Intern Mary spends a week at Pendleton Correctional Facility & shadows a Small Agency HR Director!

Greetings,

Two weeks ago, I had the chance to job shadow Heather, a Small Agency Human Resources Director. We got to talk about performance reviews, what to expect from them, and how different agencies handle their reviews. Since I only had the pleasure of spending one day with Heather, she walked me through what a typical week looks like for her. I found it so interesting how she splits her time between being at Central Office and on location at one of her four assigned agencies, The Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ISBVI). She touched on different topics such as employee relations, benefits, training and recruiting. Since this was my first time shadowing a Small Agency Human Resources Director, I really enjoyed seeing the difference between the Generalist and Specialist roles. 

I got to spend a whole week at 

Pendleton Correctional Facilities. It was very interesting because there are three facilities within a mile of each other. I was fortunate enough to tour two of the facilities and I hope my schedule allows a day to see the third one! On my first and last day at Pendleton, I was at the juvenile facility with Casey. I heard about the different positions the facilities offer, performed some reference and employment verifications and heard about their recruiting plan/process. I was able to draw a parallel between the correctional officers at these facilities and the Cadre position that the other intern, Ryan, and I had been looking into with the Hoosier Youth Challenge Academy. I also got to spend the day assisting Nicole, which included completing an I-9 audit as well as seeing part of the process for termination of employees. 

These past two weeks were very busy, but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I had the ability to see a different career path by watching and hearing about the daily tasks that generalists face. I have learned so much about the recruiting process and some of the HR processes that occur year round such as performance reviews, audits, and injury reports. I am so thankful for these agencies allowing me to come in and learn! 

Sincerely, 

Mary Riordan