The HR Minion – How it began….
The HR Minion is a bimonthly blog bringing us the HR world from the perspective of a recent graduate entering the HR workforce
I am ‘The HR Minion’ and I chose this name because I think it is fitting – I am new in the HR field as an HR practitioner and, as with other newbie’s, we get asked to do some of the jobs we don’t really want to do. We then become the minion in some cases. Why not embrace it right? So, onto my introduction… I am 23 years old and into my second year of being a professional HR practitioner. I have come a long way to get to where I am today, including moving through 3 cities and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. This blog will be a good push for me, and a chance for me to share my experiences and hope they influence/help some others. Now, to begin…
I am currently an HR Advisor in the public sector, working through constant change and transition. I was asked by HRINZ if I would like to be a blog contributor, and I happily agreed as I think I have some good things to share especially to new HR practitioners entering the workplace.
The theme of my blog will be based around my practical experiences in the world of HR and how well/if this was covered during my university studies – I will also throw in some career learning as well. I have been out of university since October 2010, and although that may not seem a long time ago, it has been a journey getting to where I am now. I have already noticed topics that I would have liked to have been covered in university, but weren’t. I have also learned how hard it can be to start out in your career, and to transition out of that life that is university.
I wanted this first blog just to introduce of myself, my university studies and my career at present. I studied at the University of Waikato, I started with a Social Sciences degree in Psychology and Management, after a year and a half I thought it better I switch – might have been because I failed a whole semester studying rats. Half way through my second year I dropped out of Social Sciences and joined the Management School doing a Business Management Studies degree with majors in Human Resources and Strategic Management. Needless to say – it was definitely more fitting for me, more so than learning the workings of humans and rats in psychology. I was lucky and got to transfer a few of my papers over, but I was still behind almost a whole semester worth of credits. At 19, the last thing you want to do is more than your “required” workload and try and get your work done, but I was begging to finish university when all my peers did, so I pushed through and did 4 papers a semester in my 3rd year, when the requirement was only 3 papers, as well as doing summer school in January and November. Came to my final year, in total I did 10 papers that year which included a 6 month research paper – but, thanks to my determination, after the most gruelling 4 years of my life, I finished successfully in October 2010 with all my other peers.
I spent most of my third and forth years doing HR papers, topics were; organisational behaviour, managerial behaviour, human resource management, HRM and employment relations, organisational development, business research methods and change and career management. I wish I could have done ALL HR papers, but I learned a lot in my Strategic Management papers as well, some highlights were; business law, ethics & sustainability, strategic management and the international business environment. Can’t say my psychology papers helped me a lot, but it did get me through the worst paper I ever did ‘management statistics’. I did learn some methods from first year that saved me in third year.
Let’s face it, I hate statistics and no amount of papers at university was going to change that hatred!
Anyway, before I ramble – this blog will talk about some of the connections I found in those papers listed above with the work I do in the real HR world. I am more than happy to take comments and questions as this blog is all about informing others about my experiences at university and how I have found them relevant in my career so far.
I hope you enjoy it, I am open to feedback.
The HR Minion
Very cool blog – it’s refreshingly honest! It’s great that you are willing to share your experience with others wanting to get into the HR profession.
Thank you Amanda. I think the honesty will help to engage with new HR Practitioners, and it is time that we really talk about the reality of working in HR.
From one HR Minion to another, welcome to the blogosphere! Cheers, Shauna
Hi there HR Minion.
Thanks for the welcome.
As an HR Manager I will be very interested in your blogs as when I am recruiting for HR staff I don’t see an HR qual as being essential.
Hi Tony,
It was definitely essential when I was trying to get into HR, and having practical experience as well. But I will talk more about that as I go through.