Work experience for HR university graduate

Read a personal account from a recent work experience opportunity with the Vero HR team:

I’m Cameron, and I have just completed two days of work experience with Vero HR, having recently completed my Post-Grad Diploma in Human Resource Management, and now looking to start my career.

Work experience day 1

When I first arrived, I was warmly greeted by Belinda and Yvette. I was then taken to meet Mike Kealey in person, the CEO. He talked me through all the various departments and services offered by Vero and explained the agenda for the two days, where I would get to see and experience each area for myself and see what a typical day looks like in each role. He also asked me questions about myself and my own experiences, and shared his experience in HR.

First on the agenda, I spoke with Belinda, the HR Admin Team Leader. She talked me through her role and the importance of admin in HR. Here I got to see the actual everyday reality of HR procedures as well as what a typical day looks like for a HR admin, seeing theory put into practice. The admin team makes sure all employee information and documentation is kept up to date and accurate. It was highly stressed the importance of attention to detail in this type of work. Next, I met with Ana in payroll and was shown the link between information collated by the admin team in HR systems and payroll software. Once again, the emphasis was again put on attention to detail, as it was stressed the consequences of making mistakes when dealing with the pay of such a large number of people.

After this I spoke with Yvette, the HR Compliance Coordinator. Here I saw how Vero uses a streamlined system of master templates when dealing with clients, which it tailors and adapts depending on the specific demands of the client and industry. A key takeaway from this was the importance of centralised control i.e. where only one individual has the permission to make any changes to the documents, to prevent and trace costly mistakes. Recruitment was next with James, who walked me through the whole process used when finding talent for clients.

Work experience day 2

I also spoke with Steph, Ben and Rebecca across the two days who all gave me insight into how Vero helps clients with employment relations issues such as grievances, disciplinary investigations, and absence management. The focus here was on clear documentation, careful and fair application of policy, and often compromise. They all talked about the importance of handling issues on a case-by-case basis.

It was also interesting for me to speak to Will and Ashlie, whose roles centred around marketing, client attraction, and retention, all subjects very unfamiliar to me and different to the rest of the team at Vero. Finally, I met with Aranka the technology manager, a topic I expected to be intimidatingly technical and IT-heavy. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that a large part of this role involves tailoring and curating pre-built software and HR systems based on client needs.

I really enjoyed my time at Vero HR and have appreciated the opportunity to build upon taught and educational knowledge with real-world experiences and examples, theory into practice. It has helped me get a deeper understanding of the different aspects of work in HR and helped me confirm which areas I am most interested in.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to speak to me, and the whole team at Vero.

~ Cameron

Work experience and careers at Vero HR

We’re often open to helping support young professionals with work experience opportunities here at Vero HR. If you, or someone you know, is interested in work experience or a career in HR, get in touch with us or check out our open HR vacancies here.