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Staffing Team Manager

Nadia Ali, Division of Biosciences

Nadia Ali
I am the Staffing Team Manager for Division of Biosciences. I am responsible for the staffing affairs of the Division at both the strategic and operational level. I started at UCL following the merger of School of Pharmacy as a HR Support Assistant in 2012. I applied for this role as I was keen to pursue a career in HR, this meant taking a pay cut and starting again but it was my first step in the direction I wanted to be heading. After a restructure of the team, I secured the role as a Staffing & HR Administrator. We were a small team of three and this allowed me opportunities to participate in project work and exposed me to complex HR matters.

I took any opportunity that came my way, which in turn helped build my knowledge base, skills and confidence. In this post, I had some coaching sessions, which really helped me identify my goals and some of my ‘blockers’ that was stopping me from reaching to my potential. After returning from maternity leave, I spent my time adjusting to my new working lifestyle and building the momentum up to move on.

When the opportunity came along to act-up to the post of Staffing and HR Officer, I took it without any hesitation. This allowed me to gain the right set of skill to secure my post in the IOE as a Recruitment and Payments Coordinator. The IOE also underwent a merger and I was responsible for a newly established team after a restructure.
 
This was my first line management role overseeing a team of five. I was put forward to complete the twelve month Leadership and Management Programme which really boosted by skills and confidence as a line manager. My post at the IOE specialised in recruitment, which opened up an opportunity to engage with TOPS Recruitment. A lot of the work for this project was completed in my personal time but it was an opportunity to work with Central HR and help tackle the challenges we face collaboratively. After being in a specialised role, I found myself wanting to broaden my knowledge and experience. I was drawn to the generalist role and wanted to explore this. I sought the opportunity to undertake a short-term secondment as Operations Manager in Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources (BSEER). This role was responsible for IT, Estates, Finance and the Staffing Team.

This short-term secondment was extremely valuable in broadening my understanding of each professional services area but most importantly I discovered my skill set and what I enjoyed the most was specific to the HR Career pathway. This led me to apply for my current role as Staffing Team Manager. My advice to others would be to move around UCL and take the advantage of working in such a large organisation. Build your network with colleagues across UCL, share practices and try out new ideas. If there is an area you want to explore don’t shy away from it, you just don’t know where it will lead you. Secondments are a great way of gaining experience and helps with networking.  Get involved with the wider UCL community and most importantly enjoy doing what you do. My immediate goal is to establish myself in my new role and complete my CIPD. I have also been asking the question, what lies outside of UCL and HE sector?