Following in my father’s footsteps

Amalia Cloete



I am currently studying at the International Training College Lingua. I am doing an honours degree in human resource (HR) management, and this has been an incredible journey.

The duration of the HR management course is about four years and is a fairly new course that International Training College Lingua recently introduced.

I chose to study HR because my father is also in HR and I wanted to follow in his footsteps. My father is such an important inspiration in my life and I hope to follow his example one day.

Another reason why I chose to do HR is because of how much impact it has on a company; HR helps a company be a better organisation. By pursing this degree, I am able to make a difference within an organisation and help its employees to achieve success.

One of the challenges I’ve faced while studying was understanding all the laws. Many people don’t know that when studying HR, you are required to know all the laws related to the field because HR deals with both the law aspect and the business aspect.

Knowing all the laws helps protect the employer and the employees. Therefore, HR requires a lot of reading, which means tons of work.

Advice I would give to first-year students or high school learners who want to study HR is that you should be someone who likes people and interacting with people because HR will require you to have a lot of human interaction. You are required to deal with people on a daily basis, and you are forced to become creative since Covid-19 has limited human interaction. This cannot prevent you as an HR practitioner to reach out and assist employees, especially during these troubling times.

My lecturer always says that a lot of people underestimate how important HR is in an organisation, because we are the backbone. So, stay strong, stay focused and make the most of all the opportunities you are given.