Even though many of our graduates will have progressed in their careers since completing a case study, they are still of interest to students who wish to gain an understanding of the world of work.

- Manage the HR, Recruitment, Learning and Development and Equality and Diversity teams that support our 1000 members of staff. My team of 26 manage all the HR cases across the business as well as a number of large scale projects, including managing the introduction of the apprenticeship levy, gender pay gap reporting and a company wide focus on reducing sickness absence.

- Lead on large scale organisational projects including the introduction of flexible working, office space redesign, restructures and changes to terms and conditions.

- Write and deliver the People and Organisational Development Strategy and ensure we recruit, retain, develop and engage a high potential and high performance workforce.

Each day is very different but I usually start by catching up with my management team to make sure there are no major issues. As the Head of OD I generally make the decisions on key employment issues such as suspensions or dismissals. We also operate in a heavily unionised environment so I have a lot of contact with our union reps on HR casework issues.

Following my catch up on phone calls and emails I spend quite a lot of my day in various meetings! I have just written and relaunched the People and Organisational Development strategy so I am spending a lot time of time going out into the business to tell them about Organisational Development and how it can make a positive impact. The organisation has never had an OD team before so I spend a lot of time talking with senior managers and helping them to understand all the good work we are doing.

The organisation is also currently in the middle of redesigning one of our largest office spaces so I am heavily involved in helping ensure we create a positive work space for about 450 members of our staff. This is a good opportunity for us to increase staff engagement and move to a more collaborative and flexible way of working.

I also spend a lot of time working with my team to understand management information and statistics as seeing where our team can add value is a key part of my job. We will soon be running our gender pay reports and developing an action plan to support the company to reduce this difference. We are also leading on the apprenticeship levy project and ensuring we get the best value from this government initiative. In addition, sickness absence is currently costing our organisation a huge amount in lost days so I regularly review all long term sickness cases across the organisation and meet with managers to move these cases on.

Reviewing statistics may not be my favourite part of the job but it is so important to understand the key issues across the organisation and how my team can support.

The interaction with people from all levels of the business. In any given day I get to speak to a huge range of people from joiners to financial managers to our Chief Executive.

I am also constantly learning as the range of activities in my team is large. I have worked with my Equality and Diversity Manager on some really interesting pieces of work including introducing a transgender policy into our workplace which gives you insight into all different aspects of workplace legislation.

I also really enjoy the casework element of my role. Even though I only get involved in very complex cases they are all different and creative problem solving is definitely a must! I also really love managing a team. I currently manage 4 teams and about 26 people who are all so commitment and passionate about delivering a good service. It's not always plain sailing but working with a team who share the same vision makes everything seem more doable.

The people! We have 1000 members of staff each with their own values, motivations, personal lives and problems and trying to unite a workforce to deliver one company goal is tricky.

We also have a large trade operative workforce who are highly skilled joiners, electricians, plumbers etc. but work very differently to our office based colleagues. Trying to bring together these two groups is challenging but worthwhile when you find something to engage them all.

The legislative aspects of my job can also be challenging as the law is constantly changing and updating and you need to be on top of all the changes and how it might impact your staff. This is particularly true for my organisation as we are highly unionised so open for challenge if we don't get things right.

Working in the public sector also means there is a constant challenge to deliver more with less. My budget is reviewed and reduced annually so we have to look at creative ways to deliver our services and generate income for the organisation.

I have worked in Recruitment, Learning and Development and HR and OD brings all of that together. It is also very people focused and as people are key to delivering our business it allows me to really help the organisation achieve it's goals.

As a member of the Senior Management Team I get to be involved in a large number of varied projects which means my days are always busy but very varied meaning I never get bored. For me personally, I like being able to make a difference in people's live so whilst I have working in the private sector previously I am always drawn back to the public sector.

The organisation I work for puts tenants as the heart of everything we do and seeing some of the things we have helped tenants achieve is fabulous.

I use almost everything I learnt from my MSc in Occupational Psychology.

I also took maths and economics at undergrad which has definitely helped with budget planning and analysing workforce statistics!

Most of my training has been on the job but I will be starting my CIPD qualification shortly.

Oct 2016 - Present: Head of Organisational Development

Nov 2015 - Oct 2016: Promoted to Development Manager

Sept 2013 - Nov 2015: Worked as an Organisational Workforce Development Advisor supporting the transformation journey for Northamptonshire's Children's Social Services

May 2013 - August 2013: Worked as Resourcing Business Partner for Lafarge Tarmac whilst they went through one of the largest joint ventures in the UK

October 2011 to - May 2013: Promoted to Recruitment and Development Manager for the @One Alliance

April 2011 - September 2011: Starting working for the @One Alliance as Recruitment and Development Adviser.

November 2010 - April 2011: Time out to travel

October 2009 - October 2010: Worked for South Yorkshire Police in their Human Resources Development Team to conduct training needs analyses and evaluation studies.

At the minute I am happy where I am as there is so much to do in my current role but in the future I would be looking to move into a HR Director role.

I am also hoping to get my doctorate in Occupational Psychology

Be open to jobs that aren't exactly what you're looking for. When I was offered a role in recruitment I almost turned it down as I was sure I wanted to work in Occupational Psychology or HR. But it turned out to be a brilliant opportunity and gave me the chance to consider a whole different career path that I wouldn't have even known about otherwise.

I also gained critical experience of managing a team which is much harder than people think.

I would also say you need to be brave. I left a permanent job to take a temporary opportunity when I joined Lafarge Tarmac as I really wanted to be involved in the massive joint venture they were undertaking. It was risky but gave me the confidence and extra experience I needed to successfully get my next role. You should also not be afraid to go for jobs other people think are too high. My current role is a big step up from previous jobs and a lot of people doubted that I would get it. Luckily the people that interviewed me recognised my potential and the value of my previous experience and study and gave me a brilliant opportunity. Just remember the worst anybody can do is say no and if you don't try you'll never know.

Also some helpful advice from my time as a Recruitment Manager is make sure you have a strong CV. If it's not relevant leave it off and don't be modest about your achievements. I used to review applications everyday and you only have one very short opportunity to make a good impression - bad formats, spelling or grammar mistakes or having to sift through useless information is not going to make the managers want to interview you. Also the order of your CV is important, put your more recent courses / experience first as if managers don't like the first page they won't even read the second! And remember what you did in a role is much more important than the job title so make sure people know about projects etc. rather than letting your job title speak for itself.