Winter graduation 2021: taught postgraduate prizes

In the run-up to graduation, the School of Management is sharing stories from the recipients of the School's taught postgraduate (Masters) prizes, which are traditionally awarded at the Winter graduation. This sixth story in the series is a reflection written by Jenna Edwards, winner of the CIPD Prize in HRM 2021.

Soon after completing my dissertation, I secured a role in Dobbies Central Support Office in Edinburgh as a Learning and Development Graduate. The L&D function, which forms part of the wider 'people team', is newly established within the company, introduced to help place a stronger focus on employee engagement and strengthen development opportunities across the estate.

Working within a graduate role, I get the best of both worlds in facilitating my own self-development whilst also helping others to grow, both personally and professionally. In essence, my role is to assist with growing the learning culture here at Dobbies. This includes supporting those participating in our various training initiatives and making a real-life difference to the working lives of over 3000 team members across the UK. I am very enthusiastic about helping to make our team members' workplace experience as positive and fulfilling as possible.

What I particularly enjoy about my role is being given the freedom to be creative whilst also incorporating aspects of what I learnt during my time at St Andrews. For example, I get to focus on areas I am extremely passionate about including workplace wellbeing, the area I focused my research on for my MLitt dissertation.

I wouldn’t have got to where I am in my career without the help and support of all the amazing lecturers in the School of Management, particularly my dissertation supervisor, who really helped me to build my confidence over the course of the year.

To have been awarded this prize after completing my Masters degree during the Covid-19 pandemic makes this all the more special. Having to adapt to a whole new way of learning was challenging, however this enabled me to develop a strong work ethic which has helped me transition into working life with ease.

Jenna Edwards, winner of the CIPD Prize in HRM 2021