HR Apprentice Review

I work in the distribution business as HR apprentice for the Global Project Manager. My daily work tasks include helping with organization of leadership courses, providing assistance to global projects - creating templates and developing content and other admin based work. I also get involved with Line HR and gain experience in generalist work tasks such as ethics investigations and recruiting.

I have learnt a lot about the HR function and how this operates differently in Cummins compared to other organisations. My CIPD course has also offered by opportunities to learn more about the HR function and the types of tasks a people professional is responsible for on a day to day basis.

I am really enjoying my apprenticeship so much so that I think I'll be disappointed when it ends. I am working within a great HR team who take good care in ensuring i gain as much possible HR experience and exposure to the organization as i can. They are always caring and ensure i feel part of the team.

From the organisation side no issues whatsoever, my leader is conscientious and supports me with meeting assignment deadlines and gaining as much experience as possible. From a college perspective i think they could do more to be more organized, we've been passed around multiple different tutors as they don't have a specific HR tutor to deliver the course and our apprenticeship assessor isn't the most organized in terms of marking working and mapping to our progression report.

My leader gives me lots of support with my course. I get regularly 1to1 sessions with my leader to go through and make corrections on my assignments. I also get plenty of resources provided to me for help on my college work and my leader is excellent at ensuring i am gaining plenty of work experience to build up my portfolio for college.

I don't receive as much support from my training provider my leader however tends to pick up where there is gaps, my current tutor has been the most supportive so far, she takes time to read over and offer corrections to my college assignments. My apprenticeship assessor offers support but can sometimes be hard to get responses from and portfolio work is not always marked and mapped on time

My qualifications is extremely beneficial to my role and performance. The course has provided me with the knowledge, skills and behaviors that i can apply to my day to day role and helps me make sense of various HR situations and how to best approach them. I also feel that because i get a lot of support and opportunities in HR function with my employer i have been able to excel at my qualification to the point where i will be ready to submit earlier than my predicted end date.

My employer offers employees the opportunity to join resource groups which focus on improving the organizational culture better, for example I take part in the PRIDE resource group which has allowed me to network with others across the organisation as well as being able to take part in various activties like Darlington Pride. I know that we also have various social groups on our site in particular - shop floor workers have a football team. And we also have to complete EEEC as part of our workplan yearly and this is 4 hours volunteering to the wider community such as at foodbanks or in schools.

Yes

Cummins is a really amazing place to work. The teams are friendly and inclusive of everyone regardless of who you are and where you come from. The core values are something very special and i think this is why it has such a positive culture. I have completed an apprenticeship prior to working at Cummins in another organisation and i got nowhere near the support i get now from my leaders and team, i would definitely recommend to other students to look for positions in the organisation

I would say don't be afraid to be yourself and to ask questions in your interview process. I would also say to not worry about having the perfect qualifications apply to whatever role your interested in because the organization are a great training provider and if they can see potential and a good attitude they will invest time in you to help you in a great career journey.