HR Executive Intern Review

As ‘Human Resources Executive Intern’, I held a generalist role within the field of Human Resources (HR), whereby I was exposed to an array of different areas and built upon my learnings from university. Such areas included Recruitment and Selection, Talent Management, Compensation & Benefits, Employee Relations, D&I, Well-being, Performance management and the leaver process. During the recruitment process for example, one would work and coordinate with external clients to fill vacancies that had arisen, as well as being given responsibility to conduct and run the interview process from start to end. As a company with roughly 400 employees in the UK branch, I acted as first-hand support to employee enquiries and management of certain cases. For example, I was handed control of several maternity cases which involved the initial ‘interview’ with the employee involving the explanation of our policy and how it worked; followed by constructing their maternity planner. These are of course just two areas in particular that I enjoyed within my role, and one thing that I truly valued about working as HR intern, was that no day was the same and I was supported throughout by such an amazing, hard-working team with insight to various different areas.

During my placement at Pernod Ricard UK, the skills I have had the opportunity to expand and develop are invaluable and the journey has been an insightful period of self-growth. The two main skills I have been able to work on are Stakeholder management, communication. Stakeholder management has been a new skill that I have gained, having had no corporate exposure prior to this placement. I have managed employees of all grades, hiring managers and external agencies and I have learnt that certain stakeholders, similar to what management theories suggest, may require one to adapt their style depending on various attributes. I was also able to further develop my communication, in particular through adopting an advisory role to first-line employee queries and delivering presentations to senior stakeholders. ‘Open & authentic communication’ is another leadership attribute that Pernod Ricard values and is replicated within a common motto that the team encourages; “Be bold, be bright, and be gone”; stressing the importance of clarity and assertiveness in communication.

The amount of responsibility that I was given during my HR Placement at PRUK far exceeded my expectations. It was incredible to feel so valued and appreciated by the team from day one and for that reason allowed to engage in several independent projects. For example, two key projects that I’m most proud of would be my management and leadership within the construction of PRUK’s Diversity Strategy going forward and the management of the Bright Futures Campaign Recruitment for the next intern cohort. Two exciting projects that really were up there with my highlights at PRUK!

I could not fault the support and guidance that I received during my placement year. As long as you have the attitude and curiosity to learn new things then the team will recognise this and help feed your knowledge! I also received great feedback on projects I worked on, outside of my team, from key stakeholders including employees whom I supported on ad-hoc requests such as maternity cases and flexible working requests. The whole organisation really did want the best for its staff, which was felt amongst the whole 2021 intern cohort!

A very convivial and inclusive culture, especially to younger employees. Collective moments shared with the staff included Bar Thursday's, company conferences, GroceryAid LIVE events and many more.

During my year as Human Resources Intern I gained great exposure to multiple areas of the HR profession as well as the wine and drinks industry. I worked alongside multiple stakeholders and managed various different projects, from recruitment campaigns to people management to name a few areas. An absolute highlight has to be my management in the creation of PRUK’s Diversity and Inclusion strategy going forward as well as my support with various other D&I events such as hosting an event for International Women’s Day. I’m extremely grateful to have been supported along the way by such an amazing team with a truly inspirational attitude to work. Ultimately this year at Pernod Ricard UK has taught me more than I could imagine, and I have grown a lot as a person just as much as I have professionally. I was blessed with so many opportunities, memories and people that I'll never forget. A company with such a fantastic culture and work ethos that really does put the employee experience at the centre of everything!

Yes

Be unique and daring - Don't be afraid to put yourself out there and speak your own thoughts! The team love new & creative ideas!! Say yes to every opportunity you are given at Pernod Ricard UK but also create opportunities for yourself at work.