Can you tell us a bit about your role within the team and what your day-to-day responsibilities look like?
As a Peoples Solution Specialist at Zest no two days are the same! Some days/ weeks you will be working on transformative projects, other days it may be policy work or outsourced HR and even the odd bit of recruitment! We are lucky to work on a variety of tasks for a range of organisations across a multitude of industries to assist in providing solutions aimed at bringing about positive change. No project is too small, and no challenge too great – we are passionate about working closely with our clients to achieve the best possible outcomes.
How did you start your career in HR, and what led you to your current position?
I actually started at uni straight out of school studying social work, then changing to teaching. I knew I wanted a career working with people and where I could make a positive difference but wasn’t sure what that looked like. I somehow found myself doing a business degree and falling into the HR world.
I was lucky to start my career whilst in my last year at uni for a small EPCM company within the mining industry. Unfortunately, the mining downturn hit as I finished uni which meant redundancy, followed by a lot of contract work and finding myself in the recruitment world working on different projects for a range of companies. Throughout my career I have had a wealth of experience in Generalist and Senior HR roles as well as Senior Talent Acquisition roles which has built a varied skill set over the past 14 years. HR Consultancy has always been the end goal so I’m so thankful for Zest to making this a reality!
What are the key skills you believe are necessary for success in your role, and how have you developed these over your career?
High emotional intelligence and the ability to read people and situations is pivotal if wanting to grow within HR. This helps with building high level relationships and being able to communicate effectively with anyone at any level and from any background. Big picture thinking goes along way as well as being able to remain as the calm and impartial voice in any situation. Some of these skills do take time and experience but having a commitment to personal development aimed at really understanding who you are and where your strengths and weaknesses lie is key. Building your understanding of people, psychology, relationships and building your communication skills is pivotal in growing your HR career and will help you not only professionally, but in your personal life as well.
Can you share a professional achievement you are particularly proud of?
There's definitely been a few career highlights - Becoming HR Manager for Silver Fern Farms in New Zealand was a huge achievement at 25 and really aided in broadening my skills and experience internationally. Part of this role required working closely with the Samoan government on recruitment initiatives and even included a trip to Samoa!
A more recent achievement was managing the receivership and administration of Kalium Lakes from a HR perspective. Although very much a low light in one respect, the difference I was able to make to the workforce in bringing a calm and empathetic voice to the process and doing all I could to ensure it was managed as ethically as possible was key. I was also overwhelmed by the kindness of the response in reaching out to my networks and beyond across the mining sector, with an array of Companies large and small willing to talk to me and our employees to assist with the redundant workforce in finding alternate employment. Being able to see the difference one person can make to an awful circumstance was a very grounding experience.
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