Rashida Adamjee – HR Level 3

When I embarked on my HR Level 3 in April 2021 journey, I had no idea what the outcome would be as I was juggling between work, a qualification and managing my home life and mum to three children; ages 15, 13 and 3.

10 months on and I feel I have grown and developed myself mentally, academically and professionally. The apprenticeship has given me the knowledge and tools to analyse, develop interpersonal skills and make responsible decisions. This includes:

Advising the Senior Leadership team (SLT) on complex and day to day HR decisions such as results from an exit interview or outcome/concerns raised from a probation meeting.
Advising the Head Teacher about the legal implications of retraction of offer of employment.
Being responsible for the school’s entire recruitment process and given an opportunity to sit in an interview panel to develop questioning skills and successful selection criteria.

The apprenticeship has enabled me to build my confidence, take on challenging situations that arise at work for example submitting findings of a harassment complaint against a member of staff and its legal implications.

The Head Teacher enabled me to sit on a “Non-Prejudice Protected Conversation” with the trade union with regards to a member of staff seeking settlement.

I learnt time management, note taking accurately in disciplinary meetings and managed welfare meetings independently with team leads, none of which I could do before I started the apprenticeship. Team Managers now approach me to sit with them in probation and staff meetings as they feel my contribution would be valuable with my skills and knowledge.

My tutor, Pankajni has been a brilliant source of support in guiding me and developing myself. The course is well managed and phased out in a timely manner including realistic time frame for assignment submissions. I look forward to my masterclasses as they are so engaging and structured. The tutorials provide me support in which they enable me to reflect on what the assignment brief is asking for and how I can improve my examples, how I can apply the theory to my workplace issues. I learnt the importance of researching and referring to legislation and making sure policies are followed.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development reflective log is helpful to do because I keep account of what I have learnt, what I would like to learn. I enjoy setting myself development targets. The knowledge makes my job enjoyable.

The course has given me confidence to pursue further and gain HR level 5 after successful completion of Level 3. It has made me think outside the box and to look at various options on reforming HR in an educational sector.