Laura A.
About me
| Laura A. | |
| Management | |
| Human Resource Management | |
| Taught Postgraduate | |
| Wentworth | |
| 2015 | |
| Germany |
My employment
| HR Graduate | |
| Engineering Company | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Engineering and manufacturing | |
| Large business (250+ employees) |
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A day in the life of a HR Graduate in the United Kingdom
Learn, learn, learn - this means getting out of your comfort zone at times!
My career goals when I graduated
HR Generalist role
My career history
- A-levels
- 1-year internship at recruitment agency
- Bachelor - working part-time as a HR and Finance Administrator for 2 years at a branding company
- various roles in recruitment, hospitality, data analytics (banking, pharmaceutical and energy sector)
- Master
- 2-year Graduate scheme
What has helped my career to progress
Internal and external mentoring relationships have always been helpful to me. I recommend signing up to CIPD events and keeping in touch with people you value (e.g. on LinkedIn), for example with colleagues/managers from work or Uni (other students, professors). I was assigned a formal mentor for my Graduate scheme which is extremely valuable. I also still maintain more informal mentor relationships with previous managers. This is great to get an insight into other business areas. Just ask if they would be happy to support you.
Also, asking for feedback is crucial if you would like to develop further - sometimes a bit scary but we all have our development areas. You will see that people are generally very positive and happy to give you constructive feedback which can be very rewarding.
What surprised me about my career so far
Whenever I pushed myself and did something out of my comfort zone it always went well. It might seem scary at first but once you do it you feel extremely energized. For example, I asked for opportunities to develop my presentation skills and then had to present in front of the top HR Directors. I was so nervous but I got really good feedback even though I always thought I am not so good at presenting. I have also volunteered to lead training workshops with up to 15 people on various HR areas even though I get nervous standing in front of too many people. Working proactively on your development areas and then receiving good feedback for it is a fantastic feeling!
My advice to students considering work
I started to gain work experience from an early age in various fields, sectors and companies, such as recruitment, finance, generalist HR, hospitality, customer service and data analytics. I have learnt from every job and equally important - found out what I do not like! I feel that always having worked gave me great skills and an advantage in the job market after graduating, so try to get started as soon as possible. You will see that you will learn something in every job.
What I do
I am almost at the end of a 2-year Human Resources Graduate scheme at a global Engineering company. This includes a 1-year placement at the main Headquarters and two 6-month placements at manufacturing sites in the UK and abroad. The programme gave me great insight into strategic and operational HR, in the role of a HR Manager, HR Business Partner and a Regional HR Partner.
Skills I use and how I developed them
Networking skills: this is probably one of the most crucial skills. As we are a complex global matrix organization, it is important to build relationships on a daily basis with employees and HR peers from all over the world to share knowledge.
Interpersonal skills: to this category belong a number of skills, for example active listening. Rather than really listen to what other's have to say, many already think about what they should answer/how they should structure their answer when it is their turn. It takes a bit of practice, but summarizing or confirming back to others what has just been said can help.
Learning: I never stop learning and keep asking people a lot of questions, this includes showing genuine interest in their work. Something a Senior HR member (!) told me once is to always be humble - no one can know everything and every day you can learn something new.
Analytical and data skills: sometimes forgotten, but being able to manipulate large volumes of data in Excel and databases is of crucial importance. This information will form the base of many high-level decisions, so condensing and correctly interpreting data is a very valuable skill in the HR field.
What I like most
The variety of tasks, responsibilities and people.
What I like least
I see myself more as a HR Generalist, meaning I like to be kept busy with all aspects of HR: recruitment, compensation and benefits, training and development, performance management etc. Specializing, i.e. having to work in one HR area for a long period of time, is a challenge for me.
What surprised me most
People are extremely happy to help and share best practice - just reach out to them!
Next steps...
If you like the look of Laura’s profile, the next steps are down to you! You can send Laura a message to find out more about their career journey. If you feel you would benefit from more in-depth conversations, ask Laura to be your mentor.