Introduction
Summary of Events
The first meeting was with Erica Shadford, an administrator at the HR Advisory Services. Being a professional at recruitment at the HR, I wanted seek advice on the career paths to use for recruitment department of the HR. Some of the trends and hiring plans for the future i9n the industry that we discussed included planning to incorporate technology and an applicant online system for hiring which usually involves a lot of manual work as well as time consuming. Also, the CHRP added the requirement that in order to secure a position in HR you need to have a proper education and one to three years of experience. After my resume, Shadford provided me with a good website that contained several videos to mold my resume. For the cover letter, I was to write about why I wanted to work for a specific company and what I will bring to the table.
The second meeting was with Sydnie Cranford, who is the Human Resource Coordinator at the Delta Ottawa City Center. As a Delta HR coordinator, he had studied in the hospitality field, and had worked in the front desk, worked as a waitress, as well as had an experience in the food and beverage industry. Moreover, he did an internship in Delta hotel and worked part time as a house keeper supervisor and 9 months as a HR coordinator. The networking skills and knowledge that I learnt from him was try and learn French especially in the hospitality field, get CHRP approval, and do volunteering work. Some of the current industry trends include hiring through online recruitment systems, creating a profile which makes hiring easy, assessing the candidates thoroughly, have a higher entry level for the hospitality industry. For my resume and my cover letter feedback, her advice to me is to make the career brief and straight to the point, as well as not to ask about the past. Also, I should have a volunteer experience where I needed to put a reference upon demand. When writing the resume, I was advised to always put in bold what you think is important or necessary. For the cover page, I should be as brief as possible by trying to fit it in only one page. Furthermore, take the key words from the job description and rebuild your cover as well as delete what is unnecessary and repetitive.
Summary of Connections
The people that I met were very open and help for my career advice and guidance in HR. Some of the techniques that I managed to acquire included to always stay visible must as a celebrity would do. A HR professional, needs to stay relevant and visible to your particular contacts. For example, you may stop working the same department as a lot of your contacts, but you may not want to completely fall off their radar. Therefore, it is advisable to continue attending the same work events and associations. Secondly, stay email buddies with you circle. It is a very common and important practice to frequently send emails to people that you want to constantly stay in touch with. It is usefully appropriate when you have something important to announce or you just want to change jobs. Your list may have hundreds of contacts and since you cannot write a personal message to each and every one of them, it may be easier customizing your message to each group. By doing this you ensure that the content of the emails that you send are appropriate to your network. Consequently, it might be helpful to consciously segment your responses. For instance, draft a single draft version of your email update for the people in your network that you consider friends and another that you consider as clients, and so on and so on. This is segmenting your network. All in all, always be helpful. This will come a long way in making you visible to your contacts and pass relevant and useful information. For instance, if you come across useful information in a newspaper that you know might interest a particular group of your network, send it to them.
Reflection
A network is simply your network of colleagues. Many people looking for jobs equate networking with speaking to people such as friends and family. While family and friends are one important part of your network, they are not very helpful when it comes to job leads. Firstly, even though the job is in your target industry, they may not know anyone in that space or even understand it enough to be helpful. If you are looking for a career in HR, think of your individual network as a person who would have a potential affinity to help you out. Thoroughly analyze your life and career and look for mates from your specific alma mater. They can be classmates from high school, workmates from past jobs, and members of a religious group or a community development group that you regularly engage with. LinkedIn is a good example that makes it quite easier to find people from your organization.
Finally, it is very vital as a HR professional to adjust your network until it easily supports your interests. Networking majorly involves building relationships as well as giving. This is the reason why informational interviews are platforms to share your research as well as asking the relevant questions. It does not mean dropping everyone off who is already present because your network may work for multiple purposes other than your personal career.
