HR Placement Review: Part 2 of 2 – Finding out what I enjoy, personal development and recommendations to placement students and companies employing placement students.

I worked in the HR department in a dynamic IT company. Here are some professional reflections. This piece reads well after reading Part 1.

What I enjoy:

I enjoy learning. There is a big difference between learning at university and learning in the workplace; such as how the content is delivered compared to the re-education and learning on the job during placement. In lectures, it is easy to blend in and get by, but in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), you can stand out by going the extra mile and doing your best. Overall I enjoy the opportunity to stand out and produce work I am proud of. Notably, university tested my memory, a weakness of mine, but work tests other attributes like interpersonal communication which I greatly developed thanks to a placement.

I’ve cemented my passion for HR and I am thrilled to have gained the first-hand experience. I’ve finally found the meaning of ‘living the dream’. It’s being trusted to do your work at a good standard in an effective way. What’s the highlight of your role?

There’s always something to develop.

Personal Development:

In the first 5 months, I was keen to find my feet and fit in with the team. After this, I was able to crack on and felt confident to broaden and further build my resilience and my ability to diffuse difficult situations, as well as improving my empathy levels and emotional intelligence. This is easier said than done, Rome wasn’t built in a day!

Empathy is important. This is achieved by being aware of your colleague’s situation and their motivations. By putting personal development on my to-do list, I have built my awareness of how to get the best out of other people. How often do you reflect on where you are and where you want to be?

Recommendations to incoming placement students:

Applying for a role with the shortest recruitment phase may be most time and effort efficient.

Work on your soft skills, be agile and go outside your comfort zone as often as you can.

Ask probing questions in interviews. If you can’t ask an interviewing manager a question, is it the right place for you?

Saying yes and asking for more work is good if you want to be given greater levels of responsibility; just make sure the quality of your work doesn’t suffer as a result.

If you are ever in doubt or you need reassurance, ask for help.

Recommendations to companies hosting placement students:

Keep your recruitment processes short.

Using gamification to make an impact.

Give more genuine feedback to applicants.

Thanks for your readership, I value your time and support!

Stay Tuned, Stay You, Stay Fruity.

Real Rubens

HR Placement Review: Part 1 of 2 – Expectations of applying for a placement and key lessons.

Having spent time in a real working environment, I have gathered some comments about expectations, what I’ve learned, what I enjoyed as well as recommendations for new placement students and recommendations for companies giving opportunities to placement students. How do you engage your placement students?

I expected finding a year’s placement in a forward-thinking technology company would be difficult. I jumped at the opportunity for a placement mentor at the University of Portsmouth (UoP), working with Alex Shorthouse. Alex helped me build my resilience, dealing with rejections and providing encouragement. This support helped me understand how much time would be required to apply for and achieve a placement. What support do you receive that helps you unlock your potential?

After completing 7 final stage assessment centres, 20+ applications and psychometric tests, I managed to secure a placement when I accepted an offer with Centerprise. This opened up the opportunity of starting my career in HR to find out what I like/don’t like and what I am good at/need to improve. What do you like and not like about your job?

I didn’t expect to struggle so much to meet university deadlines alongside applying for placements, so I learned this lesson the hard way. However, there was a positive, as I learned this lesson earlier than my peers who didn’t apply for placement. This meant my peers would be going through a similar process when they were finishing their degrees! What advice would you give a placement student in your department?

Something that surpassed my expectations was the insight into the widely varying length of different company’s recruitment processes. This included learning how other placement students and interviewers interacted with prospective placement students. Could you make your process more efficient or engaging?

We are all students of life.

Key Lessons:

Building a good rapport and trust is vital to succeeding (making the most of my placement).

Taking ownership installs trust. Getting involved with ad hoc projects helps build confidence. Therefore, being a team player helps massively. There is no I in team!

Strategic HR and Business Partnering are very interesting. This area provides a holistic view of the company’s capacity; therefore, this allows me to use real examples which could be applied when I study at university. Valuably, exploring HR as a year in industry encouraged me to pursue my other professional interests when I graduated. How can you increase capacity at work?

Expectations and the reality can be competing concepts. An open mind may be helpful. It’s ok to ask for help, change careers, and look at the bigger picture (we work to live, we don’t live to work).

Stay Fruity Blog: A reflection of Support Work 💡

👋 I left university wondering what job could justify the motivational struggle I faced when finishing university. I expected support work to answer the meaning of life. Purpose. Meaning. Focus. It did. For a while.

Experience with Autism Hampshire within a Volunteer Serendipity Group Co-Coordinator capacity encouraged me to apply for a local Support Worker role. 📄

I enjoyed working with clients with complex needs including Autism Spectrum Disorder with for example, Epilepsy, Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Post-Traumatic Stress.

When I started, it was humbling to work with individuals less fortunate than myself.

Towards the end of my placement, I learned a lot about myself. Reflectively, I saw myself in some of the behaviours the clients demonstrated. For example, not liking a person due to one interaction. I could see a situation happen in front of me and understand that I may react in an inflexible way if I were challenged beyond (what I perceived to be) a reasonable point.

Like all work experiences, I learned what I like, do not like, what I am good at and what I am not so good it. For example, I liked to go outside, I was good at producing creative resources for the clients. This helped me understand myself better. Subsequently, I continue to test environments to see if they are a place where I can receive support and reach my potential. 🤝

🎇 One element that surpassed my expectations was reflective conversations. I found I preferred these meaningful self-development conversations over other elements that were formerly the highlight of the role. I am grateful for this realisation, but also frustrated I feel I do not currently have the mindset or degree of flexibility and willingness needed to consistently act on these conversations. 🪞 But if I were being a friend to myself, I would say, it is ok to take all the time you need to move forward, even if this requires a step back. 📶

Any other big update coming soon … 🥳

Thank you for your readership and interest. 📖

#StayTuned#StayYouStayFruity#ActionOverWords

Rubens

Learn at your your own pace.