Humans of SLCU
Taking inspiration from Humans of New York, each week we will feature people from our SLCU community.
Meet Cara...
Cara Bootman | Senior HR Co-ordinator
Cara joined SLCU in March this year as our Senior HR Co-ordinator. Cara's office is in the Admin Office on the Ground Floor and she holds a HR drop-in session every Tuesday morning (09:30-12:30) in the Henslow Room where you can pop in for a chat about anything.
What is your role at SLCU?
I am here to support everyone at SLCU with their HR enquiries throughout their time with us. I provide advice on all aspects of the employee life-cycle from recruitment and new starters to leavers (and just about anything in between!). I work closely with Anne Crozat and Lisa Walker HR Assistant. I am based in the admin office and am always happy to help, please feel free to pop in if you have a query.
What are you working on at the moment?
Summer students! We are looking forward to welcoming a number of summer students both from other Departments in the University and those from other Universities to SLCU over the summer months and at present I am organising the paperwork related to this and making sure they feel welcomed into the SLCU family for their time with us.
What does a normal day look like for you?
Busy! Before work I have to ‘encourage’ my children (aged 8 and 10) to get up and start getting ready for school. I get to work at 8am and the day starts by responding to queries waiting on Teams or via email. I enjoy resolving issues for people and am glad so many people either pop in to the HR Office or my weekly HR drop in sessions on a Tuesday. So far, no two days have been the same at SLCU and I really enjoy the wide enjoying the variety of tasks. I am grateful for SLCU’s flexibility which enables me to leave a bit earlier two days per week to collect my children from school and then work from home in the afternoon.
What things have you done prior to joining SLCU?
I have had a variety of administrative roles within the Higher Education sector before joining the University. I worked at Anglia Ruskin University and Trinity Hall in PA roles which had some HR responsibility. In 2008, I joined the University as a Saturday Assistant in the Scott Polar Museum and then went on to join the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology in an HR focused role. In 2020 I completed my CIPD Associate (Level 5) training via the University Apprenticeship Scheme.
What is something that most people don’t know about you?
I am a fully qualified Guide Leader and with a small leadership team run Rainbow, Brownies and Guide meetings each week for around 65 girls aged 5-14 years old in my village. We take the groups on trips and camps and allow them to experience of a variety of activities they may not otherwise have access to.
