{"id":7309,"date":"2023-05-02T13:45:59","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T12:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.recruitireland.com\/advice-centre\/?p=7309"},"modified":"2023-06-14T10:25:17","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T09:25:17","slug":"its-really-been-a-time-where-i-can-be-myself-and-i-have-grown-each-year-and-learned-and-constantly-am-getting-new-experiences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.recruitireland.com\/advice-centre\/its-really-been-a-time-where-i-can-be-myself-and-i-have-grown-each-year-and-learned-and-constantly-am-getting-new-experiences\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s really been a time where I can be myself and I have grown each year and learned and constantly am getting new experiences\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Graduate Rehman Abdul chats to Accenture\u2019s head of HR Aisling Campbell in the second of our \u2018Meet the Mentor\u2019 series, which takes a closer look at the myriad career paths within the organisation<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Human resources may have evolved significantly in the last decade or so, but for Aisling Campbell, her interest in what makes people tick has been a constant throughout her career. Psychology graduate Campbell is the first to admit she took a non-traditional route to her current role as human resources director at Accenture in Ireland but says she always knew she would find her niche helping people.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI have always been really interested in human behaviour, that\u2019s why I ended up in human resources,\u201d Campbell explains. But choosing to study psychology for her undergraduate degree was a random choice, she admits – one that was inspired by a TV show.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDuring the first year of Big Brother, they had a psychologist who would comment on the behaviour of the contestants, and it made me fascinated about this field\u2026 I didn\u2019t know anyone who had studied it or anyone who was a psychologist, this was brand new to me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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Psychology graduate Campbell is the first to admit she took a non-traditional route to her current role as human resources director at Accenture in Ireland.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Luckily, Campbell fell in love with psychology, and also with Belfast, after three years at Queen\u2019s University. \u201cI consider myself really lucky to have loved what I studied,\u201d she says. \u201cI also loved the years spent in Belfast. It was a brilliant city, it still is and is one of my favourite places in the world. I made friends for life there and loved that time in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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After a couple of years working as a research executive, Campbell began the transition to human resources by taking on a master\u2019s degree in occupational psychology, studying part-time in the evenings and the weekends. While working with other organisations, Campbell had some exposure to Accenture, dealing with some people who worked there.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI could tell I loved the values of the organisation and I also loved getting to work with people from Accenture,\u201d she says. \u201cI was looking for a new role and one happened to come up.\u201d Having joined Accenture seven years ago, her first role was as HR lead at The Dock, Accenture\u2019s global innovation hub. Campbell says she immediately felt at home.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAccenture is a place that really values individual skills and strengths and it\u2019s really a place that you can grow,\u201d she says. \u201cI didn\u2019t have the traditional HR career path and I felt that Accenture embraced that and welcomed me and I feel really lucky to have had that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a job that I absolutely love and that I feel really privileged to have,\u201d she says about her role, which sees her ultimately responsible for all human resources activity across Accenture\u2019s workforce in Ireland.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf someone were to say to me, how would I describe Accenture and my time here, I would say that it\u2019s really been a time where I can be myself and I have grown each year and learned and constantly am getting new experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Campbell acknowledges the changes the field of HR has undergone in the past number of years, becoming far more people-centric. \u201cI first joined HR in 2011 and back then what we were focused on as a profession is quite different to what we are focused on now. The people I see that really set themselves apart are continuously learning and adapting and looking at the external trends but also staying close to and really understanding the people in an organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n