and templates you can use straight away. You can enrol for free and only pay if you want the certificate. START THE COURSE​

Gresham College. Free public lectures from one of London's oldest educational institutions, offered both in person and online. Browse the autumn programme and register for whichever talks catch your interest. SEE WHAT'S ON​

Lloyds Bank Academy. Free learning that is open to everyone, not only Lloyds customers, with short lessons on money, digital, career and business skills. Most lessons run between one and 31 minutes, which makes them easy to fit around a lunch break. BROWSE THE LESSONS​

Thank you for being here. I'm looking forward to seeing many of you on Saturday at the Women's Walk & Talk.​

Warmly,

Rebecca

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