Birds Eye View and Baby Steps for Career Development.

1. 1
THRILLING EXCURSION IN HR
DIVISION AS A GRADUATE TRAINEE
The HR division is always overlooked by other
departments. Why? Because people think the
role of HR is limited to hiring or discharging
employees. Back in the days, I myself had a
little awareness about HR. However, the past
one month changed the way I perceive HR and
its purpose. We all agree that success or failure
of any organization is highly dependent on its
human resource unless of course the company is
run by machines. If that is the case, it is the HR
department that ensures the best recruiting
system to bring about highly skilled
professionals and guarantees those employees
are treated fairly. The HR role doesn’t stop here,
it further reviews innovative employees and
reward them and facilitate trainings to enhance
professional development.
Almost all of HR roles are interrelated with
other divisions, for instance, among the function
of HR it ensures policies and practices are
consistent with the Labor Proclamation and
other pertinent laws of the country. This is more
or less the function of the Law Department.
Furthermore, it facilitates effective interpersonal
communication among the Exchange staff to
ascertain best human relations through learning
and development; it ensures goods and services
are purchased with the right price and from the
right place; ensure timely repair of office
maintenance and also perform other tasks
assigned by the officer.
These broad and extensive roles of HR make it
necessary to dispense responsibilities to six
different units. The Recruitment and Induction
Unit, HR Admin, Learning and Development
unit, Performance Management unit, and the two
separate units which are now under HR
Procurement and the General Service unit. As a
graduate trainee it is necessary to know the key
roles and function of each unit. At first I was
somehow perplexed when I was assigned in HR
Division because am a Law graduate and I
thought what is the place of a soon to be Lawyer
in HR Division? But since I was recruited as a
Graduate Trainee it is mandatory to know roles
of every department in the Exchange.
Graduate Trainee Program is a new initiative,
where by companies recruit fresh out of college
students and train them in an organization to
make them familiar with the working
environment in general and with the different
divisions under the organization in particular.
During my stay in HR Division I had the chance
to take training with well-educated and
experienced managers, had the opportunity to
write Evaluation Report, take part in the
recruitment process, saw the Exchange
personnel administration and know about the
general service rendered.

2. 2
Had I been an attorney after I graduated, I would
still have a little understanding about HR and
would still undermine the role of HR in any
company. Hence, the training helped me to see
the bigger picture as a lawyer. Let me conclude
by saying this kind of training will help
graduates to really know what they want to do
with their lives. Even though, they graduated
with different fields of study they might end up
specializing in another field because of the
exposure the training entails and they might find
out their true interest. For this reason, this
graduate trainee program could be used as a soul
searching device.
Bethelhem Alemtsehay
Graduate Trainee/LLB