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Show Notes
After completing a Diploma, Rose started her career about 30 years ago with Woolworths. During her time at Woolworths, she had support from an internal mentor who encouraged he into an HR role. After Woolworth, she moved to Gowings, DHL, a commercial ergonomic furniture manufacturer. All these companies were excellent places to work and great places to learn and develop professionally.
She started her own HR consultancy and payroll services business supporting SMEs.
The larger retail companies have a structured training program that gives a clear and distinct career pathway through managing stores or a cluster of stores. Rose keeps in touch with one of her previous colleagues who started at Woolworths collecting trolleys in the car park and then progressed to running groups of stores or working on the buying side of the business. The career pathway includes career growth for older staff.
People don’t always set out to have a career in HR. Rose was lucky to have a manager and leaders who afforded her opportunities that encouraged her to expand her experience in HR. Rose has a personality that says yes to opportunities, which has always worked out in her favour. Having a great manager or leader and saying yes to opportunities can provide excellent career opportunities and professional development.
Rose did some extra tertiary study in HR and is a member of the Australian HR Institute (AHRI); as a professional, it's essential to keep up to date with professional training and accreditation.
HR is about dealing with people. As such, each situation is different.
Professional development and career advancement may depend on finding a leader who believes in you, but equally important is believing in yourself. Self-doubt is normal, but with some encouragement, it's great to take the opportunities.
Every piece of support Rose gives to clients through her company, “Rosey Innovations”, is about mitigating risk and providing best practices and compliance in the client's business.
Best practice complements the Fair Work compliance requirement.
As a minimum, SMEs need these four things in a business:
1. Job Descriptions
2. Employment agreements
3. Policy and Procedure manual
4. Induction program
These four essentials are affordable for most small businesses and keep the companies covered from a legal perspective. As the business grows, then other services can be added in.
Businesses should avoid unfair dismissals or general protection claims.
Employment contracts must be industry-specific and address the various pay awards in the market.
Good HR policy is about mutual respect between employer and employee.
Rose's philosophy around leadership is about empowerment. Train and mentor your team and equip them with the skills they need to perform excellently. Provide a variety of training and development. Communication and availability are critical. Leave time for fun, especially if the team is working remotely. Build your team to an autonomous level and let go. Mistakes are part of being human.
In Summary:
Many professionals start their careers without a clear view of what they want.
Falling in opportunities: explore and try out options. What fits and what does not fit your passion and career direction? Take chances as they come along. Say yes.
Learning: Taking learning opportunities as they are provided can become the framework of the professional, a learner and someone committed to professional development.
HR: focus on people. Help people by breaking down complexity into simple structures—Customise solutions for clients so that it suits their priories at the moment.
Empowerment: provide training and career opportunity.