Can you tell us about your career journey?

As an 18 year old, I started out thinking I’d like to be a Chartered Accountant as I was good with numbers and enjoyed Accounting. But as I progressed through my degree, while I enjoyed accounting, I found myself getting more interested in people and behavioural subjects. After completing my undergraduate degree, I applied for an MSc in Business Studies at Hull University. This is where I got drawn to studying subjects like Leadership, Human Resources, Work Psychology, and Emotions in the Workplace. While working on my Masters dissertation, I realised how much I enjoyed research and applied for a PhD. However, it was very competitive and I didn’t have the funds to finance studying for a PhD. Finally, I won a scholarship. My PhD focused on Leadership and Emotional Intelligence in the National Health Service. While working on it, I focussed on a few more psychometric qualifications, including my British Psychological Society (BPS) qualifications. During this time, I started working as an associate lecturer at University of Leeds and University of Hull. While still working on my PhD, I started applying for lectureships and landed my first permanent lectureship at the University of Hull. Soon after I completed my PhD, I won a number of awards for my teaching including the Student Union’s award as the most Outstanding Lecturer. Later, I started working as a Principal Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. Through my Masters, PhD and BPS studies, I specialised in Work Psychology, Human Resource Management and Statistics, which have become the key areas in which I teach and research.

Tell us about your current role at Manchester Met

I am currently the Education Lead for the Department of People and Performance. As Education Lead, I have overarching responsibility of designing and looking after the delivery and assessment of all the UG and PG taught programmes in the department. I have a key responsibility for ensuring student satisfaction and performance on our programmes, as well as helping our students develop themselves towards their future careers.

In addition to the above I am the Unit Leader and lecturer for the first-year unit:  Introduction to Human Resource Management. I particularly enjoy teaching this unit as I get to welcome UG students in their first year and train them up for university life. I also teach Leadership units at MBA and apprenticeship levels which is also very exciting as here I get to work with students already in management positions and help them develop themselves by applying their university learning to their workplace experiences. What I find most rewarding is seeing my students progress and establish themselves in rewarding careers.

How did your degree prepare you for your current role?

All my degrees have directly contributed to feeding my desire to develop my own knowledge and teach others. My degrees have been intense training ground for developing self-discipline, conscientiousness, and critical evaluation. University life has also provided me the opportunity to meet people from different countries and cultures and develop long-lasting friendships. Both these educational and social experiences directly prepared me to work with compassion and empathy with both my colleagues and students.

What are your greatest achievements so far? 

Some of my achievements include completing my doctorate studies on a scholarship, winning the Northern Leadership Award for my research as well as a British Academy of Management best research paper award. I have also won funding for research and published in journals. As a lecturer though, some of my most cherished achievements have been the recognition I have received from my students, for my teaching including being nominated for the most ‘Innovative Lecturer’ and being awarded the most ‘Outstanding Lecturer’ award.

What advice would you give to students who aspire to a career in HRM? 

The most important piece of advice I’d give to students is to make the most of every opportunity the university provides: attend all the classes, make use of the support from your lecturers, take advantage of the careers services, the study skills services and the students union. Do not worry about the past, focus on doing your best, here and now; and success will follow you.

Also remember to be kind, compassionate and courageous in all you do. This will help you make the right decisions and build careers which create value for you and people around you.

What does diversity in HRM mean to you? 

Diversity in HRM is multi-faceted in my opinion. It is about creating equal opportunities by removing all prejudices and obstacles. This applies to race, colour, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, marital/family status and disabilities. Inclusivity is crucial for organisations to ably serve society where they draw upon the lived experiences of diverse people and make it possible for everyone to contribute and compete on a level playing field.