Informational interview

Slide 1: Introduction/ attention getter (Why you chose this person/industry). Slide 2-3: Key Takeaways/Insights from the interview. Slide 4: Analysis and Reflection. Slide 5 : Conclusion and Future Application. interview transcript/notes Okay, so, like for me, example, I actually fell into human resources, uh, by getting a job like as an HR You Mhm. Participant coordinator, um, some of my colleagues, they got into HR by going through recruiting, which honestly recruiting is probably the best way if you don’t have experience, uh, in HR, and if you can’t find an administrative assistant. type role that will introduce you to HR. So uh day to day is different depending on the level. So I am a senior HR generalist, and my role is basically to help the leaders with employee relation issues, to give them guidance on, you know, helping their employees, from an employee advocate standpoint. You know, I answer questions from the employees, they may have a payroll problem or benefits problem, but fortunately the company that I’m with right now, we have what we call a center of excellence, and that means that we have specialized apartments. You can uh go to employee relations for information on disciplinary and then we have a recruiting department and they handle getting the hiring and doing the background checks and things of that nature. And then of course, we have benefits. But, um, in my past, You Mm-hmm. Participant I’ve had to do all of that. So a generalist basically knows a little bit about each and every area but then the specialized or those categories that I just told you about. It is to me such a rewarding feel I I love human resources. I could not imagine, not working in that field, and although my degree is in business administration, You Okay. Participant there are people who cross over from all areas. So, a lot of people from sociology actually, which is really interesting, which is needed, because you are dealing with different personalities on a day to day basis. So, I don’t know, I, what else can I tell you about it? It’s like a very rewarding um You Yes. Participant it’s You It Participant just a rewarding career. It makes me You is. Participant so for me. Yeah. I went to school. I started out to go to nursing, but I was in a really bad accident and once I saw somebody break their leg. I was like, you know, this might not be for me, You Yes. Participant but I still wanted to help people, and it’s just like, spiritually, HR was the right fit for me. You Yes. Participant And I just went on from there so. You Yeah, we kind of have a similar story in that my 1st major was actually nursing. And Participant Mhm. You I shadowed somebody and I was like, I don’t think this is for me. This is too much. I can do it. Yeah. Participant I tell you, I work at a hospital, and I love our nurses, because I’m like, I don’t see myself doing this, You Yeah. Participant the job that they do is amazing, and I get to support them from an HR You Yes. Participant standpoint, but I feel honored to be able to do that, because I couldn’t do it. You Yeah. Okay. Participant But yeah that’s pretty much what HR is. You I want… Participant I would recommend that you go to like Sherm. dot org and that’s S H R M dot org and take a look at their what they call a bath level so that you can see what different levels of HR and see what your interests are. You Okay, thank you. Okay, Participant Of You so Participant course. You a question. If you are my Participant Mhm. You age and thinking about entering this field, why would you Participant Uh-huh. You recommend I do as a part of exploration? Participant Do you work at a place where you could do some job shadowing or if You Yes. Participant you have someone that, okay, see if you can do some job shadowing and see how you like it, because you know while I say I do love it. There are times and things you know I don’t like terminating people You Yes. Participant that even though you know people do things that cause their termination. You are li- literally holding their livelihood in your hands and I don’t take that lightly at all You Yes. Participant so. Those are the parts that can get to you and and I’m a highly empathetic person for everything that happens. I kinda soak it in. So I kind of just um have had to learn to let things go you know. So you, you just need to do some job shadowing, and if you could do an internship that would be just as good. You Yes. Thank you Participant Yeah. You for the advice. Okay, Participant Mhm. You so. If you could do it all over again. Would you, would you do the same or would you change if anything you want to change? Participant I would not change anything. I I really am truly blessed because I was able to go f- not only from the lower level and up, but I was able to go through manufacturing. I was able to go through academia now I’m in healthcare and having that exposure. Has helped me greatly uh throughout my years. I think everything fell into place exactly the way it should. You know, I would, I didn’t go straight to college. I worked full time and got all my degrees while working. That would probably be the only thing I changed is if I could have You Yeah. Participant went straight to college out of high school but that you know my family just couldn’t afford that so but now I wouldn’t change a thing. I I feel truly blessed doing what I do. You Yes, that’s good. Okay, what advice would you give someone who is considering this feel? Participant I would advise them to truly and really study the field and like I told you to do some job shadowing, if that’s an opportunity because a lot of people think that HR is, you know, all we want to do is fire people. We are the paper and pencil people, but we are very strategic to the organization. And people have to really and they a lot of people understand really what we do. But we do a lot of engagement. We do a lot of growth and development for an organization, so do some research, do that job shadowing, and do like you, just reach out to some people that you can talk to and kind of get their perspective on what goes on in HR. You Okay, thank you. I Participant Mhm. You really appreciate you taking the time to speak to me today. I don’t wanna, you know, go overboard. I will. Participant Well, you you have my information and like I said, you can send me messages through LinkedIn and you know, if there’s a question that you have, send me a text now that you have my telephone number. It’s easier for me to do uh text because I live in the country. You Yes. Participant I can’t get phone calls so. Yeah, I I love helping people to grow and develop and if I can do anything to help someone achieve their goals. I’m there. You Yeah, it is such a rewarding thing. That’s a great quality for a person to have, truly. Participant Well it makes me happy and I hope that it can help somebody else so you just feel free to reach out to me when you have a question. You Okay, thank you so much, Miss Lucinda. I appreciate it so much. Participant You are welcome and please stay in touch and let me know how how it goes in your career. You I will. Thank you. You