Canny Helen beats Lord Sugar's snub with job offer

SHE may have missed the chance to go into business with the man they call Britain's toughest boss - but Apprentice runner-up Helen Milligan is already in demand.

The 30-year-old, at present personal assistant to Stranraer-born Ken McMeikan, boss of Greggs the bakers, had an almost perfect record of winning tasks in the BBC1 reality show, but lost out to inventor Tom Pellereau.

But although Lord Sugar may have rejected her business idea of a mass-market concierge service, the owner of a leading lifestyle management company has jumped at the chance to offer the super-efficient Ms Milligan a job.

Alex Cheatle, chief executive of Ten Lifestyle Concierge, said: "Although Helen's plan for a concierge service was rejected by Lord Sugar's team on the grounds that she didn't have the contacts to work in this area, I was impressed that she saw the potential of the sector.

"It's a growing market. We need good, well-organised managers to help manage our expansion in the UK, which is why I would like to offer Helen a job with Ten.

"And as for having the right contacts, that's our area of strength. Our restaurant experts can absolutely get you a table by the window at the Ivy."

During the spin-off programme You're Hired, Lord Sugar suggested Ms Milligan's current employers should offer her a promotion after seeing her performance in the tasks on the show.

He said her boss would be "a bit of a mug not to actually promote her or give her some bigger position now they've seen what she's capable of doing".

Yesterday, Greggs' finance director, Richard Hutton, confirmed Ms Milligan would be offered a bigger role within the business.

"We are yet to brief our own staff on this, but will be doing so shortly; we will then be in a position to tell people what she'll be doing, She has a bright future ahead of her at Greggs. She's certainly a real talent, and we'll be putting that to good use," he said.

Mr McMeikan said he was impressed by what she had achieved. "Helen has done fantastically well and we are all very proud of her. To have made it to the final is a fantastic achievement."

Ms Milligan, from Stockport, studied law at university, worked part-time as a waitress and managed a restaurant before she landed the job at Greggs.

In her audition for The Apprentice, she said: "I get everything I want. I like making businesses money. I see my job as my complete life. I work 24/7. There isn't a cut-off."

Her steely determination impressed Lord Sugar and she seemed a sure-fire winner after a series of impressive results.

However the fact that Ms Milligan had never started her own business went against her, and she failed to impress in a task which involved reselling wholesale goods at a profit.

She would not be the first runner-up from The Apprentice to do well. Kate Walsh, who came second in the sixth series, went on to become a TV presenter.