Sophie Cain

After reviewing the job description and person specification for the role of People & Culture Co-ordinator, I believe that this position is an excellent opportunity for me to advance my career within HR and I am confident I would make a highly valuable addition to your team.

During my time with NWAS, as an HR Hub Assistant, HR Hub Administrator and now a HR Hub Officer, I have had the responsibility of processing recruitment pre-employment checks and issuing employment contracts for a large number of candidates across the North West. This has required me to be very organised and structured with the information I was collecting. Due to this, I must ensure that I delegate my workload by using diary reminders to pre-plan my workload to the maximum efficiency possible.

In my current role as a HR Hub Officer within the Trust I continuously support the needs of the demanding environment that is recruitment and show my ability to manage different workloads and multitask by overseeing recruitment departments whilst ensuring I deliver on set out plans and agendas. I use my initiative when it comes to prioritising workloads, reviewing upcoming training plans for courses, and using diary reminders to preschedule these into my diary so it won’t overwhelm my workload. I evidence my ability to communicate effectively within my current job role daily, it is crucial to be a point of contact for candidates and staff and ensure a high level of customer service is met as well as ensuring to be an approachable supportive guide for our service users and colleagues. Therefore, I ensure my written skills are inclusive of clear and concise content, my confidence ensures I am an effective calm and collected speaker, my positive influencing attitude helps me grasp my audience when I am presenting whether that be face to face or virtually over MS teams. Within my role I input data on different systems and manage that data that other departments also use, I understand the importance of data accuracy and non-duplication of work as this can have a knock-on effect to wider teams. My role requires me to review data and reports and share this information with any collaborators in a clear effective manner to obtain the aim.

In my previous role as a HR Hub Administrator, I work autonomously, helping to advise staff members with any pay related queries across the organisation. I am responsible for hiring and entering all employee details onto ESR. By generating assignment numbers and completing all mandatory checks, it is my responsibility to ensure all information captured is correct and accurate to minimise any potential issues. My role also includes ensuring all new hires within NWAS pay documents are sent securely over to our payroll provider - ensuring GDPR and Data Protection processes are followed throughout the recruitment, selection and hiring process. In addition, I run IAT reports for all external employees joining NWAS to ensure that any Aggregate Service Dates and Continuous Service Dates are correctly recorded within ESR. I am also responsible for ensuring any contractual changes are inputted correctly into ESR and ensure that all employment checks are being completed in accordance with NHS Employers and Agenda for Change policies.

I utilise ESR to confirm personal details for all internal employees within NWAS so that they may be transferred quickly to TRAC systems and their hiring process runs as smoothly as possible. I oversee the Recruitment Inbox, ESR Work Inbox, Leavers Inbox, Redeployment Register along with the Vacancy Bulletin ensuring that all communications are answered promptly and kept up to date. Whilst ensuring all incoming and out-going mail and ensuring all mail being sent externally is logged correctly.

Over the past 18 months at NWAS, my communication skills have flourished, liaising with different colleagues and applicants is essential in any role. I understand identifying issues and ensuring these are escalated to management is vital, as we can find a solution to ensure that the applicant has a positive recruitment experience at NWAS. During this time, I have also gained confidence using both Trac and ESR which has helped me to assist and support other staff members within the Hub with any enquiries they may have

 During my time within NWAS, I am also responsible for the running and managing of recruitment days across the entire North-West and represent the HR department on recruitment days for various roles within the trust. During recruitment days, I am faced with a verity of different candidates from all walks of life, and I ensure that they all receive the same Recruitment and Selection process. I also ensure that all private and confidential information is contained, secured and recorded correctly to allow the smooth operation for the Recruitment team to be able to generate conditional offers promptly.

 I understand and embrace a teamwork dynamic and can effectively contribute to the team. I also enjoy working independently as well as part of a team and appreciate the emerging need to satisfy stringent timescales when processing enquiries or complaints to ensure a satisfactory resolution.

My communication skills are excellent, I am confident and embrace challenges, and I understand the need for flexibility within the Trust. I am keen to learn and never miss the opportunity to do so, therefore, I am willing to undertake any training necessary, in accordance with this role. I am excited to have the potential opportunity to be involved in projects that positively impact the underrepresented workforce within our organisation and help support individuals in my community into employment at NWAS.