Is This Room Free?
Welcome to Is This Room Free? In this podcast I will be talking to HR professionals and listening to the stories of their careers. I will be finding out about the journeys they have taken and what they learnt along the way. The purpose is to help others in the profession identify and understand the various paths available and take inspiration from my guest speakers. Whether you are someone who is looking to get that first step on the HR career ladder or an aspiring HR Director, I hope you get value from these conversations.
Is This Room Free?
Dan Wilbeck - from Funeral Director to HR Manager, and dealing with dyslexia along the way
This week's guest is Dan Wilbeck who currently works as a HR Manager for a US Tech Tourism business, based in Liverpool (UK) and covering the UK and Europe in a standalone capacity.
Both of Dan's parents are dyslexic and is the youngest of six brothers but none of his siblings were diagnosed with the condition. Dan had struggled with reading and writing but hid it and he himself didn't realise was also dyslexic until a university lecturer suspected it and made a suggestion of reading from green, not white, paper.
Dan's initial career journey surprisingly began with him working in a Funeral Director's. Opening up a drawer and seeing the lack of documentation for each employee alarmed him and changed his trajectory to becoming a HR practitioner.
Dan has a very clear perspective on what he thinks HR should be and we discuss how he has become quite a prolific poster of HR content on LinkedIn and the benefits of doing so.
Working primarily in manufacturing through the early stages of his HR life, Dan then chose to become a HR Consultant to gain diversification and further breadth of experience. He now works in a standalone role supporting the UK and Europe region for a US tech business and Dan shares with us how he has grown and adapted in this role.
This is a great episode where we discuss and debate over a range of topics so there's plenty included for anyone no matter the stage of your HR career.