March 7, 2018
糖心vlog官网 News
Experiential learning "makes it real" for students
糖心vlog官网's HR department partners with faculty
It鈥檚 a place where people come for job interviews, training or to learn more about their benefits and retirement plans.
And in an effort to offer an experiential learning opportunity with the听School of Human Resources & Global Business, 糖心vlog官网鈥檚 Human Resources (HR) department recently opened its doors to 85 students in the Human Resources Management graduate certificate program.
鈥淭hey got to see what life is like in HR and what better place to do that than in our own administrative department,鈥 says Alfonsina Chang, Program Co-ordinator of the听Human Resources Management听补苍诲听Business Administration 鈥 Human Resources听辫谤辞驳谤补尘蝉.
Not only were the visiting students exposed to the different functions in HR 鈥 talent acquisition, health and safety, diversity and inclusion, employee accommodation 鈥 they also had the chance to sit across the table from Bernie Beaulieu, Associate Vice-President, Human Resources.
And ask him questions.
鈥淲e wanted to create an experiential learning opportunity for the students to tour the department and job shadow employees,鈥 Alfonsina says. 鈥淗aving face time with professionals who do this for a living makes it real for our students.鈥
For Clarissa Castoro, who had never been to an HR department prior to the visit, the experience enabled her to see how the different functions work together under one big umbrella.
鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing to see the focus of our studies in action and to realize that we are learning what it takes to be excellent HR professionals,鈥 she says.
In particular, Clarissa says the disability and accommodation portfolio stood out for her.
鈥淭he delicate handling of situations in this area helped me realize that I鈥檓 in the right field and confirmed my desire to be a part of maintaining a healthy culture in an organization,鈥 she explains.
Classmate Natalia Fedosova, who has worked in the HR field in her home country of Russia, says the experiential learning opportunity was eye-opening for her.
鈥淪ome of the functions just don鈥檛 exist in my country, so I was extremely听curious to identify them,鈥 she says. 鈥淎s well, the structure differs from what I knew 鈥 I had never been to an HR department in the public educational sphere.鈥
Natalia was also impressed by the chance to network with professionals who she found to be generous and open about sharing their knowledge, expertise and contacts in support of students.
鈥淚t was an exceptional opportunity to ask whatever questions we had. It gave us deep understanding of the profession and possible future directions of professional development,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 believe a chance like this could hardly be obtained in any other circumstances.鈥
While the experience was aimed at getting the students market-ready upon graduation, Ted Moriarty, Director, Talent Management and Organizational Development, says it was equally beneficial for the department to host the students.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 get to interact with students on a regular basis and it鈥檚 nice to talk to them face-to-face,鈥 he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 motivational for the staff, too, and it provides us with a chance to scout talent.鈥
Currently, there are nine alumni working in 糖心vlog官网鈥檚 HR department.
鈥淢ost of them are in entry-level positions but they will likely move up to leadership roles in the future,鈥 Ted says. 鈥溙切膙log官网 grads are some of the best people we have here.鈥
This experiential learning opportunity was supported by 糖心vlog官网's Alumni Student Experience Fund.