HR undergraduate placement

[HebeJeeby]

Hello, I should like some advice from HR specialists please or those involved with uni placements. My DD will be starting her 2nd year at uni in September and is studying English Lit. She wants to apply for a placement for her 3rd year in HR. She has seen a lot of past placement adverts that want HR graduates but also some that will take any degree specialisation. Is there anything she can be doing this summer to enhance her cv to make her application stronger? She is looking at the ACAS website and watching past HR webinars and has a linked In page but she needs to develop this. Are there any courses she could do this summer which would help? She has seen a couple but they are expensive, I don’t mind paying for them but don’t want to spend a few hundred pounds if it isn’t needed/won’t help. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

Subscribe to things like people management and personnel today

read up on the many current changes to employment rights

read up on the companies she’s applying to - go through careers sites and look on glass door

@HermioneWeasley thank you, I shall pass those recommendations on.

also any of the issues those companies have with different aspects related to their hr eg general news, linkedin think of it like building an mi5/gchq type company analysis

there is a site called wikihow that has guides where you can teach yourself different skills and knowledge on different subjects that may help

Start looking at timescales for applying for grad schemes asap.

Thank you all for replying, some very useful help there. DD has already registered her advanced interest for a number of companies on Higherin. She’s wanting to enhance her competitiveness against HR undergrads. She didn’t want to do a HR degree as she didn’t want to pigeon hole herself too early in case she changed her mind. Thanks once again for taking time to post.

If she can’t get an HR role over the summer look for Customer Service roles.

We have taken on interns and placements. We recognise that there might be a lack of experience or knowledge, as they have primarily been in full-time education. This is what we look for both in applications and interviews:
Excellent written skills
Evidence of initiative and problem solving
Can-do attitude
Great attitude generally
Common sense and evidence of transferable skills (eg, obviously won't have HR experience but would be able to research things, have an idea of where to begin looking, and when to ask for appropriate help from colleagues)
Any previous work experience such as a Saturday job
Volunteer work in a people-facing role/activity
Office 365 skills
Good organisational skills
Good covering letter - which is also well laid out - and which shows some that the person has at least done basic research into what we do.

We avoid:
Anyone that appears like they might need a lot of "babysitting"
Anyone who thinks that because they have (or are in the middle of) a degree they know everything or look down on non-graduates
CVs with typos
Terrible covering letter (or no covering letter)

Thank you all once again.