Skip to content

Allen Associates supports appeal for HR work experience opportunities

Allen Associates is supporting an appeal from Oxford Brookes University for HR teams to come forward and provide unpaid HR work experience opportunities to international students.

These students have come from all over the world to study at Oxford Brookes and need practical insights into HR work in the public or private sector, to complement their MSc HRM one year, postgraduate conversion courses.

Students undertake an intensive 12 month programme starting each September and on graduation they have not only the Oxford Brookes MSc but also an accredited CIPD level 7 qualification.

Dr Jonathan Louw, HR Subject Co-ordinator at Oxford Brookes Business School, said: “Every year it's my privilege to work with young HR professionals of the future from all over the world when they come to do their professional qualifications at Oxford Brookes. What we can't offer them directly, but the wider HR community can, are taster experiences of the practical world of HR work. That's why I am so grateful to our longstanding supporters, Allen Associates, for reaching out into their networks on our behalf. If you could offer these highly motivated, career-focused postgraduate HR students just a few hours of your time, through hosting a visit, doing some mentoring or allowing a half day of work shadowing, the benefits would be immense. And in some cases you might even be meeting the talent you'd like to appoint in the future!”

Businesses and their HR teams can help by offering:
 

  • a regular HR volunteer role over some or all of the academic year
  • project work that students could undertake on site or on campus and that could, possibly, form the basis of their end of programme dissertations
  • work shadowing opportunities - one off, or regular
  • occasional mentoring meetings
  • more intensive internships during university holidays, such as 1-3 months in the summer
  • hosting a half day visit to the organisation by some or all of the student cohort during which they could get a feel for HR operations as well as more strategic projects


Dr Louw added: “Our students are mostly in their early to late 20s and have much to offer. They often have previous work experience although not always in HR. They are very committed to making the most of their year, and will bring this dedication to whatever work, project or other opportunity they might be offered.”

Allen Associates, which has a dedicated HR recruitment team, has a long-standing relationship with Oxford Brookes, providing two awards to high achieving students each year. One award is for best overall performance in the Oxford Brookes University Postgraduate Diploma in Human Resource Management while the other is for best overall performance in the Oxford Brookes University MA in Human Resource Management.

To find out more about Oxford Brookes’ international HR students and the ways in which you can help through mentoring, volunteering and work placements, please contact Dr Jonathan Louw at jlouw@brookes.ac.uk

To find out more about Allen Associates’ HR recruitment division, please contact Constance Farthing at constance@allen-associates.co.uk