There is no such thing as a typical day for Neil McLeese, a managing director at Human Resources (HR) company, BeyondHR.
Read how he became a Human Resources Manager at BeyondHR
Give a brief outline of your career to date.
After completing my university degree, I worked at Corporate Wardrobe, a Bangor based firm in which I completed my university placement year. I then spent the next eight years at JP Corry, which was a great proving ground as we reaped the benefits of the Celtic Tiger years which brought acquisitions and expansion followed by the challenging times of the global economic crash which resulted in brand closures and many redundancies.
I finished there as HR Manager for their branch network across Ireland before moving into a consultancy role with BeyondHR in 2012. In 2014, my business partner and I then acquired the business and have been at the helm since then.
What was your favourite subject at school?
I loved studying History.
Did you go on to further/ higher education, if so what did you study and where?
I was set to go to Queen’s University Belfast to study History and Archaeology but didn’t do as well in my A-levels as predicted. As a result, I went through university clearing and got a place in the Business School at Napier University, Edinburgh and studied Human Resource Management. Needless to say, I enjoyed the experience and haven’t strayed from HR since!
How did you get into your area of work?
I would love to say it was planned but when the History/Archaeology door closed the HR door opened and once I started down that road, I found I really enjoyed it. During my degree I was extremely fortunate to get a HR placement in my uncle’s business which reinforced my desire to make a successful career in HR.
Is this what you always wanted to do?
I always wanted to work with people but when I was 17/18 working in HR wouldn’t have been first choice (in fact like many, I am not even sure I knew what I wanted to do!) but my experience has taught me that it is important to keep an open mind to other opportunities as you never know where they might lead.
Were there any particular essential qualifications or experience needed?
Having a degree in Human Resource Management is not essential but it does provide a great foundation for learning the fundamentals of HR. It is essential to hold a membership to the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD).
Are there alternative routes into the job?
Gaining people/line management experience is a great place to start. You need to be willing to go through CIPD accredited training after which you are ready to join the HR profession – planning, directing and coordinating HR activities.
What are the main personal skills your job requires?
Good problem-solving skills, ability to work constructively with people, staying calm under pressure and seeing opportunities even in the bleakest of circumstances.
What does a typical day entail?
Like many businesses, the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have had a massive impact on the way we work. I have little ones at home so a typical day at the moment involves an early start to help with home schooling before locking myself in my study in an attempt to get work done! Like most of us, I seem to spend many hours on Teams or Zoom meetings throughout the day with my team as well as clients.
In HR there is no such thing as a typical day and each day can vary massively from the last. One day we maybe helping a client recruit and induct new employees into their team and the next we could be assisting another client with a mass restructuring or implementing redundancies.
What are the best and most challenging aspects of the job?
The best parts of the job are getting to work with a wide variety of businesses across Northern Ireland and Scotland, being part of a really great team and being able to have the flexibility to go after new opportunities. As for the challenges, the unpredictability of the current environment makes it difficult to push ahead with some of our plans which, as someone who always likes to be moving forward, can get a little frustrating!
Why is what you do important?
At BeyondHR our mission is to help business owners sleep better at night by providing hands-on support to SMEs across Northern Ireland and Scotland. My role is to make sure that we are doing this effectively, that our services stay relevant to the changing business world and we achieve our ambitious plans for growth.
How has Covid-19 impacted your business/ role?
We are very fortunate that we have a large number of retained clients that have required support throughout. On the downside we haven’t been able to push ahead with some of our plans but in the grand scheme of things we feel privileged to be in the position we are in.
What adjustments have you had to make?
The biggest change for us has been remote working. We have been unable to visit clients for almost a year with meetings changing from our normal face-to-face consultations to virtual conversations. We have a great team at BeyondHR and we all miss the social aspect of office working, it has been difficult not seeing each other and our clients on a regular basis.
What advice would you give anyone looking to follow a similar career path?
Commit to your development! Being a business owner is a steep learning curve with lots of learning opportunities. You can learn so much from your discussions with colleagues, clients and others in your network.
If you weren’t doing this what would you like to do?
If I was being completely unrealistic, I would have loved to play golf for a living or worked in the golf industry but, failing that, I think I would have found my way into the business world at some point anyway.
What is the one piece of advice you would give to yourself on your first day?
When you are dealing with employee relations issues on a daily basis it can be hard not to get caught up in the emotions of it all. The key to success is to stay positive, don’t take it personally and know your subject area inside out.
Describe your ideal day off.
Before the current lockdown restrictions an ideal day off would have involved a round of golf in the morning followed by a trip to one of the many windswept beaches on the North Coast.
And finally, what’s the key to any successful job search?
If I was to give job hunters one piece of advice it would be to make sure that you tailor your application to the role you are looking to secure. Too often we see candidates applying for lots of jobs with a generic CV that doesn’t show the potential employer all the relevant skills or experience for that particular role.
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