New Year, New Blog Post

We’re more than a week into the new year now and I thought it was time I sat down and wrote something. I started this post a few days ago but somehow never reached the point of clicking ‘publish’. Unfortunately in light of the awful news in Paris yesterday, it feels a little selfish now, but I’m not sure I can articulate my thoughts on that eloquently enough to do it justice right now. Thankfully for the rest of us, life goes on and I guess it is very important that it does. We cannot let acts of terror change that. Continue Reading…

Life after Study!

My dissertation was finally submitted a week ago now. I can’t quite believe it is all over. Seems like yesterday since I started this degree and now I’ve finished. It’s a great feeling though and I’m looking forward to the next chapter in my career.

Before I move on – a big thanks to everyone who helped with my research. The project was a lot more challenging than I had first anticipated and finding participants was difficult, but I think my findings were interesting and I hope it will prove useful for those trying to understand why many computer science graduates end up unemployed. I now have a couple of months to wait for the results before I can share my report with those who are interested in reading it and then a few more months to wait before I get to finally graduate (assuming I’ve passed of course!). Continue Reading…

#SocialHRMcr – The Weapon of Mass Inclusion

Perry Timms speaking about the Weapon of Mass Inclusion

This post was originally found on my business blog and has been reposted here in May 2015.

On Thursday 16th March, Manchester’s CIPD Branch held a fantastic event #SocialHRMcr at Lancashire County Cricket Club. Many HR professionals and other interested folk gathered together to discuss the use of social media in the workplace.

An innovative combination of conference and unconference, it was great to not only listen to some of the leaders in the exciting world of social HR, but I also enjoyed the opportunity to share my love of social whilst participating in the lively discussions that followed.

Weapon of Mass Inclusion

One of the key moments in the conference for me was @PerryTimms declaring Social Media as the “weapon of mass inclusion”.

I completely agree. The accessibility and inclusiveness of social media and social technology is one of the reasons I believe it has so much power to bring about change and why I believe we should adopt a social mindset in the workplace. Continue Reading…

Top 10 Tools for Learning

This post was originally found on my business blog and has been reposted here in May 2015.

So Jane Hart is currently compiling her annual Top 100 tools for Learning list, as voted for by learning professionals worldwide. It includes tools used for both personal or professional learning, as well as tools used to create or develop learning in all forms, so it is often an eclectic mixture of online, productivity and creativity tools.

Below you can see my vote – it has a social feel to it, with a touch of academia. For me, the best learning is social, preferably online and on demand. These tools are just a few of the many tools that help facilitate that. Continue Reading…

Applying improv to life and business…

Over the past two years I have been introduced to the wonderful world of improv comedy. It all started when my partner signed up for an 8 week Foundation in Improv course with ComedySportz UK Manchester back in autumn 2012. He’s always been fairly shy and thought improv would be a great way to step out of his comfort zone, improve his confidence and have some fun. Soon enough he was addicted and trying to encourage me to get involved. I started watching lots of improv shows and once I had also got to know most of the ComedySportz UK crew, I was being roped into signing up for the classes as well. Continue Reading…