I joined Beyondly at the start of 2022 as an Admin Assistant – I’d recently graduated from University and after job hunting throughout the pandemic, I came across Beyondly and was immediately drawn to a unique, local business that looks after its employees and was open to any position that would help me join the team!
I knew I had an interest in HR from my degree and law diploma and mentioned this to my line manager at the time as an area I’d be interested in exploring. I also reached out to the Talent & Culture Coordinator at the time to understand how she’d approached her development since joining the team, and how I could approach my own personal development.
I’ve always been a person that loves being able to see how everything works together and seeing the big picture, as well as the small details, so from day 1 at Beyondly I’ve taken any opportunity to volunteer for any additional activities that would increase my exposure to different areas of the business. When a member of the Talent & Culture team was on a sabbatical, I put myself forward to support with any responsibilities in the team. When the vacancy arose for a Talent & Culture Administrator arose, I was delighted to put myself forwards.
Since then, I’ve been promoted to Talent & Culture Coordinator and subsequently Talent & Culture Manager, but still have the same appetite for learning as I did in day 1 – I really feel like this has helped me in any position to understand what other teams might be facing, and how I can best support teams from my role. I’m always keen to hear feedback from others’ perspectives on how we can do things differently and how I as an individual can improve and develop.
In my position now, I manage a team of two and support over 70 employees from a HR perspective, so it’s a very varied role which I love. My favourite parts of the role are anything people-related! I really enjoy recruitment and being able to meet so many different people and assessing their fit for the team, but also working with line managers and employees day-to-day to develop and embed our culture and continue to make Beyondly the best place to work there is! (not that I’m biased…)
- Problem solving and critical thinking – as much as I would like it to be, I’ve realised that no situation is ever black and white – there’s a lot of shades of grey in between! My role often involves supporting with new or unclear situations, so I’ve developed the ability to break problems down, look at them from different angles and take a data-driven approach where I can to guide decisions and support strategic conversations.
- Trust in my abilities – I’m still working on this, but I think the more I’ve developed the more I’ve learned to trust my instincts and my abilities – I do know what I’m doing! Having trust has helped me to develop confidence in my role in decision-making, especially when I’m asked a question on the spot. It has also helped me to be confident in making suggestions for others and providing solutions to problems.
- Resilience and adaptability – HR can be unpredictable, and no two days are ever the same! You never know when a new situation is going to be thrown your way. In developing resilience, I’ve been able to pick myself up and reflect on how things could have gone differently to learn for the future. This also helps me to stay balanced during busy periods or challenging conversations.
Getting out of my comfort zone has helped me to develop a lot of my skills today; things never go as badly as you expect them to in your head! By putting yourself out there is sometimes uncomfortable or unnatural, you’ll learn more about yourself and your skills and abilities but also develop your capabilities more than you expect.
Handling a busy workload has helped me learn how to prioritise and focus, but has also taught me that sometimes you can’t do everything! I am very type A and like to have everything in order and be able to do it all myself, but sometimes that’s just not possible. I've appreciated and developed the ability to take a step back and look at what I can control and work from there. This has also developed my appreciation for other people’s abilities and perspectives, and to better understand everyone in the business’ skillsets who can often do a better job than I ever could have done!
Expose yourself to new things and take any opportunity presented to you – you never know where you might develop a new interest or passion! This might be asking to shadow different roles in your business to understand what they do and their ways of working, volunteering for new projects or initiatives outside of your usual day to day, or offering to help other departments to expand your learning further.
Be inquisitive – by asking questions, you’ll be exposing yourself to learning new knowledge or skills and may even help others and yourself to think of things from a different perspective and to think of solutions.
Ask for feedback – positive feedback highlights your strengths and what you do well. Use constructive feedback as an opportunity to highlight areas you can develop in, to be an even better version of yourself.
Do what you love – if you’re unsure of where you want your career to go, take a step back and think about what you enjoy. We spend an average of over 3,500 full days at work in our lifetime, so it’s important that you enjoy and are passionate about what you do!
