Give a description of a day in the life of a HR Administrator

No two days are the same working in HR, but I always start the day by checking my calendar and emails. Throughout the day, I will keep on top of the routine administrative tasks that help us stay organised as a department, such as processing holiday and performance documents, updating our training and absence trackers, and producing metrics that show how we’re performing. I tend to do recruitment over the phone in the afternoon, and some days I might have planned inductions, interviews or employee engagement activities. Whatever I’m doing, I am always on stand-by to answer any queries that employees come up with or help out in any investigations which can happen at any time. 

After you qualified, did it take long to find a job?

I am almost CIPD level 5 qualified. I got significantly more responses and interview invitations from HR jobs that I had applied for after I was accepted onto the course and updated this on my CV.

What advice would you give to someone thinking of pursuing this career?

If pursuing a career in HR, I would absolutely recommend getting onto a CIPD course, whether that’s through a company sponsorship or self-funded. It has really benefited my career as I get to understand the logic and theory behind my day-to-day tasks. The job and my coursework go hand-in-hand, I might find inspiration for a new project at work while researching for the course, or I may write things I’ve learned on the job into my assignments.

What’s the best thing about your job?

The best thing about my job is the vast range of things that I’ve been able to learn and experience in such a short space of time. The nature of the business means that I often deal with unique situations that I wouldn’t encounter anywhere else and it’s set me up with a broad, adaptable skillset that I’ll carry throughout my career. Interacting with people is a close second!

If you could give your 16-year-old self some career advice, what would it be?

Be open-minded. If I told my 16-year-old self she would be working in the Food and Drink industry as opposed to something like the Cosmetics or Social Media, she would not believe me; but the experience I’ve had has been so engaging and genuinely fascinating, and I’ve enjoyed every minute.