Georgia-May Marston APHRNZ
What led you to a career in HR/ the position that you are in currently?
I was at the tail end of completing my psychology degree, which I was absolutely loving, but I felt it lacked a clear application and link to a career that suited me. As COVID impacted the final year of my bachelors degree, I decided to engage in postgraduate studies and tried my hand at Human Resource Management. Not only did I love the discipline and the amazing professors at Otago University, but seeing how the theory I learnt in Psychology could be directly applied in a workforce environment was unbelievably exciting, and sparked my passion for working, supporting and understanding people in organisations.
What do you love about working in HR?
Taking a people-centric approach to organisational challenges. For any change being made in an organisation, not having the people onboard from day one is the fastest way to fail. People are integral for businesses to be successful, and knowing how to actively support and engage staff through multiple angles, from organisational culture to reward and remuneration, is important for any workplace to thrive. It also means I get to learn a lot of different HR topics and how they manifest in different ways, which keeps me busy.
What is an achievement so far in your career that you are proud of?
As an HR consultant, I have had the unique opportunity of thinking strategically about a wide range of people related challenges. I have been able to help clients design their organsiation, strategise their remuneration and reward, prepare their people for technology transformation, and strategically plan their workforce. However, a major highlight was having the opportunity to work with a kaupapa Māori organisation and design an employee value proposition (EVP) to enable the attraction and retention of their employees. This meant reinventing a traditional, western EVP framework to be applicable to a te ao Māori workforce. Not only was the outcome a success, but our design was acknowledged on the global stage as an innovative workforce solution.
What are your thoughts on the Emerging Professional Member process?
Super easy and engaging. It makes me excited for my HR career ahead and I would encourage anyone who is eligible to do it!
Do you plan to now work towards becoming a Chartered Member?
Definitely - it allows me to keep my vision clear on what elements of ‘The Path’ I need to focus on next to be able to take me to the next level in my career.
What are your next steps in terms of your career?
Keep on learning and growing. I want to continue focusing on going broad and learning as many things as I can about each domain of HR knowledge before building my depth. I would love to continue to grow my capabilities in remuneration and reward, workforce strategy, and HR technology. I think a good complementary skillset to grow next would be to gain capability in data modeling, learning how to model and understand what the numbers are telling me to ensure the HR solutions I build are backed by both qualitative and quantitative evidence.