The untraditional HR career path!
After I graduated from university, I accepted an IT recruiter position with an agency not knowing what the position was all about. At the time and before I started, I didn't realize that these types of jobs existed but this position allowed me to gain corporate office experience. That particular company took the risk, trained, mentored, guided me, and I found myself really enjoying the work. As a result, I was quite successful at it. However, because I didn't take this in school, I left after a couple of years to pursue a job that was more along the lines of my studies. I did that for a few years but found myself missing the role and responsibilities of a recruiter. Coincidentally, a person I trained while I was in the IT recruiter position reached out to see if I was interested in a new opportunity. This new position allowed me to come back into the industry but in a teaching capacity. That teaching role allowed me to learn about the education system, it allowed me to learn about career services, to really get to understand different perspectives on the employment sector and I found myself more passionate than ever about the industry that I never looked back. From then on, I always took on recruitment and HR-related positions.
I manage the Student Campus Program for Canada.
I currently manage the Student campus Program in Canada which includes review and implementation of all recruiting best practices regarding student talent attraction. My responsibilities includes but not limited to hiring students, working with hiring managers and teams to strategically bring the best, qualified top talent to Nokia, all aspects of student and early talent program development - including retention and engagement activities, employer branding, developing partnerships with schools and targeted associations, review of candidate experience, and onboarding. Another aspect of my role is to work on and ensure there is also equity, diversity and inclusion in the recruiting, hiring, and retention practices of candidates joining our organisation.
Contributing to the future of Nokia's next generation of employees.
People are the most important value of any organization. Without them, a company or business does not exist. I would like to think that my role plays a critical part in the future of Nokia as this directly impacts the next generation of employees. The more we invest in attracting the right talent, the more innovation and resources we have to work on maintaining and growing the company.
Break out of your comfort zone and don't give up.
I often encourage all job seekers to build a professional network. It takes time, commitment, and persistence to create one for yourself. A lot of the time, it also involves breaking out of your comfort zone and reaching out to individuals who you don't know or, participating in events that some might feel they don't have time for or perhaps even feel comfortable with. Not everyone is comfortable reaching out to people they don't know - virtually or in-person, and it's likely because they don't really know where to start or how to. Networking is not really taught in school but it's a learned skill and it takes a lot of practice and patience. But when you start to connect with people in the right way, you start to grow your professional network and new jobs, and learning and development opportunities will become more readily available to you.
Bring in social media brand awareness into the campus team.
Was able to influence and encourage team members on the student campus recruitment team to share and bring brand awareness of our program and what we do and offer for our next generation of early career talent.
