Apprentice Human Resources Assistant Review

I assist with many different stages of the employee lifecycle. Some days will be recruitment, others will be payroll, data collection or contracts. It is a very intriguing place to work. I send a lot of emails and go to a fair few meetings. I want to make a difference with diversity and inclusion so everyone feels accepted.

I have been working on my Level 3 CIPD qualification. I have learnt a lot of soft skills, like communication. I am learning how to speak more formally in emails and deal with those who are higher than I am. It has been interesting translating what I already know into an office environment.

The company culture has a lot to improve on because of the long withheld stigmas and opinions. There is definitely room to improve to be more inclusive. I think my team is very supportive. I'm not sure what I expected but it is a decent place to work. I have many days where I don't really enjoy what I do. I enjoy elements of the day but they are long and involve arduous tasks for formality.

There was not enough staffing for the organisation to train me properly. There were not many provisions in place to do any training online. I was not working from home, while my colleagues were, so I only received training while they were in. There has always been time for me to do my assignments. I think I have found a good place for myself in the team now. There were many rough patches where I felt very alone and helpless where I didn't know how to improve what I was doing. I think that some departments use apprenticeships to get cheaper labour as we don't contribute to the head count. While this benefits me in regards to the training, the role I am filling would have required someone with a higher skill than what I posess.

My manager has been excellent throughout and has been very accommodating. She is very knowledgable and patient. The rest of the team may not have had the provisions to support me in the way that was expected but are now supporting me well. As their workload was high, they were originally less open to giving me the support I need, which is slightly more involved than training others because I prefer to be shown a few times to learn something.

I have not enjoyed the training provider. There has been many occasions where things have been promised, such as a mentor for my end point assessment, that were not followed through with. Many of our tutors have left, we've had tutors who do not specialise in our field and it has been clunky.

I started from almost no knowledge of the role so I have definitely learnt about my new role. The assignments have mostly been interesting and have helped me to explore the different areas within HR. The most helpful aspect has been talking to other peers about their experiences. I have taken inspiration from class and brought it into my everyday work as much as possible, particularly topics of wellbeing and inclusion.

Not really. It hasn't been consistent and I feel like I don't know anyone. The pandemic has halted many activities. There has been 2 lunches for professional service staff over the last 7 months and I have met a few people in passing. There doesn't seem to be many clubs and activities to do anymore.

Yes

It is clearly an employer that people stay with on a long term basis which is something I value. I appreciate the location as the facilities are nice but it isn't a very affordable area. The research that they do here is worthwhile and I love supporting people to achieve great and important things.

Be yourself and don't be scared to try and make a change. There's always something to improve and just because it was "how we've always done it", doesn't mean it's the best way. Anyone can make a difference and it will be worth it in the end.