Management 340 – Human Resources Management
The objective of this class was to give students a broad, but thorough, understanding of Human Resources Management. The class started with an introduction of Human Resources Management, then expanded to recruitment, training, compensation, and more. This class was an amazing experience, and I loved that I got the opportunity to participate. My plan is to go into Human Resources, and this class provided a solid foundation for when I graduate. The course was layered with different assignments, as working in Human Resources can be so diverse. Some companies have one person to run all aspects of Human Resources. Other companies are large enough that they divide their HR department into sections; or even on a consultation basis. With so many opportunities, it’s no wonder that the course work was so diverse.
———————– Job Shadowing ———————–
For this class, I got the amazing opportunity to shadow the Human Resource Specialists at a local credit union, where I currently work as a teller. My branch supervisor approached me earlier that summer, asking if I would like to visit corporate for a day, so I could learn a little bit more about the company, and how their HR department runs. After working out scheduling conflicts, we were able to set up a time that worked for everyone. I was at the corporate offices just over half a day, and I sat-in on onboarding, two interviews, and looked at some of their specific processes.
Not only did this provide me with a wonderful learning opportunity, but I expanded my final project in order to transform this to a capstone course for ODU’S Perry Honor’s College. I wrote a paper on my experience, as well as presenting this info to the class in a powerpoint.
Skills that employers are seeking
| Work in a team structure | Plan, organize, and prioritize work |
| Make decisions and solve problems | Obtain and process information |
| Communicate verbally | Demonstrate computer software proficiency |
| Analyze quantitative data | Create and/or edit reports |
| Demonstrate technical knowledge | Influence or sell to others |
Work in a team structure – Debate & various in-class activities
Demonstrate technical knowledge – Job Analysis
Create and/or edit reports – Compensation table
Influence or sell to others – debate on E-Verify (won)
I chose these four “skills that employers are seeking” because I believe they best exemplified what I took away from the class. Although, if I’m being honest, this class has better prepared me for every single one of these skills. In almost every class we worked in pairs or groups; and the professor made it a point that we should not be grouping up with the same people every time. Further, each assignment covered more than one, but for simplicities’ sake, I put them in nice neat categories.
———————– Reflection ———————–
Hands down, this was one of the most valuable class I’ve taken over the four years. I learned all about the idealistic (textbook) world of Human Resources, but I also learned a lot about how Human Resources operates in the real world. Often times, there are just too few resources (get it?); not enough time, money, people; the list goes on and on. But I wouldn’t want to learn one without the other. Knowing the ideals of HR shows me what I can strive for in my future career. But understanding, and seeing, that there are limits helps to ground me. I can’t wait until I finally get into Human Resources, heavily relying on what I took away from this class.