
My Path to Career Transition
The Journey
I enrolled in Bussiness Administration, Human Resources program at Sheridan College. My two children, who were also going to Sheridan, were not too happy about this, but I promised that I would ignore them if I saw them in the hallway. It ended up not being an issue. We rarely saw each other as they were taking trades, and I was in the Pilon School of Business, putting us in entirely different parts of the building. I eventually moved to the Mississauga Campus to be more active in the Human Resources Student Association (HRSA).
At Orientation, I met the Advisor of the HRSA, Professor Dr. Shady Hana. He talked about the exciting things the association did in and how I would get real-world experience and develop industry-specific competencies. So I signed up that day to be a member. He also talked about designations and the HRPA, resulting in two more goals being added to my career transition.
My first semester was challenging. It had been a long time since I had been in school, and I needed to balance my business demands with my school schedule. Group projects were also challenging during the first two semesters; other students were not at my level of competence, and I found myself leading, coaching and teaching the other students a lot more than I would have liked to get superior marks. I was also the editor on most projects. Their English and professional formatting skills were not up to my standards. I still think that one of the best skills I developed at College was how to manage, inspire and develop people to perform their best work. Group projects and the HRSA were instrumental in developing these Leadership skills, and I am grateful for the experience.
In my 2nd semester, I indeed became a part of the HRSA. I participated in the Mock Interviews as an Interviewer and the Distribution Game as a facilitator; I also helped with the annual conference. When the call came for people to join the executive, I applied for President. Unfortunately, I did not get the President role but was offered the Executive Vice President role. I was only in that role for the summer semester. The President needed to step down for personal reasons by the fall semester, and I took over the team. As people graduated, I needed to fill their roles, and In my 4th semester, I created a new org chart and a new HRSA team.
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