Studying Psychology at University, I always knew that I wanted my career to be people focused. At the time I wanted to follow the route of Clinical Psychology, but during my third year I realised that another four years of Uni might not be for me! I started to explore the world of Graduate Schemes and having had some exposure to recruitment and development work, I thought that HR would be a good place to start. I discovered the ABF Grocery Group when exploring Grad Schemes online, and immediately thought that the business would be a great fit for me – it was easy to see that ABF were passionate about growing and developing their people, and that, paired with the great brands I knew and loved, meant that I had to apply!

I was one of two graduates selected to join the HR scheme in the year it was launched which was really exciting. My first placement was at Jordans Dorset Ryvita in the role of HR Advisor for Manufacturing and Supply Chain business functions. This role was a big challenge; having never worked in HR or even been inside a factory, you could say it was a bit daunting! But I had a really high level of support from my line manager and my team, which meant that I was able to get stuck in and achieve so much that I’m proud of. I was responsible for end-to-end recruitment, employee relations case management, employee engagement, occupational health, and I led and implemented a new absence management project across manufacturing.

For my second placement I moved to AB World Foods in to a Commercial HR team, partnering with Sales and Category business functions. This role is really different to my last, I still manage recruitment and employee relations, but I’ve had to adapt my approach to working with different functions and senior stakeholders. I have been able to take a real deep dive in to team development and talent planning, as well as leading business-wide projects on Onboarding and Employer Branding.

In both of my roles I’ve been given real responsibility and accountability, and as a result I have learnt so much and developed my HR capability and confidence. The design of the scheme means I have been able to experience both supply chain and commercial HR early on in my career which I think has been hugely beneficial. This experience combined with all the great training I’ve had through the graduate scheme (including starting my Level 5 CIPD), means that I feel ready and excited to move in to my off-scheme role as a Junior HR Business Partner back at JDR!