The Indiana Veteran's Home Welcomes Intern Haley!

Hello State of Indiana!

  

My name is Haley Arndt, I am a Marketing Major at Purdue University and this summer I am part of the Governor's Public Service Summer Internship program, with the Indiana State Personnel Department (SPD).  I am working directly with the Human Resources Director and Generalist at the Indiana Veterans' Home (IVH) in West Lafayette IN. It is just the end of my first week and so far it's been a blast.

My internship experience started in Indianapolis for Onboarding with the delightful Melissa Thomas, with the communications team. She was fantastic, helpful, and taught a room of 200 interns how to complete their employment tax forms, so I was impressed. She also helped us acclimate to the internship program, and reviewed the exciting options we as interns have, such as the Speaker Series which will include the Governor. Then the rest of the day I was in the capable hands of Dawn Hay, the Lead Senior Recruitment Consultant with the Talent Acquisition Division. We toured the Government Center South Building, reviewed all of the HR specialties, and finished our duties as far as online training/enrollments is concerned. 

In the course of my first few days I have learned so much. There is a whole new vernacular here. I have been catching on, but the language barrier is a little bigger than expected. IVH, SPD, INDOT, FMLA, SOI, HRD, IVA, CNA, QMA...and so on. I have never seen so many acronyms in my life. Don't worry though, because I am getting the hang of it! It's like a study abroad experience, but Cheryl Lutey and Kaycie Laughner, the Human Resource Director and Generalist at IVH are getting better at spotting my "clueless, please explain more" face.

And so the week went on, filled with tours, orientation, and lots of new faces. My expectations have been met and exceeded with every new day here. I love the hands on analysis and research I am doing and I am excited to get to see the end result of my work. Here at IVH we are working on recruitment and compensation which are areas that really intrigue me. The community here is great, and the residents have provided me with a warm welcome. We are "serving those who have served," and I appreciate the mission that the Indiana Veterans Home is carrying out. I look forward to the projects that await me, even if they are labeled by mysterious alphabet soup.