Our 2018 graduates come ashore

Our 2018 graduates are now on the final stretch of their graduate programme, so we thought it would be a great time catch up with two of them –  Louisa Murray (pictured on the left) and Emily Moore (on the right) to find out how they’ve found it so far.

Why did you choose the graduate programme with Carnival UK?

L: I have always been familiar with Carnival UK as I’ve cruised with P&O since a young age. I also live locally to Southampton, so have driven past Carnival House many times. I knew I wanted to work for a large organisation that delivered something fun and exciting for its customers.

E: I’m lucky that my parents love cruising and I caught the cruise bug at the age of eight!  When I was in my final year studying Law at university I had a look on the Carnival Careers website and I was so excited to see that they were offering a HR graduate programme. It presented quite a unique programme providing both the ship and shore exposure, together with CIPD qualification.

What have you enjoyed most about your graduate programme so far?

E: Without a doubt it’s been meeting and working with so many different people from all corners of the world. Very few get the privilege of having colleagues from over 56 different countries and learning all about their home and culture first hand is truly unique.

L: I feel very privileged to have completed three rotations on board ships and I’m now coming into the office to complete the remaining six months of the graduate programme. So far my favourite rotation was the one I spent with the on board HR Managers (HRMs). I found it challenging and the HRMs I worked with gave me responsibility to manage aspects of the job independently – I really enjoyed this. By the end of the rotation I had senior officers ask me for advice on managing performance in their teams which felt great!

What were your highlights from being on board?

L: One of the best things about working on board is working with so many different people. I love learning about different cultures and the crew on board are so accepting of diversity. I also enjoyed how fast paced it was. You have to think on your feet to meet strict deadlines on board and plan accordingly.

E: Work wise it has to be rolling out the new White Star Service training (‘Imperia’) on Queen Elizabeth. There was such a buzz on board for the launch of the new training and snazzy new White Star Service pin. It felt amazing (and a bit exhausting) to train the entire Ship’s Company from Captain to Cabin Steward entirely on my own.

What are you most looking forward to over the next six months?

E: I’m most looking forward to gaining exposure to shore side HR and I feel I can really exploit my extensive fleet HR knowledge.  I am particularly keen to complete the jigsaw puzzle, as it were, and see the entire course of HR matters or queries that have arisen on board and are ‘sent ashore’ for resolution. I’m excited to spend three months in the Learning team. I delivered a lot of training on board and I had the chance to develop some training material so am looking forward to furthering those skills.

L: I’m looking forward to learning about the wider HR functions within CUK. For the first three months I will be working with the Learning Team as well. With this team I will be working on different projects but mostly based on the fleet side of the team. After my time with the Learning Team, I will be rotating around People Services, ER, People Ops and Fleet HRBPs. I think this will give me a good insight into what I might want to specialise in after completing the graduate programme.

So, if you see Louisa or Emily around why not say hi and welcome them to Carnival House!