Human Resources Professional
How would you describe the current stage or most recent stage of your career as a Human Resources Professional?
I am a People & Culture Operations specialist at a global technology company, where I focus on HR data, systems, and process optimization. My work centres on ensuring data integrity and building scalable reporting and workflows that support informed decision-making across the business. I partner closely with HR and business leaders to bridge gaps between people, processes, and systems, helping to create more efficient and seamless experiences. In addition to this, I manage core HR operations, including onboarding, employee changes, offboarding, and benefits administration, ensuring these processes run accurately and efficiently while supporting a positive employee experience.
This career path is a strong fit for me because it brings together analytical problem-solving with a deep curiosity about how people and systems interact. My background in anthropology taught me to ask ‘why,’ look at patterns, and understand how different pieces of a system connect. In HR, I apply that same mindset to HR data and processes—digging into root causes, improving workflows, and partnering across teams to create solutions that are both efficient and people-centered.
What was your first ‘real’ job after graduating?
My first role after graduating was as an Employee Experience Coordinator at a global education and travel company. During my internship, I had been actively involved in culture and DEIB committees, which sparked my interest in creating meaningful employee experiences. After graduating, I decided to explore that interest further by taking on a role where events and office management were my primary responsibilities. In this position, I worked closely with the HR team to facilitate onboarding and manage new hire paperwork, giving me early exposure to the employee lifecycle and ultimately leading me toward a career in HR. The role also required a high level of adaptability, and I learned how to pivot quickly in a constantly changing and often unpredictable environment. Over time, I realized that while I enjoy planning events and fostering connection, I prefer doing so alongside broader operational or strategic work rather than as a full-time focus. I found that I especially enjoyed creating and improving processes that bridge gaps between people and systems. That realization guided my transition into People & Culture Operations, where I can combine my interest in employee experience with data, systems, and process optimization while still staying involved in culture and DEIB initiatives that bring people together in meaningful ways.
How did your ideas about career options evolve from the time you entered first year university to your final year and beyond (and what influenced those ideas)?
When I first entered university, I was a life sciences student with the intention of pursuing medical school. That path shifted quite quickly once I realized I didn’t actually enjoy biology or chemistry. I remember studying for a chemistry midterm and having a very clear moment of realizing I didn’t want to continue down a pre-med track. I briefly considered teaching as an alternative, but I also knew I didn’t want to teach science, so I found myself questioning what I was really doing in the program. Around that time, I was taking an anthropology elective and was immediately drawn to how cross-disciplinary it was. It combined science, social theory, and human behavior in a way that felt much more engaging and natural to me. I decided to take more courses in the field and ended up really enjoying subjects like social psychology, sociology, and geography as well. Studying anthropology, in many ways, reflected who I am as a person—a generalist who enjoys learning a little bit about a lot of things and connecting ideas across disciplines. That perspective has stayed with me and continues to shape how I approach my work.
By my final year, I had actually been accepted into a Master of Teaching program. However, as I was about to pay the deposit, I reflected on advice from the CEO of the company I had been interning at, which made me pause and reconsider. I realized I wasn’t ready to go straight back into school. More importantly, I wanted to start working, gain real-world experience, and be part of creating positive workplace environments. That combination of experiences ultimately reshaped my career direction entirely, from a very structured, science-based path to something more interdisciplinary and people-focused, which eventually led me into HR and People & Culture work. It also reinforced what I enjoy most in my career today: roles where I can be a generalist, step outside of a single job description, and “dabble” across data, systems, process design, and employee experience to solve problems more holistically.
What advice would you give to the next generation of current students about how to make the most of their time in university?
I’d encourage current students to approach university less as a straight path and more as a period of exploration and self-discovery. If you had spoken to anyone who knew me in the first semester of first year, they would have told you I had everything mapped out—clear goals, a defined trajectory, and a strong, almost stubborn sense of where I was heading. That changed quite quickly and it ended up being one of the most important shifts. It made me question everything. One of the most reassuring things I heard early on was the story of a philosophy student who ended up working in banking. That stayed with me because it challenged the idea that your degree determines your destination. It reinforced that careers are rarely linear, and that where you end up is often less about the subject you studied and more about how you think, adapt, and engage with opportunities along the way. In my own experience, what looked like a very fixed plan at the beginning of university evolved quickly once I was exposed to different ideas and disciplines.
