SPD Welcomes Intern Kassi!

Hello, everyone! I’m Kassi Sparks and I am the new Spring 2015 intern, with the Indiana State Personnel Department. I am currently a senior at Indiana University in the beautiful city of Bloomington IN, and will be graduating in May 2015 with a degree in Psychology.  I am also minoring in Spanish and Human Resource Management, the latter of which motivated me to find the Human Resources internship with Indiana State Personnel Department (SPD). I am excited for this internship and feel it is the perfect fit to help me figure out where I belong within the Human Resource (HR) field.

As a second semester senior, I started applying for positions that would begin upon graduation, and was not having any success. That is when I decided a internship was the perfect gateway for me to really get hands on experience with HR before I started my professional career, would add valuable experience to my resume, and has the potential to turn into a full time opportunity.  I learned about SPD's internship simply from searching online, and felt their rotational program with Employee Relations, Benefits, Compensation, and working directly on projects with HR Directors was an amazing opportunity!

I am starting my third week with SPD, and I have hit the ground running. During my first week I shadowed compensation and benefits, and met all the division directors and agency head!  I am thrilled job shadowing has been built into my experience, so I can continue to discover what direction I would like to take my HR career, whether I move into a generalist role or specialize!  I have enjoyed learning more about each specialty as it has given me the opportunity to get a feel for what it might be like to have a career in each division. For the past two weeks I have been helping Talent Acquisition with a cost analysis for a 3rd party vendor they are considering utilizing, for employment verification in the future. This included performing research, setting up and participating in meetings, working directly with the Director of Talent Acquisition, and compiling my research into a document that will be presented to the agency head. It has been a valuable experience to see behind the scenes of processes, and has taught me how much work and communication is needed to ensure SPD is finding the right candidates for each position.

This week I headed to the Department of Education to begin working on a new project, giving me the opportunity to gain experience with writing/reviewing job descriptions, salary bands, organizational charts, and performing related research. While I am sad to leave my cubicle at SPD central office, I am excited to spend the next few weeks learning from the Human Resource Director at the Department of Education! Stay tuned in for updates on my continued adventures with SPD!