Is This Room Free?

Happy New Year and welcome to 2022!

I'm absolutely thrilled for the first episode of this new year to be joined by Philippa Lucarz who is HR Director at Myerscough College in Lancashire. 

Philippa started her working life via an apprenticeship before deciding upon a career in HR after speaking with family members who were in the profession. She has spent a large chunk of her career in the public sector, but also took the bold move to run her own HR Consultancy business for a year, before returning to employment in a Head of HR role for an organisation in the private sector. 

We discuss working in local authorities and the stigma that can be associated with people who have spent time in this sector. We also debate what it can be like running your own business and the challenges people might not be aware of when thinking of pursuing such a route.

However, the cherry on top within this episode is listening to Philippa explain how she developed as a HR professional. She identified the need to constantly develop her own learning and awareness of the most current HR theories in order to best be able to influence business leaders and add the most value. 

I honestly believe that this is an episode that could help shape the thinking of almost all HR practitioners out there so I really hope you enjoy our discussion.

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Welcome to the final episode of 2021 and what a year it's been. The podcast has surpassed 6,250 downloads across 57 countries. I've had messages of how it the advice and stories from all our guests have helped people and one guest was even offered a new job as a result of someone hearing them on here!

On this episode I'm joined by Rita Burke who operates as a standalone HR Manager for The Roy Castle Foundation. Rita recently came to my attention after I saw her win HR Professional of the Year at the NWEEG Awards in the North West. I contacted to her to find out more and she agreed to join me on here.

Rita won the Award based on her crisis management of the impact from COVID upon the organisation - a Not-For-Profit who generate funds primarily through the running of charity shops, and who were obviously significantly impacted throughout the multiple lockdowns. 

Rita explains the importance and significance of the role the Leadership Team played in ensuring the organisation collectively navigated the ever changing landscape, maintaining high levels of engagement with their employees and volunteers. We also discuss life as a standalone HR Manager and what that can be like.

I hope you enjoy listening and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a fantastic 2022!

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I'm absolutely thrilled to have Scott Simpson as my guest this week. I've known Scott around 12 months after we connected and I supported his move from Contact Centre Team Manager to HR Advisor. We said at the time that I'd have him as a guest one day so it's fantastic that we've been able to get this accomplished now he is 8 months into a HR Advisor position.

Scott's story isn't just useful for anyone who has worked in an operational role and wants to learn how to make that transition to HR. His whole methodology regarding the pursuit of his dream job is a perfect case study for anyone who is going to embark on the search for a new job.

Scott forensically amended his CV to ensure it was the best document it could be to ensure his applications became more successful. He utilised LinkedIn, built up his network and engaged with his contacts to raise his profile and seek advice. He learnt from the HR team where he was employed and constantly asked questions to develop his knowledge. He joined his local CIPD branch and became a CIPD Ambassador, again building his network. He connected with recruiters, HR Directors, Consultants, anyone who he felt could offer value to his ambition of securing a HR job.

Ultimately the prize at the end of all this was that Scott landed his dream job. He didn't need to take a salary drop and start from an entry level role. His hard work, dedication, and commitment ensured he achieved his goal.... and he fully deserved it!

I hope you all enjoy listening to this episode as it's a cracker! (no xmas pun intended)

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In this week's episode my guest is Georgina Grice who is currently operating as a HR Business Partner. 

Georgina had a colourful and varied background before fully diving in to a HR career. However, it was the lessons she learnt and the experiences she was exposed to in these other jobs that were some of the building blocks for how she approaches HR.

Georgina learnt about having a good work ethic at a young age, then early in her professional career she operated in an environment that taught her the importance of holding yourself to a higher standard in terms of the work you do. More recently this has developed into an understanding and appreciation of your own personal brand and how you are perceived amongst your peers.

This is a really honest conversation and there are some great insights that anyone would benefit from, no matter what stage you are at in your HR career.

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What a guest and discussion I have in store for you this week!

I'm joined by Elizabeth Willetts who started her career in recruitment but left the agency world as she didn't feel it was conducive to starting a family. Instead she wanted a job that would offer flexibility and could fit in around life and the demands of having young children.

