Today I’m handing over my blog to Amelia, she joined my company a little under two months ago as an apprentice in all things people stuff.

Over to Amelia…

I left school in the summer of 2015, and shortly after joined a small HR team in the healthcare industry as a HR and Recruitment Apprentice.

Before I joined the team, I thought HR was just about hiring and firing. I’d also heard a few negative things about HR – mainly from people who weren’t very keen on their own HR department!  I didn’t know about all the other stuff that HR teams do, from employee engagement to wellbeing to learning and development.  But there is hiring and firing too – as I am also working on recruiting for our business!

My school didn’t really push apprenticeships.  It was all about going on to college.  Only five people in my year took the apprenticeship route, the rest going on to do A Levels and NVQs.  I didn’t really know what I wanted to do long term, so I started to look for apprenticeships, and found this one.  I’ve always been interested in law, and thought that HR would give me an opportunity to learn all about employment law.

I think I’m getting a head start on all of my friends.  I could have done more full time study, but instead I’m getting a qualification and learning real life skills, as well as earning my own money.

I’ve heard about other apprentices who find that they end up doing all the boring jobs like filing and making the tea, or who don’t have proper training plans.  I know that everyone has to do their share of that sort of stuff, but if you are going to take on an apprentice then you are giving them a kick start in their career, and feel that it’s important for all apprentices to learn skills that will help them develop for the future.

If I was to offer any advice to someone thinking of taking on a HR apprentice, I’d say that they should involve them as much as possible with the work of the team.  I learn loads from the knowledge and experience of our HR team, and listen to everything they talk about – especially the employment law side.

I’m glad I made the decision to do an apprenticeship and I’m hoping to do more HR study when I have finished by NVQ.  As for the future, I have a sign on my desk that says ‘I don’t know where I am going, but I am on my way’!