Jocelyn Visser CMHRNZ
What led you to a career in HR/ the position that you are in currently?
I have a background in retail management, and I realised that the things I loved most about my job was upskilling, developing, and growing people. I followed that path and landed at the conclusion of HR. I decided to leave a pretty great career in retail to go back to uni and start from scratch!
What do you love about working in HR?
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata! I know it’s a cliche, but it’s the people - especially leaders. I love supporting leaders to do their best at work and enjoy work. This has a ripple effect into teams which builds engagement and culture. Leaders make a huge difference to employee experience, so focusing my time and energy building effective leaders is a major passion for me.
Are there any specific highlights of your career that you wish to share?
For the last year I have been exclusively working in the sport and recreation sector and I have absolutely loved it, the sector is full of passionate hard-working people and being able to support that mahi is incredible. MyHR's whole thing is about making HR easy, working with leaders to take the scariness out of people processes and demystify HR has made this role particularly gratifying.
What are your thoughts on Chartered Membership? How do you feel about being a Chartered Member?
Pretty stoked! I've seen the transformative power of HR having a strategic seat at the table and I think the work HRNZ is doing and the chartering process shows people that we mean business and HR is a valuable strategic partner. It feels like I've got a bit more weight behind me, I'm not recommending things just because - it's based on my experience and knowledge and now I have a reputable body who has said "yeah, she knows what she is doing' which feels great.
What motivated you to work towards becoming a Chartered Member?
It's always been something I wanted to pursue, as I mentioned above I think it helps give HR professionals further credibility. If we want to make meaningful change as a profession, then having this level of assessment and accreditation supports that goal.
What are your next steps in terms of your career now that you are a Chartered Member?
Sit back and relax? Haha.. I think there is space within the HRNZ Path capability framework for a specialist path. While governance is important, it's not my passion and so moving up in the framework feels like it's taking me further from my happy place - delivering people solutions to organisations. I would love to be a part of carving out that path and the capabilities needed, especially as a 'generalist/specialist' as in - someone who wants to deliver a broad range of HR disciplines but their career path is aimed at specialising/expertise rather than leadership (in the people management sense). Another pet project of mine is trying to find space for te ao Māori practices within a very pakeha legislative framework. Reconciling bi-culturalism practices while not creating organisations’ risk is a pretty juicy piece of work. If there are any Māori HR practitioners reading this to whom that sounds cool, hit me up!