I’m also very grateful that people have taken chances on me throughout my early career. Those opportunities showed me that it isn’t always about the degree or specific hard skills, but about who you are, how you think, and how you work with others. That lesson has stayed with me and continues to shape how I approach new opportunities. I also think breadth is just as important as depth. Taking courses outside your core program—especially in entirely different fields—can fundamentally shift how you think. Studying anthropology, after beginning in the life sciences, changed the way I understand people, systems, and decision-making, and ultimately influenced the direction of my career. I’ve found I’m most effective when I can connect ideas across disciplines rather than staying in a single lane.
Outside the classroom, getting involved in internships, campus jobs, and student initiatives is equally important. These experiences provide a clearer sense of what different types of work actually feel like in practice, and they help you identify not only what you enjoy, but also what you don’t. Being involved in committees focused on culture and inclusion, for example, helped me understand the kind of work I find meaningful, while also clarifying how I prefer to engage with it alongside other responsibilities.
Finally, I would emphasize the importance of being open to change. Some of the most important decisions I made came from reassessing earlier choices and shifting direction when something no longer felt aligned. What can feel like a detour in the moment often ends up being a step toward a better fit long-term. University is ultimately about building self-awareness—leaving with a clearer understanding of what suits you, what doesn’t, and how to keep learning from both.
What was the sequence of job types for you after completing your undergraduate degree? For example, did you take survival jobs, or full-time jobs on a short-term contract? Did you immediately start an ongoing full-time position? Did you participate in gig work, consulting work, or entrepreneurship? Or was your first step further education?
After completing my undergraduate degree, I was fortunate to transition fairly smoothly from school into work. I was working a full-time internship throughout my last year that extended beyond graduation, which gave me a valuable bridge into the professional world. During that period, I was simultaneously exploring the possibility of converting that role into a full-time position while also looking at opportunities elsewhere. I also had the advantage of dual citizenship, which allowed me to broaden my search and consider roles in the United States as well. That flexibility ended up shaping my next step, as I chose to pursue opportunities in the US and was able to secure full-time positions there. In those early years, I also made a point of working across different industries rather than staying in one narrowly defined path. That exposure was important in helping me understand what kinds of environments and problems I was most engaged by, and it gave me a broader perspective on how different organizations operate. Early on I realized I was drawn to human resources. To deepen my knowledge and strengthen my profile in that space, I went on to complete my SHRM-CP certification, which helped formalize that direction and open additional doors in the field.
What’s the most valuable or impactful piece of career advice you’ve received that you’d like to pass on?
The most valuable piece of career advice I’ve received is that people hire and support you less for what you know at a specific moment, and more for how you think, how you work, and how you show up over time. That perspective has shaped how I approach opportunities, especially early in my career when I didn’t have everything figured out. A second piece of advice that has stayed with me is simply: “why not.” One moment that really brought this to life was during an internship that was being extended. I realized that some interns who had shifted teams were being paid more, and I started to wonder whether it was appropriate for me to ask for a similar adjustment. I spoke to the internship manager, who encouraged me to ask the question directly—“why not?” They even helped me draft the message. I ended up sending it, and I did receive the raise. That experience genuinely changed how I think about advocating for myself. It taught me that often the barrier is not that something is impossible, but that we assume the answer will be no before we even ask. Since then, “why not” has become a kind of personal reminder to speak up, ask questions, and not self-select out of opportunities.
Which degree(s) did you complete during your education, either at McMaster, or at another institution? Please add any degree program details you think are relevant to understand your academic path (e.g. specializations, minors, post-graduate certificates, etc.)
- BA (Hons.) Anthropology – McMaster University