Posted on 29-July-2016   by Imogen Jones

Imogen Goes Back to School

Here at Daniels, we’re committed to our own learning and personal development to help us better serve our customers. In this post I share my experience of balancing working and studying after 16 years out of the classroom.

I’ve recently seen that some of our customers have been studying; completing PHD’s and work-related training courses, and I have just stared studying again after a 16-year hiatus.

I have started back at college to get some theory and structure behind my role in the marketing department at Daniels. I have been lucky to work with the team here who have noticed my need to continue learning and improve myself. I have learnt a lot in my years here; I have moved from Customer Support and telesales to, with help from my manager Dee, now supervising the Customer Support & Marketing Department.

I panicked a fair bit about booking this course let alone attending. I had no confidence that I would be able to ‘learn’ anymore and I wondered where I would find the hours and energy to study in the evening after a full day at work!

But I had some kind words from the Twittersphere and kinder words from my mentors and colleagues:

Customer Response:

I have completed my first module and I’m finding the balance a little easier now. I’ve settled into setting aside time a couple of evenings a week and at the weekends. An evening a week at college has been really good; it has helped me share ideas and thoughts with other people and social media has been a godsend too! Our class has a Facebook Group where we can ask questions and clarify any concepts.

DANIbear joins me in class:

I had my first exam last week in a swirl of mayhem with our commercial conference having the whole Daniels external team on site and back to back meetings!

I feel like it went well, but I don’t get my results until September so please keep your fingers crossed for me. I’d like to thank Dee and Eric for giving me this opportunity and believing in me and also to all the people who have supported me on the course.

My top three tips on how to successfully combine learning and working life are:

1. Find a course which will help you to understand and do your job better. Your employer is likely to be much more supportive if you can show how your learning is benefitting the company.
2. Look for a course which will fit around your other commitments. Evening classes were the perfect fit for me and I can do the coursework at weekends.
3. Finally, make sure you enjoy the course and subject. If you find something you have a real interest in, this will help motivate you to stick with it and give you a real sense of achievement throughout your studies.

Are you studying at the moment? If you have studied while you have been working or in placement, how did you manage your time? What advice can you give? And if you’ve just completed a course, let us know what you did and how you got on, we’d love to hear from you.

If you like to contact our friendly customer support team, call 01865 371 841, email info@daniels.co.uk or message us through our Facebook Page private inbox.

Imogen Jones

Imogen is the Product Manager for our SHARPSGUARD® range, and our Marketing Manager for the UK & Ireland.