Staff profile

Email: jenni.jones@wlv.ac.uk

My career has been a mixture of Human Resources & Learning and Development roles within both the Private and Public sector. I worked for the Prudential for 8 years (1992 to 2000), and had a variety of roles including HR and Training Manager (at their Regional Service Centre, Chester) and a Management Development Consultant (at their Head Office, London). These roles gave me an opportunity to develop my skills within a generalist HR role and within a specialist Learning and Development role. I then moved to Britvic Soft Drinks (at their Head Office, Chelmsford) as their Performance and Development Manager, carrying out HR related projects across the Operations, Sales and Logistics parts of the business, including implementing the new performance management strategy and managing their graduate schemes (2000 to 2002).

Then, I took a Consultant role within a local company closer to home (SBC Training Consultancy, Shrewsbury)  supporting Government initiatives (NVQs, Employer Training Pilots etc.) and I became their Professional Programmes Manager, working closely with Assessors, Managers, Auditors, etc.(2003-2004). In 2004, I joined the University of Wolverhampton Business School and I have taught on both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.  I have also been Course Leader for the CIPD courses (2005-2006) and their MA in Coaching and Mentoring Programmes (2005 onwards).

Throughout my working life, I have continued to study a variety of qualifications, including the CIPD professional qualifications, 2 Masters Courses and I am currently studying a PhD in mentoring and learning.  I have also carried out some recent consultancy work (linked to my PhD studies) within the NHS and the Police and have had some associated articles published.

My passion is learning, coaching and mentoring and I have recently carried out some mentor training for the Police (where I received a special recognition award from the British Association for Women in Policing), the Institute of Directors and the Black Country Chamber. I have also received 2 awards for my teaching; an ‘Innovation’ Teaching Award for my Career Management/Employability Skills module (2009) and a ‘Rising Star’ Teaching Award (2006).

• Currently studying a PhD in mentoring and learning (due to complete 2012/2013)
• MA in Education (Mentoring and Coaching)
• Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching & Learning
• Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching & Learning, in Higher Education (Distinction)
• A1 Assessor Award, V1 Internal Verifier Award, Key Skills (Level 3) in Information Technology & Key Skills (level 4) in Communication
• University of North Wales – MA in Human Resources Management
• West Cheshire College – Post Graduate Certificate in Business Psychology (Distinction)
• Chester College - An Introduction to Counselling (3 month course)
• North East Wales Institute – Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Stages 1 & 2
• Brighton University - BA (Hons) Degree in International Hospitality Management (2.1)

My key teaching interests are:

• Coaching & Mentoring
• Learning and Teaching
• HR Management and HR Development
• Management and Leadership
• Study skills/Employability skills

I have worked with a variety of KTP’s by supporting the recruitment process, through psychometric testing. I have also trained mentors for a variety of public and private sector organisations, including E.On, West Midlands Police, The Institute of Directors, The Black Country Chamber etc.

Previously I have worked with the Youth Support Service in Shropshire, supporting the rehabilitation of young offenders back into the workplace.

• FCIPD – Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development
• FITOL – Fellow of Institute of Training & Organisational Learning
• FInstLM – Fellow of the Institute of Leadership & Management
• FHEA - Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Academic Member of the EMCC, including being a member of the EMCC Research Committee
• BPS Intermediate Plus Status (trained in SHL Occupational, Personality and Motivational Psychometric Questionnaires Stages 1-3 and Myers Briggs/MBTI)

My PhD research focus is formal mentoring and learning, within the NHS and the Police. Specifically, I’m interested in what is distinctive about the process and product of learning within these formal mentoring dyadic relationships and what are the internal and external factors that enable or inhibit this learning?

My PhD key research questions are:

1. What do mentors perceive they are learning during mentoring? (learning outcomes/product)
2. How do mentors perceive they are learning during mentoring? (learning process)
3. What do mentees perceive they are learning during mentoring? (learning outcomes/product)
4. How do mentees perceive they are learning during mentoring? (learning process)
5. What do both parties perceive is helping or hindering their learning? (moderators of learning)

I am interested in all these aspects within a variety of contexts and with a variety of mentors and mentees. For instance, my NHS case study focuses on mentoring managers studying a management qualification and my Police case study is within a women’s only mentoring programme.

I am interested in evaluating the learning within more formal mentoring programmes in a variety of other contexts too and have recently offered to evaluate other public and private sector programmes to demonstrate the immense learning that can be gained for all parties involved when mentoring.

An article on formal mentoring and learning in the NHS, to be published in December 2011 (details TBC).

An article on mentoring and its impact on the job, to be published in the ITOL magazine in Nov/Dec 2011 (details TBC).

Cureton, D., Jones, J. & Foster, W (2011) The Impact of Mentoring on Stress in Higher Education  The International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching  9 (1) 18-45.

Jones, J. (2009) Mentoring in the Milky Way – reviewing the constellations of relationships  The International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching  7 (2) 3-24.