Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Bianca Says Goodbye to SPD!

The past two weeks I spent  working with the Indiana Department of Child Services. During my time with the Indiana Department of Child Services I have had the opportunity to work on various projects. Some of the various projects I worked on consisted of employment verifications, completing background checks, and assisting in a retention strategy. Also during my time with Indiana DCS, I helped with the transition process of a new Human Resource Generalist.

As my internship comes to a conclusion I am spending my last week assisting the Department of Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) with the implementation of the online performance management process. My project consists  adding selected competencies into PeopleSoft for each position within the BMV. Once complete the BMV will be able to launch the new process for completing appraisals via PeopleSoft (called ePerformance) making it easier for managers to complete appraisals from year to year and helps cut down on paper-based forms. 


Overall, I have enjoyed my time with the Indiana State Personnel Department and I am grateful for the experience and opportunity to expand my knowledge with the various components of human resources.  I hope you enjoyed reading about my journey. I highly encourage anyone who has an interest in human resources to apply for an internship with the Indiana State Personnel Department. If you are granted such an amazing opportunity you will be able to receive so much from this experience! 

Jon's Final Week

I have had a great time during the fall internship at the State Personnel Department. I have spent 192 hours over the past ten weeks learning and growing. The experiences the internship provided could not been taught in class. Indiana State Personnel Department is truly a leader when it comes to human resources. Managing the employment needs of the third largest employer in the state is not an easy task.

I spent the last two weeks at the Indiana Department of Health (ISDH). The mission of the ISDH is to promote and provide essential public health services. I was exposed to a multitude of areas concerning human resources during my time there. I worked on projects involved with I-9s, filing, information gathering, recruiting, and was able to sit in on some employee relation conversations.
The I-9 project picked up where the other fall intern left off. In addition to this I had the chance to visit the Indiana School for the Deaf.While at the School for the Deaf, I updated the HR board with some required postings and notices. Filing was kept to a minimum, and I only spent a couple hours total in the file room. I had the opportunity to assist in gathering documentation for an unemployment hearing and information pertaining to employees that are required to maintain a CDL.

Most of my time was spent on employment efforts. I logged a lot of hours using PeopleSoft. I would change the disposition of applicant to initiate background checks by a 3rd party. I would also need to print off applications and create a packet for candidates that were being considered for employment. Before a candidate may be hired, their packet must be complete with all the items required by SPD policy. I was responsible for maintaining a handful of applicants during the hiring process. Once the top candidate was selected I would create an offer letter and send it to the candidate. I was able to complete a few reference checks and employment verifications. However, at ISDH the hiring managers usually complete these tasks. After the offer letters were sent I would change the applicant’s disposition and prepare them for hire in PeopleSoft. I would also complete the Onboarding registration form and send it to the appropriate people.


The employee relations issues I had the opportunity to sit in on are confidential. If you want more information on them, apply to be the next intern at SPD. I came into this internship hoping to be exposed to how a large agency handles their HR needs. I also wanted to experience what it is like to work in a government organization. I feel that my expectations have been surpassed. If anyone reading this is considering the SPD HR internship, I would encourage them to apply. I know I am glad I did!

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Our Intern Bianca Works with ISDH

For the past two weeks I have had the opportunity to work with the Department of Health (ISDH). During my time here I learned about I-9 forms and that they are used to verify employment and to protect employees because an employer cannot ask for certain documentation to verify employment. Common documents used by employers to verify employment are social security numbers. My main project was to complete an audit of the I-9 files for ISDH employees.  In addition to spending time working on I-9 forms I had an opportunity to sit in on an employee relations issue and an accommodation and also complete benefit packets for individuals who are out on leave.

As stated above, my main project consisted of going through ISDH employee files and looking for a completed a I-9. While doing this is I ran into some issues as some were missing. After further investigation, I found that this was mostly due to employees who were hired before November of 1986 and were not required to complete this form at that time. For the employees who began state employment after 1986,  I found that a possible reason why they were missing was because that employee transferred to ISDH from a different agency.

Another wonderful opportunity I had was to sit in on an employee relations issue. The issue came from an employee who was concerned about working in a hostile work environment. To help solve the issue the employee was recommended to call SPD’s employee relations hotline or fill out a form to have an investigation completed.

I also had firsthand experience with benefits. For this project, I had to compile packets containing information pertaining to the upcoming benefit’s open enrollment for individuals who were out on leave and then mail these packets to their home addresses.  During open enrollment, employees are allowed to update their insurance policies.


In addition to working on an employee relations issue I had an opportunity to sit in on an accommodation request. An employee was concerned about her working environment affecting  her health. The employee was advised to complete a J.A.N. form and schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss this form. By sitting in on this accommodation I learned that J.A.N. stands for Job Accommodation Network and how important it is that all employees’ needs are being meet to lead to better performance.   

Intern Jon Works with DCS

The time spent with the recruiting team at SPD was incredibly valuable going into my next rotation. I spent the past month at the Department of Child Services (DCS). I was located at the Marion county office and gained a lot of exposure to real world HR issues. Most of my time was spent doing recruiting activities. I was tasked with managing most of the employment verification, education verification, and background checks for the employees scheduled to start during my time at that location.

In addition to recruiting activities, I was responsible for maintaining the weekly filing, and made an attempt to organize part of the file room. While filing seems tedious, it exposed me to the types of forms and documentation currently being used at DCS in a HR capacity. I also became familiar with the record retention laws that determine what type of paper work needs to be retained and for how long the records need to be kept on site.


I was also exposed to a few employee relations issues during my time at DCS. I was able to gain a better understanding of what a working test period is for classified employees. Overall, I would say that my time at DCS was very valuable. I feel that I learned a lot about the HR processes at DCS and a valuable overview into the role of a HR Generalist 1. I am now looking forward to spending some time at the Department of Health. Check back in a couple weeks for an update!