Claire-Louise Seddaoui

MSc International Human Resource Management, 2017

Tell me more about what your job involves?

I work for Gillespie Macandrew, a Scottish law firm. I support the HR manager, the partners and all employees. It’s a general role, incorporating everything from recruitment to performance and development to payroll.

Every day is different, and it sometimes feels like you’re going at 100 miles-per-hour!

How did you end up in this job?

After I finished my Masters at Abertay, I moved through to Edinburgh and the first job I took was maternity cover with a different legal firm doing HR administration.

I was approaching the end of that contract and was supposed to start a job elsewhere, but Gillespie Macandrew approached me and made me aware of this role.

I think my Masters was a big pull factor for them, along with the fact I worked at another law firm – it’s quite a niche industry.

So your degree was important in helping you get to where you are now?

Absolutely, especially since the Masters programme at Abertay is professionally credited by the CIPD. Not all universities have that accreditation process so it saved me years of my own time. Being able to do the course in the 12 months and getting the accreditation beside it was crucial to me.

Who or what had the most impact on you while you were at Abertay?

The lecturers were fantastic. They all have a wealth of experience and a lot of contacts.  

They were really helpful between my third and fourth year as I had my son and the university were really accommodating around my personal circumstances.

What advice would you have for our current students?

I’d say for people looking at HR – there’s a lot of competition when you come out of university so I think the Masters is a really good first foot forward.

I would also say get sector relevant work experience, even if it’s voluntary and for a short period of time.