Catherine Brown CMHRNZ
What led you to a career in HR/ the position that you are in currently?
Following high school I took a gap year where I worked in a Hotel. I always thought I wanted to study Hotel Management but having a year in a Hotel environment opened my eyes to the HR function and I found my love of people directing me towards studying a Bachelor of Management at Waikato majoring in HR rather than Hotel Management. I commenced my career in the UK in the recruitment agency environment, once we had moved home, I continued in this environment before commencing in Local Government in 2018. I’ve worked with and continue to work with amazing people in the Council environment who are deeply committed to making a difference for their communities. Whilst I started in the generalist / Business Partnering Space I now lead a team in the Recruitment, Rem, HR Contracts, Data & Insights and Payroll space.
What do you love about working in HR?
The relationships, partnering well with the business enables you to support people and organisations on some pretty epic journeys. Kī mai ki a ahau, he aha te mea nui i tēnei ao? Māku e kī atu, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata
Are there any specific highlights of your career that you wish to share?
Working within Council as a BP, I have worked with some incredible General Managers and Management teams who really understood the value of the partnership. I am incredibly grateful to these people who have continued to support me beyond the working relationship ending. My team currently are also a career highlight, watching their development over the last 18 months has been next level – they all have very bright futures ahead.
What are your thoughts on Chartered Membership? How do you feel about being a Chartered Member?
When we relocated to the UK I was a fresh grad, I struggled to get work in a generalist HR role because I wasn’t going to study CIPD. Whilst the HRNZ Chartered is a different form of chartered recognition to CIPD it still feels awesome to have obtained something that was once a barrier and that I didn’t have. It’s also nice after a number of years to have the mahi that I do evaluated and validated.
What motivated you to work towards becoming a Chartered Member?
I saw it as a bit of a challenge as I have only been in HR for 13 years. However, my HR journey has been one with exponential learning so I’m really happy to have been evaluated at this level. Putting myself through this application and evaluation process has been a big achievement for me and I’m proud of it.
What are your next steps in terms of your career now that you are a Chartered Member?
From my current Team Leader role, I have ambitions to secure my first HR Managers role at some point in the near future. I am excited that this will happen at some point when the time is right.