Professional Practice: the role of the HR Officer
Code: 43172 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4313788 Management of Human Resources in Organizations | OT | 0 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Susana Pallares Parejo
- Email:
- susana.pallares@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- spanish (spa)
Teachers
- Susana Pallares Parejo
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites.
As there are limited work placements, the coordination team for the master will carry out an “assessment” of the students who are interested in doing this optional module. This assessment consists of a situational test, to be done before the enrolment along with an evaluation of each of the students’ CVs. This first evaluation enables the identification of the students who are best prepared to undertake the professional work placements; these being the ones who will be able to enrol in the module. However, those who are not selected for the module, can still organise work placements arranged through the Treball Campus. In this case the accreditation and management of work placements will be arranged by the Servei d'Ocupabilitat (Employment Service) and the students themselves (http://www.uab.cat/ocupabilitat/).
Objectives and Contextualisation
Objectives and contextualisation
At the end of the module the student will be able to: a) develop the competencies required to carry out a professional role; b) apply the knowledge acquired in the functions and tasks to be carried out in the professional work placement and; c) gain knowledge of various models of reference of the professional role in a working environment.
External work placements are not compulsory, but rather optional. In these placements the students will carry out the duties of an HR technician. The duties to be performed could be focused on one area (e.g. selection) or cover various departments.
To create places in which to carry out these work placements, there are framework agreements in place with companies that collaborate with the master's programme, with the possibility of signing new agreements with other organisations throughout the academic year. Therefore, the organisations where professional work placements are carried out may be in the public, private sector or social organisations (non-profit sector); organisations primarily dedicated to HR activities (consultancies, temporary employment agencies etc.) or organisations dedicated to other activities, which have an HR department or duties or clearly defined staff carrying out these tasks.
Competences
- Deal appropriately with internal and external clients.
- Evaluate specific operational plans and programmes for human resources in order to introduce improvements.
- Mark out human resources needs in the different areas of an organisation, from a proactive, systemic approach.
- Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.
Learning Outcomes
- Find deficiencies in specific human resources processes by observing and reflecting on an organisation's practices.
- Identify crucial factors in adapting innovative human resources programmes and systems to different types of organisation.
- Propose measures to improve human resources procedures to internal clients.
- Use the theoretical and practical frameworks of the discipline in the observation and analysis of human resources procedures in specific organisations.
Content
Content
The content of this module will be those specific to the various work placement programmes of the organisations which collaborate with the master’s programme, and those in which the students will participate in; all of them related to the tasks of an HR technician.
Methodology
Methodology
With regards to the procedure, we will first talk with students personally, with the aim of getting to know their preferences regarding the performance areas (training, selection or consultancy, etc.), the types of company (public, private or service, among others) and other preferences and/or relevant observations; this will all be recorded on a form. At the same time, students are asked to post their up-to-date CV in PDF format in the Moodle space intended for this purpose (the times and deadlines are published in the news forum).
Likewise, we get the students’ contact details and we get in contact with the organisations that form part of the master's programme to update and/or record their data (whilst continuously seeking to create synergies with new organisations). Among others, we refer to the main activities of the work centre, the tasks that the student could develop in the centre, the tutors who will accompany and train them, as well as the periods and timetables in which the students may undertake the work placement.
Once all this information has been gathered, the students’ CVs are sent to the organisations in accordance with their interests, the competencies demonstrated in the initial situational test and the organisations’ requirements. The CVs are sent to an average of two or three companies per student. From this moment on, the companies contact the students who best suit their corporate profile to interview them and meet them in person. It is thus like a real selection process; it is the companies and institutions who ultimately decide which student will be chosen (although this is always done with the consent of the master's coordination team).
Generally, and except in specific cases that require otherwise, the process of assigning students starts in November-December, with the aim that students can start their placements early in the following year, after having signed the specific agreement linking the student and the organisation. The placements last 150 hours and are generally conducted from February through to May or June. In the event that a placement period of over 150 hours is desired, the student may, through the Servei d'Ocupabilitat, set up an extra-curricular agreement and carry out up to 550 additional hours.
If there are students who wish to have their professional experience acknowledged to validate their work experience, this must be done (through the official documentation), validating at least two and a half years’ experience in a professional area related to the job profile of the master’s programme. In this case, the quantitative mark that will be awarded will be a 5. To obtain a mark of 7 (very good), the student must submit a report of their work experience.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Realization of practical activities | 145 | 5.8 | 1, 3, 2, 4 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Reflection of the learning done | 5 | 0.2 | 1, 4 |
Assessment
The evaluation of the work placements will be carried out on the one hand, by the tutor at the organisation, based on guidelines that includes a quantitative evaluation of the student’s work associated with the competencies included in the module; and on the other hand, the student themselves who will award themselves a mark based on a self-evaluation.
Once the work placement has been completed, the students must send the evaluation document (available on the Moodle platform) to their tutors at the company; who will then send it back to the teaching staff who are responsible for the module via fax or e-mail. Likewise, the students must complete their self-evaluation and post it on the Moodle space. The two evaluations, with the first having a value of 80% and the second 20%, make up the final mark.
Once the work placement centre has been assigned and the period commences, it can only be cancelled due to causes of force majeure. Similarly, students who get a final mark of between 4.00 and 4.99 at the end of the module, due to not handing in assignments because of a justified situation (sickness etc.) may hand in alternative work proposed by the teaching staff of this module.
Evaluation Guidelines of theFaculty of Psychology: https://www.uab.cat/doc/DOC_Pautes_Avaluacio_2022_2023
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evaluation from the organisation's tutor | 80% | 0 | 0 | 1, 3, 2, 4 |
| Student's self-evaluation | 20% | 0 | 0 | 1, 4 |
Bibliography
There is no specific bibliography for this module of the master, although all recommended in other modules of the same is likely to be suitable for its contents. In any case, academic or external tutors may recommend documentation for the topics discussed in the practices.
Software
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