Career Guest Post; Working in HR

Name: Jenny Watkins

Blog: dreaminpink.co.uk

Industry: Human Resources

Job Title: Human Resources Administrator

Brief description of job role and industry

Human Resources (HR) is the area of a business which focuses on all issues related to people. This includes recruitment, performance management, employee wellness, employee benefits, learning and development and training.

My job role involves:

-      Drafting and sending offer letters and contracts

-    Organising new employees start dates and coordinating their first week inductions

-      Dealing with any employment changes i.e. transfers, changes in hours, terminations

-      Managing employee files

-      Providing references

-      Tracking employee evaluation/ probation reviews

-      Responding to employee queries on all areas of HR

-      Managing employee benefits

An average day consists of...

My days are very busy from start to finish. We are an organisation which is constantly growing and we have new starters almost every week at the moment. I spend a lot of my time getting everything set up for the new starters and meeting and greeting on their first day. I provide a HR induction which tells them all the info they need and help them get settled in. As well as this, I have lots of employee queries to answer to at all times, this includes writing any reference letters they may need, providing information about their benefits or showing them where different forms are such as holiday and sickness. My days are very varied and different things can pop up at all times!

Career progression

There are lots of opportunities for career development in HR and the positions available vary depending on the organisation and the size. There are opportunities to progress to a HR Advisor, HR Manager and HR Director.

Qualifications/experience required

To get into a HR role it is beneficial to have a Business related degree, but it is not essential. I studied Business Studies in university and choose modules which all focused on HR so this was helpful to me. If you have strong administrative skills and have office experience you could definitely apply for HR Administrator/Assistant level roles. Usually to progress from these roles you need to complete what is called the CIPD qualification and you don’t need a degree to study this, you can start it at different levels depending on your experience. This something I’m about to start studying to allow me to progress in the future. 

Best tip to crack the industry

My best advice if you are interested in working in HR would be to get some office admin experience to start with. It’s really important in HR to have organization skills and any office job would demonstrate this. Also to work in HR you have to have lots of people skills so any hobbies or interests that demonstrate this would also look great on your CV.

Best thing about my job

This may sound cheesy but the thing I love most is helping people. I feel satisfied and happy after solving someone’s problem and helping them with any issues they may have. I have always been a people person and love socialising and listening to people so I enjoy this part a lot.

Worst thing about my job

There aren’t really any points about my job that I don’t like, but I would say the most difficult part is the time management and prioritising. I could be in the middle of a task and then something else comes up which is urgent so I have to stop what I’m doing and take care of that. I don’t mind this so much as it keeps the day exciting but you do have to be flexible.

If you have any questions or want to know anything else feel free to email me on dreaminpink21@gmail.com