People Advisor
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
MLC Partners is working with a truly mission-led charity to recruit a People Advisor. This is a great opportunity for a HR professional who enjoys building strong relationships, providing expert people advice, and supporting a positive employee experience across the organisation.
As a trusted advisor, you will work closely with managers and employees, providing guidance on a range of people matters while ensuring compliance with employment legislation, policies, and best practice. You will also contribute to key people initiatives, projects, and continuous improvement activities that support organisational success.
Key Responsibilities:
- Provide professional advice and guidance to managers on employee relations matters, organisational change, and people-related issues.
- Manage first-line employee relations cases, escalating more complex matters where appropriate.
- Support investigations, hearings, and formal processes in line with company policies and procedures.
- Act as a first point of contact for employee and manager queries, delivering a responsive and customer-focused service.
- Contribute to the development and implementation of People initiatives, including engagement activities, surveys, and action plans.
- Maintain accurate employee records and HR systems, ensuring compliance with GDPR and internal processes.
- Prepare contractual documentation, letters, and other people-related administration accurately and efficiently.
- Review, update, and help develop people policies and procedures in line with legislation and best practice.
- Support job evaluation exercises, benchmarking activities, and annual pay review processes.
- Assist with wellbeing, recognition, and employee engagement initiatives.
- Analyse and report on people data to support decision-making and continuous improvement.
Skillset required:
- CIPD Level 5 qualification (or equivalent) with a solid understanding of UK employment law and HR best practice.
- Previous experience in a People Advisor or HR Advisor role.
- Strong employee relations experience, with the ability to manage a range of cases confidently and professionally.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to handle sensitive situations and resolve conflict effectively.
- Ability to build strong working relationships with stakeholders at all levels.
- Experience developing and reviewing HR policies and procedures.
- Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities and workloads.
- Experience handling confidential information with discretion and professionalism.
- Good analytical skills, with the ability to interpret data, produce reports, and identify trends.
- Understanding of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion principles and the value of creating an inclusive workplace.
- Experience using HR systems and maintaining accurate employee records.
This is fixed term contract until Christmas, with an ASAP start. Hybrid working pattern (2days/week) in their offices near High Wycombe, with parking available. Paying £.
If you're passionate about building effective people practices that enable great employee experiences, please reach out to Annabelle at MLC Partners.
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Lead your CV with your CIPD Level 5 qualification in your Personal Statement, as the advert lists it as the first essential requirement.
📊 Quantify your employee relations experience: e.g. 'Managed 25+ ER cases per year including disciplinaries, grievances and absence, achieving 90% resolution without tribunal escalation'.
🎯 Highlight any charity or mission-led sector experience prominently — the employer specifically describes itself as 'truly mission-led', signalling cultural fit is a priority.
🌐 Include a dedicated line on HR systems you have used (e.g. iTrent, Cascade, Workday) as the advert explicitly requires HR systems proficiency and accurate record-keeping.
🤝 Add a bullet under each relevant role referencing EDI contributions — the advert calls out Equity, Diversity and Inclusion principles as a required understanding, so demonstrating practical involvement will differentiate your application.
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Managed 30+ active employee relations cases annually — including grievances, disciplinaries, and absence management — achieving resolution without Employment Tribunal escalation in 97% of cases.
- •Reviewed and redrafted 12 HR policies to reflect 2023 employment law updates, securing sign-off from the senior leadership team within a 6-week project timeline.
- •Produced monthly people dashboard covering headcount, turnover, and absence KPIs for a 250-person organisation, enabling the HR Director to identify a 4% spike in short-term absence and implement a targeted wellbeing intervention.
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
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Letter preview — tailored to MLC Partners
Dear Hiring Manager,
MLC Partners' search for a People Advisor for a mission-led charity near High Wycombe aligns closely with the work I find most rewarding. With a CIPD Level 5 qualification and hands-on experience managing a broad range of employee relations cases — from disciplinary investigations to organisational change — I am confident I can provide the trusted, responsive advisory service this organisation needs from day one.
My background in HR advisory roles has equipped me with a thorough grounding in UK employment law, GDPR-compliant record-keeping, and the development of people policies that hold up under scrutiny. I have supported managers through complex ER matters, produced people data reports that informed pay review decisions, and contributed to EDI and wellbeing initiatives that improved employee engagement scores by 15% over 12 months.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Walk us through how you would manage a disciplinary investigation from initial allegation to outcome letter, ensuring compliance with ACAS Code of Practice.
- ›How do you ensure HR policies remain compliant with changes to UK employment legislation, and can you give a recent example?
- ›Describe your experience analysing people data — what metrics have you tracked and how did your reporting influence a management decision?
- ›What HR systems have you used to maintain employee records, and how have you ensured GDPR compliance within those systems?
- ›How would you approach a job evaluation exercise and subsequent pay benchmarking review for a small charity with limited budget?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you advised a manager on a sensitive employee relations matter where they initially disagreed with your guidance. How did you handle it?
- ›Describe a situation where you had to manage multiple competing HR priorities simultaneously. How did you organise your workload and what was the outcome?
- ›Give an example of a people policy you reviewed or developed. What process did you follow and how did you ensure stakeholder buy-in?
- ›Tell me about a time you identified a trend in people data that led to a meaningful change in the organisation.
- ›Describe a situation where you had to handle a highly confidential employee matter. How did you maintain discretion while still progressing the case?
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time you advised a manager on a sensitive employee relations matter where they initially disagreed with your guidance. How did you handle it?
Describe a situation where you had to manage multiple competing HR priorities simultaneously. How did you organise your workload and what was the outcome?