My 6 month Internship with AAB People

Wow, what a fast 6 months. In the best way of course!

I had embarked on this journey back in January. I had the opportunity in my third year at Edinburgh Napier University to go on a placement for my second term. I knew this was going to be worthwhile and a great way to get experience. Looking back on my time at AAB People, I am still surprised at how amazing this internship has been.  

My 6-month Internship with AAB People has given me a great insight into what HR is all about. Through the large variety of clients, it intrigued me to understand how each client has different needs. It was interesting to see what academic knowledge and understanding I already had about HR as a whole, and how to apply this in a professional role. On reflection, I’m grateful to be coming out of this experience with more nurtured skills and even some new ones. Throughout my 6 months I have accomplished so much. As working as a HR Administrator, I was able to work with all Consultants and Advisors, supporting various clients. It was amazing to get to know everyone on the team as they were so welcoming and keen to help.

Key highlights

One key highlight throughout my internship was supporting end to end recruitment successfully. I was able to support clients throughout the recruitment process and successfully hire candidates. This was an objective of mine that I was hoping to achieve and it allowed me to learn how in depth the recruitment process is, ensuring the right candidate has been selected. Through talking to candidates and leading interviews I was amazed how much my confidence grew.

One other key highlight for me was the team day out. I had never been involved in a team day before, I was nervous as the newbie coming into meeting the whole team in person. Meeting the whole team in person after 3 months of hybrid working was amazing. It felt like I had known the team for years, which just shows how welcome the AAB People team is. The day was filled with lots of laughs (special thanks to the happiness workshop we had in the morning). Following on from our happy morning we had an informative talk from Claire and Lisa discussing future business plans. Towards the end of the afternoon, we all gathered ideas of how we can improve our internal processes. It was great to be a part of a team where my ideas and opinions were heard.

I could list of many highlights that I gained from this experience. Through my university degree I vaguely touched on employee relations (ER) and I knew this is a key part of HR and wanted to learn more. Since joining AAB People I was amazed to see how broad and how in depth some ER cases can be. Throughout my experience I was lucky enough to shadow the consultants when faced with proposing ER support.

Key Learnings

I knew the best way to learn was to practice in real life. I came into AAB People with a general knowledge of HR. I can tell you now before joining AAB People  I wasn’t able to distinguish strategic and Operational HR, understand the formal process of a grievance, take charge of projects, carry out a full recruitment process, create operational templates and so much more. I hope to take forward my learnings and express into my Dissertation at University.

I cannot thank the team enough for supporting me through this internship. I felt such a valued member of the team and I will be missing their amazing energy every morning on the daily team call. I am excited to venture on and finish my BA Honours Business with HRM degree. I will take forward all that I have learnt over the past 6 months, to hopefully be successful in the world of HR.