A Day In The Life: Catriona Spendlicek

Catriona Spendlicek is a Senior HR Advisor with Involve HR LLP, she is born and bred in Aberdeen and following an MA in Psychology, she went on to study for her Masters in Human Resource Management and has been a HR Consultant for 6 years.

What does your job involve on an average day?

Every morning during my working week is different; I could be working at a Client site, attending a meeting or heading into our offices at Waterloo Quay. If I am in the office first thing, I always make sure I check any emails and I manage various HR inboxes so I can prioritise work for the day – sometimes this goes off track quite quickly but that is the great thing about consultancy work, you are kept on your toes and need to adapt quickly and work around the people that need pragmatic advice.

I have a lovely group of Clients who I work with onsite every week and I enjoy interacting with all of them. It is important to build a rapport and develop relationships with the management teams we work with, so they feel at ease discussing difficult matters and we can help them find solutions and trust in our advice. I’d like to think that they are always pleased to see me as we have built strong relationships and it is a real honour that the clients I work with see me as part of the team. On site, I make sure I am prepared for any meetings planned, which can be anything from discussing HR strategies, risk management and training, to other topics which are never as pleasant such as conduct issues.

I am pretty much “On the go” from morning to evening, so I always make sure I prepare my lunch at home and take it with me and eat it whenever time allows! However, saying that, at Involve HR, it is good to get some catch up time over lunch when we are all in the office together!

Like my mornings, my afternoons are also pretty varied. I spend a lot of time with many different people in various industries and sectors and everyone is facing their own pressures in Aberdeen. I have clients who are Charities, Estates and of course within the Energy sector so it is important in my role that you are able to adapt quickly to different working environments and to different employees and stay professional and diplomatic in any given work situations. It is important to remember that there are many influencing factors that govern why people act the way they that do at work so it is important to keep calm, be non-judgemental and provide understanding to everyone and be respectful of their individual situations.

What attracted you to the job?

I met Emma Barker, one of the founders, when she was working with me in my previous HR Advisor role, we got on really well and the way she worked really appealed to me, so when an opportunity arose within Involve HR, I jumped at it. The variety of the work, as well as the opportunity to learn so much, so quickly really appealed to me and I am very happy that I moved into consultancy.

Do you get to travel much?

Not out of the country! I travel in and around the Aberdeen area with occasional trips north to visit clients and this suits me just fine. It is hugely important that we get “Face time” with our clients to develop relationships and in some instances, we are based at our clients’ premises as part of an outsourced solution on a short-term basis, which also works extremely well!

Who is the funniest person in the office?

I think if you spoke to any of us we would all say someone different! We enjoy having a laugh and a joke and it’s great when we all manage to get together for a catch up – absolutely the best days at Involve HR…and the loudest! Our poor neighbours!

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

The highlights of my career have really being visiting the various Client sites we have, some of them are so interesting and the Clients are always so passionate about what they do and are always keen to show you around, whether it be an industrial site or a country estate. This is what makes my job so interesting, it’s such a big world out there and HR is involved in everything!

What plans does your company have for the future and how do you see your role evolving?

Involve HR has changed in many different ways since I joined as a consultant but I think we will always have a strong client focus. I think we will continue to provide the best service that we can and hopefully grow as a company. As I gain more experience I hope to become a mentor to less experienced colleagues and of course I will always want to continue my interest in employment law.

Company

Involve HR LLP is a local HR Consultancy based in Aberdeen but with Clients all over Scotland and in various industries. We pride ourselves in offering bespoke and personable HR Support and Advice that is pragmatic and solution focussed for all our Clients. We believe that HR should be delivered professionally and positively to add value to Clients. We are a small team but we are driven to ensuring we deliver the best service for all of our clients.