Whilst all of my uni friends are now going back to finish their degrees, I am only a full month and a couple of days into my placement. But I am finding every minute of it interesting and exciting because I am learning so many skills and techniques I know for a fact I will need / use later on during my career.

My first project is near to completion, which is an e-staff handbook. I feel the e-staff handbook was a good project for me to start on because I had the opportunity to communicate with all levels of the organisation at Brent and build on my transferable skills. Now I can build on these newly found working relationships.

From the start of my placement, I have been involved with a wide range of tasks from assessment centre’s to meetings with other councils, which have been a real benefit because I have had the chance to develop networking opportunities. I have also had the chance to attend an Excel Intermediate Workshop and Internet Content Workshop, both of which I can use later on in my career. Hopefully I will be attending many more workshops as the days go on.

This week I will start working with the various departments within HR so I will get a variety of HR experience, which i feel will be a good move. I have also had meetings concerning my next two project’s, they are not confirmed but involve looking into the current procedure for CRB’s and also looking at the Contract of Variation (this occurs when a employee changes any part of their contract). Both of the projects are very interesting and I am sure I will gain a lot from them whilst at the same time doing Employment Relations work.

The next couple of months will be a very interesting and challenging time for me. I really couldn’t ask for more from Brent Council they are all really nice and helpful and they are also open to questions!

Hello Guys,

Hope you are well.

This is my last week at Whipps Cross Hospital and I’m very very sad to leave, I felt like I was a part of the HR team since I started a couple of weeks ago.

Whilst here I have had a chance to do some Matching/Branding its official name is Job Evaluation. This is when a group of current staff who have training doing Job Evaluation sit down and determine which pay band a new job post will be. There are currently 12 Pay bands and it starts from £13,233 – £95,333. This is all in line with Agenda for Change, which is the biggest shake up of the NHS pay system since the NHS first started in 1948.

I have also had a chance to use Electronic Staff Record (ESR), which is used by the Human Resources department and also payroll team. ESR is the central source of workforce information that all NHS organisations throughout England and Wales use.

Finally, I’ve managed to get to work with the Employment Relations team for my last week and will be helping out with Tribunals and Grievances, so I will have my Contract and Employment Law text book in hand. I was given my first task today which is a Bullying Case, I can’t wait to put all the theory I have learnt this year into practice. I am also going to try to have a chat with all the managers in the HR department and will blog how that goes as well !!!

A short blog but till next time…

Name: Godfrey Atuahene Junior

University: University of Portsmouth

Course: BA Human Resources Management

Company: Whipps Cross Hospital (Internship)/Brent Borough Council (Placement)

Job Title: Human Resources Trainee/Human Resources Student Administrator

Hello everyone my name is Godfrey, and I have secured an Internship at Whipps Cross Hospital and a Placement year at Brent Borough Council. I am studying Human Resources Management at Portsmouth University and have just finished my 2nd year. I am very happy that I’ve completed 2 years of uni already, but it feels like it has gone all in a flash to be honest!

Now is the start of my HR working life and I am going to take you guys with me on my trip throughout my Internship and year on Placement. I’m sure there is going to be many highs and lows…

I have been using RateMyPlacement since they came to visit my university a couple of months ago. And to this day the website has helped me every step of the way in getting a Placement. I am even following them on Twitter!! (which is very interesting).

During my 2nd year at University I was looking for a Placement for such a long time and just by luck I received 2 phone calls all in the same week regarding my Internship and Placement. I am starting my Placement year with Brent Council on the 1st of September and I already know what my main project will be. I am going to be developing an E-Staff Manual / Handbook which sounds really good, as I like Computers.

I already started my Internship at Whipps Cross Hospital a couple of weeks ago, working with the Work Force Planning and the Medical HR teams which are both really different. I have found it very interesting as I have covered a lot, from sitting in on meetings with the finance / payroll departments, all the way to helping conduct interviews for doctors. This week is a very hectic week for the Medical HR department because a lot doctors are starting so it should be very interesting to see how this week pans out.

See you Soon