Spend, spend, spend!

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With all the talk of tightening the purse strings and the doom and gloom of the predicted economy, I wonder whether all of those collecting their first pay packet this month will have the luxury of blowing it all on frippery?

So much of our adult lives is spent being cautious - preparing for a downturn, keeping an eye out for disaster and actually in debt (the average adult now owes £33,000) - that it should be compulsory for a first pay to be indulged.

I spent £150 of my first pay on knickers. That was nearly 20 years ago, so it was a ridiculous amount of money.

I will never forget the enjoyment of watching my underwear being parcelled up with tissue (a particularly apt wrapping) - or the feeling of pure wantonous. It is a memory I have often recalled in my more salient moments of trying to balance my large outgoings with my smaller incomings. I am glad therefore that I took the chance when I could, to be indulgent.

Did you? What did you spend your first pay packet on?

Tempted? Always.

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Looking after the content on a jobs site is a constant battle of restraint. Every day I am tempted by job ads and every day I face a daydream of a different life, a different location, a different salary ...
This is a particularly onerous on days when the weather is at odds with the time of year ie; snow in spring.

There's a particularly tempting job being advertised at the moment in Italy. It's for a community editor. They don't specify the actual location but just the mention of Italy is enough to transport me on to a piazza, sipping a glass of Amorone in dappled sunshine.

And if a recent report on working abroad by the Centre for Future Studies, I wouldn't even have to take a pay cut. In fact I would be looking forward to a 43% rise.

It's not just in the rest of the world, though, where temptation lies. Closer to home, the idea of working in Brighton and emailing from the beach as you can with the free WiFi access now, is really appealing.

Just in land a little from Brighton there's a project editor job in Lewes. Which some will argue is better than Brighton to live. I could start on my costume now to join the locals in celebrating the downfall of the Gunpowder Plot - apparently what Lewes is most famous for. Carry a torch through the streets and let off some fireworks.

Today however the one which has caught my eye is based in Dublin: content manager for Getty images. I have always quite fancied living in Dublin (not that I have actually been there). It appeals to my literary persuasions. A small enough city which I could walk round, an exciting and developing economy, especially around new media, 167 different languages to choose from ...where's my CV?

The question is of course, would changing my location improve my quality of life? Or would everything just be the same? Has a change in your location changed you?

Is there a role for HR?

Is the HR an unnecessary financial burden on a company or does the department have a valuable role to play in the future success of industry?

A report out recently from the Chartered Management Institute called Management Futures suggests that the world of work in 2018 will see many more people working from home. In fact of the 1,000 professionals consulted for the report, 65 per cent expect working from home will be commonplace to reduce the carbon footprint and 73 per cent think work-life balance will be the key to job choice.

Add this to the fact that many of the traditional duties of the HR department are now being outsourced, for example payroll, and it starts to look like human resources professionals will need at the very least to do some comprehensive PR if they are to survive.

Thinking of my own dealings with the department I am not altogether sure what they do for an employee beyond sending out the company policy document and making sure they have filled in the correct starter forms.

Having not had to seek them out, thankfully, on any employment law issues, my perception of human resources is based entirely on the job seeking process. And it's not a good one. I have seen the department as the gatekeeper between me and the person I want to see my CV - an unknown force which I had to cleverly circumvent if I was to get my CV successfully seen by the person who I am want to work for.

One suggestion is that, in the face of all the predicted problems of retention and recruitment of talent, HR departments are going to become a destination for employees to visit and discuss their career options.

I like this idea of going to an HR department to discuss my career - how I'm developing in my role and what opportunities could be open to me. I think people would feel much more likely to stay within a company if they felt their career was being actively managed.

I'd like to know if you have a relationship with your HR department. Is part of their remit to identify high performers, to talk to employees about career paths, to offer advice and suggest strategies for individuals to get the most out of their jobs and their relationship with your employer?