Unfortunately things didn't go to plan and Liz and her husband struggled to conceive. Ironically her new career ended up becoming more of a burden than a help with people constantly questioning when she would be having kids, unbeknownst to them how much they were compounding the pressure she felt to fall pregnant.

Liz returned to the fast-paced world of recruitment and ended up in an internal role. Thankfully they welcomed their two children into the world during this period and she was also able to transition to part-time working. However, during COVID her position was made redundant and Liz faced constant frustration and discrimination when trying to find another role that would offer part-time hours or flexibility.

Feeling like she had nowhere to turn, Liz took matters into her own hands and launched a job board (www.investinginwomen.co.uk) which focuses exclusively on vacancies offering flexible and part-time working. She also runs a Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/386475498981570) and regularly hosts LinkedIn Live sessions covering a range of topics with expert guest speakers.

Liz is absolutely leading the charge when it comes to the views on mums, female worker rights, flexible working, and the benefits that organisations can gain when being more open minded in attitudes to working arrangements.

I loved having her as a guest and am 100% on-board with everything she is doing. I hope you enjoy listening to our discussion.

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Joining me on this week's episode is Mark Scott. 

Having originally studied Engineering at University, like most, Mark hadn't intended to pursue a career in HR but ultimately found his way to it. Mark has worked for large, international corporates as well as smaller SME's where he's set up a HR function in a standalone capacity. 

Along the way he has amassed an impressive breadth of experience yet he confesses, like a lot of people, to struggling with imposter syndrome. Mark is really open and honest about this during our chat and talks about identifying it in others and how he offers support to them.

Mark is a highly accomplished HRBP and there's plenty of learnings that can be had from our conversation. I hope you enjoy it!

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This week's guest is Lizzie Petty and we cover a range of topics through our discussion.

Lizzie currently works as a HR Business Partner in the Care sector. She's one of the most passionate individuals I've met in terms of both the work she does but also in regards to the work they do as an organisation. 

Lizzie's route to becoming a HRBP is a fascinating one. She left university after only 3 months and jumped from job to job before finding herself doing bookkeeping and payroll - something she believes has been advantageous to helping her career development. When she did transition into HR, working at Johnson & Johnson, she set herself the difficult target of becoming a Business Partner by the age of 30.... something she ultimately achieved!

Lizzie's passion for doing her job well had always been there but it wasn't until she joined her current employer that she fully realised just how important it is to also work in a company that you believe in and are passionate about the work they do. She now feels this is a key component that many of us overlook but shouldn't.

I absolutely loved chatting with Lizzie and hope you enjoy listening to what we discuss.

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Joining me on the podcast this week is Michelle Smalley who has been operating as a HR Advisor for the past two and a half years.

Michelle started her career as an apprentice and she talks about the benefits of taking this route and how doing so in an SME gave her really good exposure and development. However, once she wanted to step up to HR Advisor level the challenge was that she struggled due to the lack of experience in Employee Relations in a leading role.

Michelle eventually got the break she needed and hasn't looked back. She's now an experienced HR Advisor and shares with us her secret recipe to what makes a great HR Advisor.

This is an amazing episode for anyone wanting to reach the HR Advisor level. I hope you enjoy listening.

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We're back and joined once again by Amy Doram. There was so much to cover that Amy has become our first returning guest, and there's heaps more insights and learnings that can be taken away from this episode.

Amy talks about securing her dream job but then that being taken away and how it impacted her. She also talks about into her first HR leader role and how she put forward a bespoke application to ensure she landed it.

Finally, we discuss how Amy has ripped up the rule book to create Guidance Documents that are really people-centric, and how implementing these has helped the business attract and retain the very best talent.

This is such a good episode and Amy has so many nuggets of wisdom to share that I'm sure you'll enjoy listening.

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This weeks guest is the amazing Amy Doram who spent 20 years in L&D before moving into a broader HR leadership role. How did she do it? Well we can't give it all away, you'll have to download and listen to find out.

However, myself and Amy get so carried away that we're going to have to name this episode as Amy Part 1 as we need to finish off with a second episode.

Amy has had a phenomenal career with some very interesting twists and turns along the way. We talk about failures, getting a cat to prevent burnout, and how HR is like parenting! 

Honestly, this is such a good episode and there is heaps to take away from our discussion. I'm already looking forward to recording the second episode!

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