HR Manager Review

I manage the HR function of the large department at the University of Oxford. This means dealing with all HR matters including recruitment, absence, disciplinary, casework and strategic HR matters. I support the leadership of the department in defining the strategy and direction of the department and implementing change.

I have learned a lot of new skills on the apprenticeship and have also honed a lot of my existing skills in the discipline. I have found that the apprenticeship has helped me reframe my role and to think about what my team and I do in a more strategic sense.

I enjoy the programme however I would urge people to think carefully before they take it on as a lot of work is required outside of the workplace and outside of your time at college. The value of the programme and the learning, for me, outweigh this commitment, for now.

The structure of the programme from the college side is reasonably clear, though I only ever seem to know what is going on for the next module and not the whole programme, but that could just be me. There is no real structure to my learning in the workplace but I am at a senior level and can organise my own learning.

I receive enough support from my employer, who allows me to attend college and learn independently when required, as well as attend training. They are also looking out for projects that I can undertake for my end point assessment. Overall I am happy with the level of support I receive from my employer

The college is quite supportive, however my cohort has experienced some issues with communication from our lecturers, which have broadly been solved, and have struggled to get clarity on when tutorials will take place and what the content of these is, though generally the pastoral care is available to us.

I feel that I have answered this earlier, however the qualification is very much linked to the profession and I feel that I have learned a lot of material that is clearly relevant to what I do and has also stimulated me professionally to perform better in my working life.

These do exist in my work, however this is not something that I tend to get involved in. All of the activity I am involved in, such as Communities of Practice, are very much 'curricular'! I do often attend talks organised by different departments, colleges, etc, which are normally very good!

Yes

The University is a great place to work at, with good salary and benefits, reasonable routes of development and a supportive environment for people working in professional services. There are certainly some frustrations to working here but the longer you spend here, the better you find ways to navigate these

I did not apply directly to an apprenticeship with the University of Oxford so I do not feel like I can answer this question in the spirit that it is intended, but the application process generally is quite formulaic so I would advise anybody to look at the requirements of the role and answer these in your application.