Sarah Webb - Croydon - 1981 - 1990

Human Resources Manager

I am currently HR Manager for a firm of Surveyors and Property Agents in the South East and have over 10 years experience within Human Resources. My degree is in Management Science from Warwick University and within this I chose to study various personnel related subjects. During my final year I applied for both Personnel and Management graduates schemes, although the number of graduate vacancies within HR at that time was very limited. Upon graduating I took up a Management Trainee position with Sainsburys and worked within their stores as Customer Service Manager. After 2 years I was offered the opportunity to move into Personnel and I became Branch Personnel Manager of a medium sized store. I moved stores approximately every 12 months and gained extensive experience in disciplinary matters, recruitment and training. During this time I also completed the CIPD professional qualification scheme, with funding from my employer.

After completing my professional qualification I moved to a medium-sized magazine publishing company where I was a ‘stand alone’ HR Manager with the freedom to determine policy and set up procedures of my own. After 18 months of company expansion I was able to recruit a HR Assistant to support the processes which I had put in place. After 5 years with this employer I moved again, to my current position where I am again in a stand alone role, this time supporting 7 different office locations.

The experience I gained at Sainsburys has been invaluable, it may not have felt like this at the time but the retail sector certainly provides a strong training ground for HR. I now prefer working within smaller companies where there is greater freedom and flexibility.  

I am happy to provide advice to anyone interested in working in HR and could provide work experience within Sussex. If you are interested in a career in HR you will need to investigate the courses available that will lead to CIPD membership. It is not a prerequisite of all jobs in the sector but it certainly helps in the majority of cases. The CIPD do not offer many exemptions to their courses so even if you have a relevant degree you may need to complete all the parts of the qualification scheme which takes at least 2 years depending on the college/university.