Having worked for Hunter Adams for nearly 2 years, I can truly say my reasons for moving to an HR Consultancy Firm way exceeded my expectations. Working alongside experienced HR professionals with various different backgrounds and receiving the opportunity to work in a wide range of sectors has enabled me to develop personally and professionally. I joined Hunter Adams as one of their Business (HR) Associates and thanks to the opportunities and experience Hunter Adams have given me; I was promoted to Business (HR) Advisor within 10 months of joining the team!
Before joining Hunter Adams, I predominantly worked within the Oil and Gas Sector in Aberdeen. I worked as a standalone HR Coordinator within an Engineering Company who had no previous HR function, then moved to a global Oil Field Services Company where I undertook the position of HR Assistant. Although these roles gave me a lot of experience, nothing could prepare me for the experience I would gain at Hunter Adams.
At Hunter Adams, I have provided support to a wide variety to clients in different sectors. I started by providing support and advice to SMEs (from PR to Logistic Companies) who had little or no in-house HR, which included anything from creating, reviewing and amending policies and procedures, to providing support and advice on absence management, disciplinary, grievance and capability cases. From there I then provided interim support to an Oil and Gas Operator in a generalist capacity before going onto the “more challenging” parts of HR, which included being responsible for 2 large scale redundancy projects for one client in the automotive sector and the other in the subsea sector.
My recent relocation to the Central Belt team has again, opened up even more doors to further my experience in different sectors. In my short time here, I have provided interim support in a generalist capacity to a Book Company, who sold second-hand books and gave a proportion of their profit to charity; it was an exceptionally interesting business to work with. Whilst supporting that client, I also provided support and advice to other clients, from a business management consultancy to a tyre company to a racecourse! And at the moment I am working as an HR Advisor for a Company who operate on behalf of various different charities and trusts – it’s always good to feel you’re giving something back.
As with any job, being an interim has its pros and cons. First of all, the career opportunities are second to none. I have experienced a lot of different sectors and cultures, and each one widens my knowledge and experience, I would say this is good fortune, but this is typical when you work for Hunter Adams. Also, once your interim assignment is finished, you have the satisfaction that you are leaving them in a better position than when you began, and you get the chance to recap on the knowledge and experience you have gained during that assignment. Because of the wide variety of work going on, you’ll never be bored; there is always experience and knowledge to gain, or something that is going to challenge you. Moving onto the challenges, my main one would probably be, meeting so many lovely people at the client site, getting to know them and before you know it, your assignment is finished and you’re moving onto your next challenge. It can be overwhelming moving from role to role and supporting a wide variety of clients as you have to have an understanding of the clients culture to provide them with the appropriate guidance to suit their business.
Hunter Adams is a very exciting and engaging place to work, which is why I love working here. They have very strong values which we live by every day. The support received by everyone is amazing, if you have questions or you are unsure on how to tackle something, there is always someone available to ask. Development is constant at Hunter Adams, the team are committed to knowledge sharing and open communication. They have developed the career tree which allows you to see a clear career path. Before working for Hunter Adams, you would think that we don’t see or speak to our colleagues very much, but that’s so far from the truth. Thanks to the regular training courses, team nights out, town halls, and team calls, we speak and see them frequently and it’s always great to catch up. Hunter Adams really care for our well-being.
I wouldn’t hesitate to encourage anyone to accept the challenges and opportunities offered by Hunter Adams, even though we are always busy, we have lots of fun too.