Natalie Ellis HR

First of all I have some news to share, I have applied to become a Steps Ahead Ambassador! I am so passionate about this programme (not that you don’t know this already!) and feel that the ability to take this on further both nationally and locally would be such an amazing achievement so do keep your fingers crossed for me!
 
As I continue to mentor through the Steps Ahead programme, I have uncovered so many things that HR can offer to young job seekers. By highlighting these key points, I hope that other professionals reading this will consider taking some time out of their busy schedules to help a young person into employment.
 
1. Experience – Let’s face it, we face so many different situations and know exactly how to handle them! We know exactly what perspective employers are looking for when it comes to recruiting, sometimes all it takes is a reshuffled CV, interview advice and a bit of encouragement. HR professionals generally love their profession so why not show off the skills we studied and work so hard for?
2. Connections – Most HR professionals network. We have access to hundreds of contacts via Linked In, recruitment agencies, CIPD branch events, networking groups and in our workplaces. By utilizing these contacts we expand our own networks to provide opportunity to the mentees, it really is as simple as that!
3. Knowledge – We have expert insight into industry trends and commercial knowledge that will assist the young job seekers to ensure they are clear about the companies that they would like to approach as a perspective employer. This also reduces the risk of them just applying for “any old job” causing them to be unhappy as well as wasting both the mentee and employers time.
4. Professional behaviors – we know the basics! We know how you should present yourself at interviews and how to draw out experience into something anyone could work with. The difference between school/university life is very different from the working world and can be a culture shock but these are things that mentors can underpin by having this understanding.
 
Once again thank you for reading my blog, I am over the moon at the feedback and responses I receive! Please feel free to comment, suggest future posts or share with your connections.

As many of you already know I’m a huge fan of tv show The Apprentice, with us all getting into the swing of 2016, now is a fantastic opportunity to talk all things apprentice!

Recently on of my site managers advised me that they wanted to double the amount of apprentices that we have throughout the business from our existing eight. As you can imagine, I was overjoyed to hear this, given that investing in tomorrow’s talent is something I champion!

There are a whole host of benefits to recruiting apprentices into your business and every need is different so the reasons for our approach with apprentices is to bridge the skills gap that we will have in future years. Having a loyal workforce (some of which are celebrating 40 years in their roles this year!) we would lose a substantial amount of knowledge along with their skills if they were to leave the business and with them being in specialised roles, it is important that they pass on their knowledge to future employees so that there is a smooth transition when they leave.

Apprentices are not just for larger businesses but they also build smaller businesses. There are options to gain a grant through the government and they learn whilst they are in their role with their company. The combination of work and education is invaluable experience for the apprentice and whilst working alongside experienced professionals, they are able to identify the differences between school and the working environment, these are skills that they learn from the people they work for, this is something that education cannot teach them so it is up to us as professionals to encourage more businesses to hire apprentices.
Big corporate schemes or small businesses hiring an apprentice all helps to invest in future talent and who knows, you could be hiring the next Alan Sugar or Michelle Mone!
To find out more about how to hire an apprentice please visit: https://www.gov.uk/topic/further-education-skills/apprenticeships

With a brand new year comes 365 fresh pages to fill! As with many resolutions and their good intentions, after a few weeks they can start to go by the wayside and we start to lose interest so here are my tips on how to succeed at setting those goals and achieving them:
  1. Write your goals down

Grab a diary or even a whiteboard (if you are a visual like me!) and write them down, by simply having them written down can increase your motivation, think of them as pinning them to the paper so you have a firm grip on them and remain focused. When you set the goals be realistic, break the actions into smaller pieces to work through one step at a time and most of all be patient, Rome wasn’t built in a day!

2. Believe in yourself

This is one of the most important things to keep ahead of the goals is to believe you can do it, if you don’t you’ll be disappointed and are less likely to achieve the goals you set out. Confidence is key and by believing you can do it, you may just surprise yourself!

 

3. Go for it!
Post it notes are fantastic, make them your new best friend!! Write out the smaller pieces of your goals on to post it notes and place one to achieve each day, put it somewhere familiar to you – mine actually go by my kettle on a mug as it’s the first place I go to in the morning (I am a self-confessed tea junkie!) that way you’ll remind yourself of that step that needs to be achieved. Let’s see those post it notes – send me your pictures of your post it’s and I’ll put them up on the blog!   

Let’s go for it together and make 2016 our most successful year yet!
 Good luck!

This article was released in my local paper last week (I had no idea until our PR agency told me this morning!).

This emphasises the need for more HR professionals to get involved in Steps Ahead in 2016. I’m so proud of my mentees and what we’ve achieved together this year, I know that next year will be a successful year for them.

I hope you enjoy reading this and I look forward to updating you all in the new year! 

 

Short and sweet update just to wish you all a very merry Christmas! 

Thank you for all your support, comments and suggestions over the past couple of months. I’m looking forward to posting more on my blog in 2016 and sharing some really exciting things with you! 

From my family to yours, merry Christmas and all the best wishes for the new year!