Assistant Human Resources Manager
Chaucer Insurance

print
info Issues viewing the video?

Debbie F

00:00:02 My name is Debbie F, and I am the Assistant Human Resources Manager. Mainly I look after things like the recruitment, I also do the payroll and the benefits for the company. And deal with any sort of staffing issues.

00:00:18 HR wasn’t something I ever really thought about getting into, it sort of happened a little bit for me by accident. I’ve had sort of sales roles or customer service roles in the past, and the people side was what I always enjoyed, so I suppose in a way it’s a natural progression for myself.

00:00:38 I was one of these people that didn’t really have any things I wanted to do when I was a kid, I decided I wanted to be a singer and a dancer, but I wasn’t really very good at either, so that sort of wiped out that idea quite early on. I also wasn’t particularly interested in school, I mean it’s one of those things, you always look back now and think – I wish I’d done a bit better, I wish I’d, you know, got better results when I was at school. I mean I can’t say I did that bad, but I think you don’t appreciate it maybe so much when you’re there.

00:01:11 When I left school I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, I just knew that I wanted to get a job, I was quite independent, I wanted to earn some money. I applied for a role as a Sales Administrator, as like a trainee, they were looking for someone of a school leaver age. And at 16 I had three very intense interviews for a Japanese company at the time. And, you know, I was really pleased to be successful, to get that opportunity to start in that role.

00:01:38 There was a position that came up within Sales and Marketing for an office furniture manufacturing company. Then I was unfortunate enough to go on a team building exercise and broke my leg! So they wouldn’t let me back to work for quite a while, so I ended up off work for about a year. When I came back to work, unfortunately they’d had a reshuffle with things, and my role was put at risk of redundancy. But that was quite lucky for me in a way, because there was a position in the Human Resources department. So that was – seemed like it – almost like a natural progression for me, and something that I was very interested in on the people side. So I was offered that position to move across into that team.

00:02:21 You’ve always heard the word redundancy, but you never really understand what it means. But suddenly when you’re faced with that, it can be – it can be quite stressful because you actually feel you don’t know where, you know, what you’re going to do, are you going to have a job? Are you going to have the money coming in? Suddenly I was a bit unsure of myself, and unsure of my next direction. As I say, I think it worked out quite well for me in a way, because it made me think about it and made me change direction.

00:02:48 I think the high point of my career has really been the job that I’m doing – that I’m doing now. I mean I moved to this company five years ago as a HR Administrator, and I’ve worked myself through the ranks really. I am where I want to be, I don’t really want to do any further studies, you know, at the moment, I feel I’ve reached a point in my life now where I’m happy with what I’m doing. I’m confident enough in my role, just to enjoy my day to day role.

00:03:17 My hero would have probably been my Granddad when I was growing up. He was always a very good sort of role model I think, and taught me a lot about life. He had some health issues in his own life, but he sort of overcome them and always came through to do the best that he could, always with a smile on his face. And I think that’s quite important, you know, life never throws everything that we all want at us but it’s – but it’s how you deal with the different things really, and what you take from it. If you do sit down and think about it, I think you can usually find a positive for most things.

00:03:52 ENDS

Debbie describes her current HR role as: “it happened a little bit by accident”. She has always enjoyed working with people and describes an earlier redundancy as giving her the spur to change direction when she moved out of sales and customer services into HR.

More information about Human resources administrative occupations

?
£24,960
average salary

The UK average salary is £29,813

?
37
average weekly hours

There are 37.5 hours in the average working week

?
25%  male 
75%  female 

The UK workforce is 47% female and 53% male

Future employment

Future employment?

Description
? Job holders in this unit group provide administrative support for the human resources (HR) operations within organisations.
Qualifications
No formal educational qualifications are required for entry, although most entrants will possess GCSE/S grades. Certification from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development is available, along with relevant NVQs/SVQs at various levels.
Tasks
  • Supports senior HR staff in the development and implementation of HR and industrial relations policies;
  • Arranges advertisements for jobs in the relevant media;
  • Provides practical support for recruitment and selection procedures such as checking application forms, arranging interviews of candidates and ensuring the interview panel receive all relevant documentation;
  • Provides administrative support for training courses, work placements etc.;
  • Implements and maintains HR records systems.
Employment by region
?
Top 10 industries for this job
?
Employment activities 19855
Head offices, etc 2621
Education 2174
Services to buildings 1961
Public admin. & defence 1771
Health 1466
Sport & recreation 1429
Specialised construction 1336
Architectural & related 1214
Wholesale trade 1194
Employment status
?

From personal careers advice to finding work, see our round-up of
useful websites to help you on your way

Explore more videos by: