Learning through practice: HRM students excel in Consultancy Challenge
Acting as professional consultancy teams tasked to deliver tailored solutions to real clients, students from our Human Resource Management course put into action their critical thinking and teamwork skills in the School’s HRM Consultancy Day Workshop on the theme ‘Retention and Attrition Challenges Faced by Companies’.
Now in its second year, the one-day workshop is part of the MSc Human Resource Management students’ professional training and development on the HRM-Academic and Practitioner Perspectives module (ULMS550).
Designed to provide practical learning and networking opportunities, the Consultancy Day Workshop was organised by lecturer Dr Salma Raheem as an indispensable experience for postgraduate students to act as professional consultants.
This year, they had the opportunity to work and interact with industry experts and practitioners including Darren Burns, Director of Diversity & Inclusion for the Timpson Group & Head of the Timpson Foundation, Robert Zajko, Senior Director of Talent Acquisition Europe, Middle East and Africa at Hilton, Barry Challinor, Audit Supervisor at BDO, and Gary Wadsworth, Recruitment and Resourcing Consultant at TG Consulting.
Each client briefed students on real-life cases that their companies are faced with, allowing them to gain in-depth knowledge and insights into their employee retention and attrition issues, HR policies, as well as plans and trajectories.
The students then worked in teams, putting their HR strategic thinking and theoretical learning into practice to devise bespoke retention strategies befitting their assigned client’s business needs.
After an intensive collaboration, they then presented their work before a panel of experts consisting of the client, alumni in HR roles and senior staff from the University’s HR team, Careers and Employability team and other Professional Services teams.
An enriching day, full of hands-on learning and engagement, the second annual Consultancy Day Workshop left a positive and remarkable impact on the students’ postgraduate journey at the University of Liverpool Management School.
Reflecting on his experience, Gauri Jadhav, one of the students from the winning team, commented: “It was an absolute honour to participate in this event, and I'm incredibly proud of our team's hard work and dedication. I'm excited to continue leveraging the knowledge and skills gained from this event as I embark on my journey in the field of HR.”
For Khushi Parashar, another postgraduate student in the HRM course, the session was an incredible opportunity to learn directly from industry experts and gain invaluable insights: “It was an honour to be treated as professional consultants and to witness our team's confidence soar as we tackled real-world problems head-on. One of the highlights was our ability to prepare on-the-spot presentations, delivering comprehensive solutions with precision and finesse.”
Parashar added that the experience not only bolstered their skills but also reinforced their commitment to client satisfaction as future HR professionals.
Following the success of the inaugural workshop in 2023, this year’s session was organised and facilitated by the CEO and Founder of TG Consulting Ltd Tonia Galati and her employability team.
At the University of Liverpool, our MSc Human Resource Management programme is research-based and CIPD-accredited. find out more on our course information page.