"Ask the Expert" is your chance to get advice and unique insight on questions you have about searching for a job, interviewing, navigating workplace issues and advancing your career. Featured experts range from HR professionals who specialize in conflict management to job search experts who share advice on how to secure interviews and impress search committees. Experts also include former campus administrators, academic leadership consultants, and career development professionals working in higher education and within industry.
On a recent episode of the HigherEdJobs Podcast, HR expert Kathleen Hermacinski joined co-hosts Kelly Cherwin and Andrew Hibel to discuss a listener question as part of the Ask the Expert series. The question they explored came from a newly hired human resources professional in higher ed wondering how to get off on the right foot and what do's and don'ts to follow.
A summary of the conversation is below. We hope you'll find it helpful in your career.
Kelly Cherwin: Our listener asked, "I'm new to the human resource specialist role and want to succeed in my career. What basic tips and advice, or do's and don'ts, should I consider as I start my HR career?" Kathleen, what are your thoughts on that?
Kathleen Hermacinski: I think it's really important to leave personal feelings and opinions at the door. This is politics, especially with the recent presidential election -- tensions are high. If there is a perception that HR is conservative or liberal or anything else, there could be a perceived bias that's there.
Other topics to avoid religion are family aspects. A really hot topic is if pineapple belongs on pizza. Don't take that stance because there could be a bias that comes at it later. You don't want the HR office or yourself individually to be misaligned with the university, so by keeping opinions and stuff, you can be neutral.
In terms of other aspects, never guess -- never, ever, ever guess. Go find the handbook if it's a policy question. Take the extra couple of minutes to research. If it's a law, we don't guess on FMLA. We don't guess on the Department of Labor. We don't guess on EEOC. Google can be your friend.
Yes, you went to school. Yes, you may be new into your career. Google the Department of Labor and figure out what aspect you're looking for to find the correct information. The moment you start guessing, and you're only 90% sure, and it's somewhat wrong, that employee or department or hiring manager, whoever you're speaking to, is going to say, "no, no, no, no, no, that's not what HR said."
And it immediately becomes fact rather than a data point. Also, I think gossiping is a big no-no, and that's gossiping outside of your office and with other HR colleagues. Again, it comes into that perception of authority as you're gossiping, talking about a juicy story -- maybe somebody tried to attack somebody else with a screwdriver or something -- I'm just trying to go extreme here. We don't want that to get out to the institution or publicly, and so we just want to make sure everything stays in. This leads into confidentiality, which is probably the biggest pressure point when it comes to HR is you have to keep things confidential. We are dealing with the entire employee life cycle in HR. Especially somebody new in HR could be doing intake, and so, you may have an employee who has had a miscarriage or somebody who is in a domestic violence situation, somebody who is having financial issues at home and needs like some EAP assistance -- all the way to somebody trying to attack somebody else with a screwdriver and discipline and stuff. And so for everything in between, we need to make sure that that confidentiality piece stays very, very strict.
With our words and our actions, that authority just continues with HR. So you just want to make sure that personal feelings and opinions are kept at the door. And not brought into the office. We don't guess ever. We're looking at policies, laws, and stuff. HR is meant to be neutral. Gossiping, confidentiality, which kind of leads me into an interesting trend that we're seeing. I'm sure we've all heard of TikTok and Snapchat and Facebook Reels -- those short videos, anywhere from 10 seconds to three minutes, I think it is now. We saw a trend where HR professionals were sharing juicier termination stories, for example, on social media, not using names necessarily, but there can be ramifications to the individual and to the institution or company. You could get sued for that.
That's a breach of privacy. And it's just bad practice. I have seen, on the flip side, something I would say is good. If there's an area of expertise, I've seen TikToks and reels and other social media videos that reference what to do if you asked HR about an ADA accommodation. Absolutely, just like in this podcast, you can speak from a level of expertise and experience in your background, but you just don't want to share sensitive information, even if you're not using names or titles. Sensitive information should remain confidential.
Cherwin: You keep touching on confidentiality, and I'm glad you brought up the idea about social media because posting on social media is obviously the opposite of keeping quiet and keeping your feelings in check. You're dealing with not only your own career, but someone else's life. Posting about firing someone or terminating someone is not ever appropriate.
Hermacinski: Yeah. It's gross. We have to remember, especially in human resources, the human aspect of it. So we do need to be good stewards of the institution, but we also need to make sure that we're keeping the human factor in it. By embarrassing them or putting them -- as the kids would call it -- on blast, that's disrespectful to the employee of your company.
Andrew Hibel: I think virtually everything you just shared is fantastic and applicable to any position at any college or university or any institution. Go back and listen to the podcast again. Listen to what Kathleen said, and really that's just a blueprint for being a professional... one reflection, and then one question for you on the gossip side.
The chance to gossip now is exponential. Social media is just one big gossip site. You can go and have inappropriate conversations, and it's easy to do, and lots of people are doing it. But remember, the gossip not only hurts the person you're talking about -- it lessens your credibility. Also, if you're receiving gossip, it's lessening the credibility of the person receiving it and damaging -- if you're the person gossiping -- the relationship with the person that you're giving it to. You're bringing them into your faux pas, your crime, your whatever you want to refer to it as. I'd really caution people -- remember, three people are hurt by gossip, including yourself.
Hermacinski: For HR -- and I say HR specifically, but it is applicable to other aspects of an institution or company -- you can only trust the people that the person is going to share that with. So if I share a juicy story with Kelly, my hope is that she doesn't share it with anybody else because I'm gossiping, right?
But then Kelly's going to share it with Andy, Mike, and Mary. Okay, so then how much do I trust Andy, Mike, and Mary and the people that they share it with? It's important to remember that even if you're talking about or gossiping within HR, within your department, that that information very, very easily can get out to the rest of campus.
So, as you mentioned, it kind of hurts your own reputation as well.
Hibel: Do you have any additional advice for an emerging human resources professional about how to structure their career?
Hermacinski: The listener who submitted the question said specialist -- didn't say benefit specialist, recruiting specialist, or labor employee relations specialist.
So, one thing in HR is it's all-encompassing. From the recruiting to the termination, to leaves, to benefits, and everything in between, I would suggest as somebody entering human resources, find where your niche is. Is benefits where you want to go and hang out and park for a little bit? Benefits is intense, and it does take a couple years within a cycle to really feel like you're comfortable answering benefit questions.
Maybe benefits isn't your thing, but recruiting, you love to talk to people. You love that puzzle piece of finding this person's good for this position or so on and so forth. Test the waters within your HR office, figure out who's doing what and see if you can shadow, see if you can help with a project.
That way, instead of pigeonholing yourself early in your career, see what you like, and then pursue professional development to get into that specific aspect of HR.
Cherwin: Thank you, Kathleen. That was wonderful advice. We enjoyed having you on today.
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Listen to the entire episode for more from Kathleen, and our hosts, Andy Hibel and Kelly Cherwin.
