Recruitment and Payments Administrator

Sagal Elmi, Governance and Operations, IOE.

I’ve worked as a Recruitment and Payments Administrator at the IOE for almost two years now. My team and I work closely with our HR colleagues in order to facilitate the recruitment and payment of all staff working at the IOE, providing support to staff throughout the entire employee lifecycle. I’m responsible for delivering a staffing service to all staff, coordinating recruitment campaigns from end to end, advising hiring managers on HR policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with right to work, and much more. As a small team, we work closely together to ensure a fair and equitable recruitment and selection process for all.

I first joined UCL as a graduate, where I temporarily worked at Student/Academic Services until I could determine the career pathway that I wanted. A few months later, when I saw a six month secondment circulated in the Recruitment team that interested me, I applied and successfully moved into this team. Right from the very beginning of my role, HR was a whole new area for me, but I had a supportive line manager who assisted my development in such a fast-paced and varied role. I also found there were valuable initiatives launched at UCL at the time which I felt were significant, and closely connected not only to my role, but my values too. I got involved in UCL’s Fair Recruitment Specialist Scheme, designed to tackle the existing unconscious bias in recruitment and selection and offer visible diversity on panels. Most recently, I’ve become a member of both the HR Generalist & Recruitment Communities of Practice. I think these opportunities for wider UCL staff to get together and introduce transformative projects will be lasting.

I think that my career pathway is definitely much clearer now than when I first started at UCL and I see myself furthering my practice in HR, whether in Higher Education, or the public sector. My advice, particularly for those starting off their career journey is: get involved in UCL’s various initiatives as a way to meet more people, even those areas or spaces you don’t feel welcome. Check out the secondments available that interest you, and apply because it’s always worth a try, and a good way to identify what works well for you, and what doesn’t.