In the A Day In The Life HR Blog Series, we revisit the Senior HR Administrator role! A Senior HR Administrator is accountable for managing client employee files, ensuring information is recorded and stored accurately and providing a broad range of efficient HR administration.
This week’s blog is by our Senior HR Administrator Arlena, who discusses why she chose a career in HR and her advice for anyone looking to start out in the industry!
What does a typical day at HR Revolution look like for you ?
My day typically starts with a breezy walk to the HR Revolution HQ, pausing to grab a large coffee from our well-stocked office kitchen and have a catch up with my colleagues. At my desk in our airy, open plan office, I’ll check our clients’ inboxes for any incoming requests or queries and make a plan for the day, making sure to prioritise anything urgent. Each day brings a fresh set of tasks and challenges, so one moment I could be preparing a contract and onboarding a new hire, the next taking minutes at a performance review, or attending a strategy meeting to develop a project that will proactively add value for our clients.
What makes HR Revolution different?
The people focus. While an important aspect of HR, it’s not all policies and processes at HR Revolution. People are at the heart of everything we do here and it shows. We strive to build strong, working relationships with our clients and get to know them, their teams and the ways they work, so they know no matter what they need advice on or support with, we’re approachable and always available.
What is the best part of your role?
Having the opportunity to work with a variety of different clients. As a consultancy, we are lucky to work with a whole host of people in a wide range of industries, meaning we’re also asked a wide range of queries and questions. Something might work for one client but not for another, so rather than giving cookie-cutter advice, we tailor everything to our clients’ needs and make sure it works for them.
Why did you choose a career in HR?
My background is in occupational health and cinema management (not your conventional path to HR) but I realised along the way that the one common element that I most enjoyed in all my previous roles was the people side of things. My management experience gave me a taster of a wide spectrum of HR elements, from recruitment to talent development, and disciplinaries to performance reviews and I was privileged to learn a lot from the Employee Relations team and HRBP. I reached a point where I wanted to seriously evaluate the direction my career was going and when I reflected on this, a pure HR role seemed like the natural next step!
What advice would you give to anyone looking to start their career in HR?
There isn’t one set route to developing a career in HR. So no matter the industries and roles you may have worked in before, if people are what make you tick then go for it. Embrace the transferable skills and different perspective that you bring from your previous experience, and who knows where it will take you!
Do you have any tips or advice to share that you have learnt as a Senior HR Administrator?
Just when you think you know everything there is to know, a client will ask a question that you haven’t come across before (or a pandemic will happen and throw everything you thought you knew into the air). With the employment landscape ever changing there’s always something new to learn. So my advice is to never assume you know it all – rather, embrace the opportunity to learn and continually seek new information through discussions with colleagues, people focused newsletters, social media, seminars – whatever works for you! One of the wonderful things about the HR industry is everyone has not only a desire to learn and improve, but the desire to help others learn and improve too, and you’ll never be short of someone willing to share their knowledge.
Want to be a part of the HRREV team? We are always on the look-out for top talent, drop us an email with your CV and role you would be looking for so we can keep your details in our talent pool for future opportunities. To find out more about us get in touch here.
