Bio
Employment March 2001 – date: Award-winning freelance journalist and author, London and Barnstaple, Devon I specialise in writing on business, employment, education and health and am author of The
Employment
March 2001 – date: Award-winning freelance journalist and author, London and Barnstaple, Devon
I specialise in writing on business, employment, education and health and am author of The Complete Career Makeover, published by Guardian Books in January 2010, a comprehensive guide to how to change career, retrain or start up in business. I won the Watson Wyatt Award for Excellence in HR Journalism in 2006 and best feature writer in the Work Foundation’s Workworld Media Awards in 2003.
I regularly contribute to national newspapers including The Mail on Sunday, The Guardian and The Independent and have written for, among others, The Times, London Evening Standard and The Telegraph.
I write for many professional titles, including Personnel Today, Caterer & Hotelkeeper, The Grocer and Local Government Chronicle, to name but a few, plus websites such as Management-Issues.com and eFinancialCareers.co.uk.
I also work as a media skills trainer, both independently and through the Plymouth-based TwoFour Academy, running role-playing workshops for small and large businesses, covering print, radio, TV and the internet.
Key training areas include how to “sell” stories to journalists, how to build relationships, crisis management, the ins and outs of being interviewed, running campaigns and presenting yourself effectively.
June 2000 – March 2001 City reporter, The Press Association, Vauxhall Bridge Road, London
The senior reporter in a team of four, I co-ran the City desk, planning the rolling news schedule and competing with both nationals and the 24-hour news channels in breaking stories minute-by-minute.
May 1998 – June 2000 News editor, Hospital Doctor, Reed Business Information, Sutton
I led a team of 10 reporters on this award-winning, campaigning weekly newspaper for hospital consultants and junior doctors.
February 1996 – May 1998 News editor, SuperMarketing, Reed Business Information, Sutton, Surrey
Leading a hard-hitting news team on this lively, award-winning weekly, I took the paper through a news-led redesign.
1990 – 1996 Assistant editor, Disability Now, sub-editor Building Design, reporter Financial Pulse and graduate trainee at Morgan Grampian Publishing (now CMP Media).
Specialist areas
I predominantly write on business, employment, the workplace and HR, but also cover finance, health, retail, and education (mostly higher and graduates).