HR Apprentice Review

This role is a general HR role, in which I act as an Assistant. I deal with the entirety of the recruitment process, from staff request, to advertising, to interviews and appointment. I also deal with daily emails, complete reports and am involved in RTW checks and casual/variable staff members. I also request and process university cards for new starters and card extensions, and I create offer letters and attachments for new starters.

I have developed a wide variety of new skills during my 6 months in this apprenticeship. The majority of the recruitment processes, including using the university HR systems, where fully new and I undertook lots of training to be able to learn these processes. At the same time, I have developed existing skills, such as communication, time management and confidence.

I am continuing to enjoy my programme. Each day differs and there is a lot of things to do and learn. I love interacting with people, so this role is perfectly suited to me. The college course is also interesting and provides a lot of context as well as applicable knowledge.

I am very impressed with the organisation and structure of this programme. From the start, I have felt like I have a lot of information, and I was also provided with lots of networks and people to contact if I ever needed support. My team in particular is very supportive and have been great at helping me develop

I receive a lot of support, both from my team and the wider university. I have regular 1:1 meeting with my line manager, am in constant contact with my team over Teams (giving me lots of opportunity to ask questions etc...) and have access to a lot of the university's networks and other areas for support/

I receive a good amount of support from Abingdon and Witney College. We have a few emails for people we can speak to, and my Team have always offered to chase things with them if required. We also have access to Teams and can directly message our tutors. This isn't as reliable, but still a good option.

It gives me a lot of wider context around the factors that affect people professionals, as well as specific knowledge about the tasks we would undertake for recruitment etc. They also cover bias and bullying etc... which I believe to be very important for this type of work. I do however believe that the on the job training is more useful as a whole, but that the CIPD is a recognisable qualification that can prove our skills to many future organisations more easily.

There are a wide variety of activities that are available to anyone at the university. The most common being some form of networking - you can join lots of group and find out about events, presentations etc.. There are also plenty of clubs that cover many areas, but these are a little harder to find. I mostly see about these on noticeboards in the office, that individuals have advertised.

Yes

The university is easily the best provider for an apprenticeship in the UK. They have a focused team that dedicate their time to helping you settle and network with other apprentices. They also have amazing staff benefits and extremely reasonable salaries. Furthermore, they are a great organisation for future development as it is very easy to move between departments and equally to progress in your career. I have nothing but good things to say. They also provide top quality training and opportunities.

The best thing to do would be to follow the Oxford University 'How to Apply' page. It beautifully explains step by step what you should include in your application. In particular, make sure to cover ever part of the selection criteria in you CV/supporting paragraphs as this is how you will be judged against the other candidates.