Intern Whitney goes to ISDH!

Hi Everyone! For the last two weeks I have been working with the HR team embedded within the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH). My project for this agency has been communicating with the different departments to collect all job descriptions of ISDH employees. I then take the job descriptions I receive and divide them accordingly into separate folders on a shared file. The goal of this project is to begin the process of having all job descriptions readily available online. By putting them into a shared file, hiring managers and HR will be able to access the job descriptions easily without having to search or email each other for this information. Going along with Governor Pence’s “Good to Great Plan”, this is another way the state is trying to make things faster, friendlier, and more accessible to state employees. I have just started the process of collecting the job descriptions but this project will continue to be worked on by others going forward. Their goal is to have this done by 2015. This project has been very tedious and challenging at times but I have learned a lot from it. I have learned how to better communicate with people through email. When there are several people who have to be involved to make a project work, I have learned that communication, persistence, deadlines, and check-ins work best (at least for this project). It has been a great learning experience.

This morning I was given a project of a completing a background check on a final candidate for hire. I did the employment verification, professional reference verification, and education verification. I made phone calls to verify the employment and professional references. Then I called and emailed the candidate for her transcripts to confirm her education. Finally, I initiated a background check in PeopleSoft. It was awesome being given this responsibility. It’s a simple process but important to any organization. Getting to do it on my own and learning through experience rather than just watching or reading was great.

The past two weeks at the ISDH have been a lot of work and I have learned a lot! It has also been a lot of fun. I feel I have gained some great knowledge and experience through this time. The HR team was great to work with! I can’t wait for my next rotation with the Field Operations division of the State Personnel Department.