As Director of Employer Involvement, I will be assisting Career Colleges with their Employer Engagement. Supporting Career Colleges with curriculum development, industry placements, employer mentoring, guest speakers, webinars, project-based learning activities and other related opportunities for collaboration to enhance skills development.

In this role I managed the BGU element of the Office for Students (OfS) funded project " Industrial Strategy and Skills - support for local students and graduates". The project supports the development of a highly skilled graduate workforce in the GLLEP region, through the generation of multi-disciplinary industry/business challenge projects. The purpose is to engage specifically with medium to large businesses across the region, whilst also targeting and engaging students who are from the Greater Lincolnshire region to work on the project. The initiative will not only showcase the value that students and graduates can bring to the businesses, but also ensure that the organisations across the GLLEP region are increasingly visible to the broader student population

As a Business Skills Advisor I used my extensive experience and knowledge gained throughout my career to advise businesses in training and recruitment. This role enabled me to continue to support businesses within Greater Lincolnshire, with skills development, ensuring growth, success and stability.This was a fixed term post.

As Group Business Development Manager I was responsible for seeking and realising new commercial opportunities which provided excellent value for money and met the college's strategic aims.I developed and secured relationships with internal and external partners and suppliers. I managed the college's bid production and quality review processes ensuring that commercial proposals and responses to identified tenders were timely and of a high quality.

LAGAT are an established Private Training Provider based in Lincoln.Lagat predominantly supports Apprenticeships in all age groups including the recruitment, training and assessment of the award frameworks. They also successfully deliver Traineeship, Employability, ESOL and Redundancy programmes in conjunction with the Education Skills Funding Agency, European Social Fund and Job Centre Plus.My role at LAGAT was a diverse one, in general, I was responsible for:The management and maximising of all funded and non funded contracts.The management of financial data, including the quality of that data.The line management of the MIS team and its functions.Employer Engagement including sitting on a number of networking groups.

As a member of the Senior Management Team I was the Strategic lead in the transformation of Lincoln College's Employer Engagement Strategy.I developed effective partnerships with employers and key stakeholders across a wide range of sectors from private, public and third sectors. I belonged to a number of networking groups. Developed Labour market intelligence to enable Lincoln College to diversify into new areas of work.Worked with the Directors of Schools to develop the curriculum offer to meet the needs of employers locally, regionally and nationally.I managed the delivery of a range of funded contracts including the Skills Funding Agency, Apprenticeships and work based provision and European Social Funds contractsI wrote reports for the Senior Management Team and Board on the progress of all contracts and new tenders.I managed The College's Sub Contracted provision. With the approval of Lincoln College and in accordance with the College's HR Policy, I embarked on a Career Break on 1 May 2014 for 10 months. I enjoyed the experience immensely and would certainly recommend it if you have the opportunity.

As a member of the College Leadership Team I was the Strategic lead in the developmentof West Herts College's Employer Engagement Strategy.I developed effective partnerships with employers and key stakeholders across a wide range of sectors from private, public and third sectors Using Labour market intelligence we enabled West Herts College to diversify into new areas of work.Working with the Heads of School we developed the curriculum offer to meet the needs of employers locally, regionally and nationally.I managed the delivery of all aspects of cross college Apprenticeships, Train to Gain and European Social Funds contractsAttended Government, Sector Skills Council and local Steering groups to promote the Colleges employer engagement opportunities and identify new products or markets.

• Partnership Adviser (July 2006-September 2006) • Head of Work Based Learning (WBL) (September 2005-June 2006)• Area Manager West (August 2004-September 2005)• Senior Contract Manager (August 2003-July 2004)• Work Based Learning Contract Manager (Oct 2001-August 2003)In my role as Head of Work Based Learning I was responsible for allocating contracts, performance managing Providers and managing the local £10 million WBL budget.

• Centre Manager (July 2000 to October 2001)• Training Consultant (February 2000 to July 2000)Having joined Spring Skills as a training consultant and achieving my D32/D33 qualification I was promoted to Centre Manager and managed a team of 21 personnel. Responsibilities included setting and achieving annual budgets and ensuring the Centre complied with the government funding bodies strict audit requirements

• Part Time Senior Sales, St Albans (Sep1999 to Feb 2000)• Store Manager, Putney (Sep 1996 to Sep 1999)• Store Manager, Hammersmith (Sep 1995 to Sep 1996)• Ladieswear Floor Manager, Ealing (Aug 1993 to Sep 1995)With a team up to 50 personnel I was responsible for all areas of retail management. Staff recruitment and all aspects of performance management: training, appraisals, absence management and disciplinary procedures. Audits and store profitability were managed by myself which included liaison with other company departments.Specific achievements include developing a management and store team to achieve the highest level of performance achieving the second highest goal audit and second highest performing store in the London Region.