As National Apprenticeship Week continues, we once again take a look into how DHU value apprentices and apprenticeships as a way of improving services and career development.
Today we’re talking to Kristena Lyew who joined DHU earlier this year and is currently working in our Head Office in Derby as a HR Apprentice, specialising in Health, Wellbeing and Diversity.
Read on to learn more about Kristena and what led her in the direction of wanting to study an apprenticeship through DHU Healthcare.
Kristena told us: “Just like many of us experienced, 2020 served as a time for me to reflect on my life, on what was important to me, and most importantly where I saw myself heading. I was in my second year of a four-year Chinese and Linguistics degree and sitting on the fence about the direction of my career post-grad. Although I thoroughly enjoyed my degree, I decided the career path I had originally chosen no longer served the person that I had become.
My working background has almost exclusively consisted of customer service roles. And one of my greatest personal passions was the celebration of people, culture, diversity, and language. On the consideration of my professional background so far and my passions, a career in Human Resources felt right. I could marry my skills from customer service with my interest in society to help an organisation thrive based on its people service. However, still in University, I had no experience in Human Resources be it academic or professional.
On completion of my degree, HR was still very much the direction in which I wanted my career to travel. DHU was a strong choice for me, I wanted to align myself with an organisation that prides itself on providing valuable care with and doing so with integrity. I feel with DHU I have achieved just that. An apprenticeship allows me to gain hands-on experience in the specialism of HR; begin to learn the processes of HR from the ground up, network in the industry and build a career.
My main role Is to provide support in the Health, Wellbeing and Diversity team. Wherein I aspire to help implement structures / initiatives, signpost services and support in the awareness of diversity and inclusion measures across the organisation. I aim to proudly say the umbrella of Wellbeing, Diversity and Inclusion is celebrated and representative of both our workforce and service users.
My long-term career goal is to establish for myself a strong foothold in HR, supporting all areas of the employee life cycle, in turn helping the organisation to thrive. After completion of my level 3, 5 and 7 CIPD and a career of learning, developing, and networking, I strive to move into a senior position within people services.
“My first couple of weeks have been very promising. I started off with a strong induction into the company, learning who DHU really are and what they are about, visiting different sites, meeting different teams, and getting an understanding of how different departments operate. So far, I have begun to learn HR processes, shadow in on Health, Wellbeing and Diversity meetings, and grasped the impact of the role I am settling into. Although my time has been short so far, I already feel well supported in my professional and educational development and I look forward to seeing how I progress.”
To find apprentice opportunities near you, visit the national site here or visit the DHU careers page here for more opportunities.