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?
Hayley Duckworth - Head of People (The lack of part-time roles and getting through the HR Bingo Card)
I'm delighted to be joined by Hayley Duckworth on this latest episode of the podcast.
Hayley is someone I've known in a loose sense for a long time and have watched her career flourish. Like many, she began in recruitment but didn't enjoy the sales aspect to it so made the logic move into HR.
Hayley has had some amazing opportunities to get exposure to some of the less-common HR activties such as mergers, TUPE transfers, and change/transformations. This leads us to discussing the HR Bingo Card (as I've defined it) and the benefits of either coincidentally joining organisations who are going through changes where you get exposure to some of these less common HR activities or seeking out roles that can give you exposure to them for your development.
We also learn how Hayley did a degree whilst working full-time and then topped that by not only working full-time and studying for a Masters but then having her first child midway through the course too.
Hayley currently works a four day week and one of the things that drew her to applying for her current role as Head of People at Marsden Building Society was how family friendly their advert read and the fact they were open to part-time as well as full-time applicants.
As a recruiter I'm highly aware of the lack of part-time opportunities in the professional and qualified space yet the high number of people who would prefer part-time hours that would accommodate the demands of family life. It's a topic we discuss in some depth and how employers could benefit in their hiring strategies by simply being more open minded.
This is a wonderful conversation and there's plenty to get from all the topics we cover so I hope you enjoy listening.