Starting a new society at a well-established Business School might seem like a challenging prospect, but when given the right resources and guidance, anything is possible! In this blog, I am going to talk about why we decided to start a society, how we put it all together and the result following our launch night.
I always wondered what it would be like to bring all people at the University who are enthusiastic about Human Resources together in one room. Our discussions, the level of knowledge, and our networking would be tremendous! But the question was: how can we achieve that? It was later during one of our alumni sessions that I found out we previously had a Human Resources society at the Business School, but it had been shut down. That’s when I decided to revive it. Two of my classmates were equally thrilled about the idea and so we reached out to the Student Development team who were incredibly supportive and encouraged us to take the lead. We welcomed two more students from different courses to the committee and with that, our team was formed.
Our vision and mission for the HR Society was to build a community of students who are passionate about the HR sector. We wanted to bridge the gap between the theory that we study in lectures and their practical implications, providing practice and opportunities to students through various events. In order to succeed, we had to make sure that we communicated these aims to our target audience and so, we began planning our first event: a potluck wherein students would bring traditional dishes from their home countries to share as part of a communal meal. This would allow attendees to recognise the cultural diversity around them and enhance their cross-cultural knowledge. While it may sound simple, it took a lot of hard work and effort to make this event possible. We had to take care of planning, logistics (cutlery, tables and chairs) and promotional activity as well as making sure our team morale remained high and workload was manageable. Fortunately we were never discouraged as the Student Development Team helped us with resources and motivated us every step of the way. This is one of the privileges of studying at The University of Edinburgh Business School: you’ll always find the support you need through your professors, classmates, advisors or the Student Development Team.
Our potluck and society launch night was a great success. As a result, it has motivated us to brainstorm more events and activities for students to explore the field of Human Resources. For example, our next event will be a crisis management challenge wherein participants will have to develop a solution as consultants for a hypothetical HR crisis and apply the skills they have learned so far. Exciting, right?
Starting a society was not on my agenda as a Business School student in 2023. But it has allowed me to bring my inner entrepreneur out. I feel energised when planning, budgeting, scheduling, promoting, networking, and working together as part of a team. Creating this society was a great opportunity and I am delighted that the Business School believed in us.
To find out more about the HR Society, follow us on Instagram or email us.
Unnati is an MSc Human Resource Management student (2022-23)