Moose Jaw HR students founded mentoring program to meet their needs
One might say the HR management class of 2003/2004 at the Moose Jaw campus of SIAST learned early about innovating to be competitive.
Ask Tracey Schmidt, one of about 20 students in the HR program that last year founded the Palliser Human Resource Management Association, named after the Moose Jaw campus of the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology. For too long, the two-year diploma students in HR management at the Palliser Campus felt they were playing second fiddle to the four-year university degree students at other schools, including those at the University of Regina, 80 kilometres away.
They tried to attend lectures and other networking events hosted by professional HR associations in Regina, said Schmidt, but most of these activities were during lunchtime.
With their full-day class schedules, the students couldn’t afford to make the hour-long trip each way to attend. And yet, given the importance of hobnobbing in the HR world, they felt they simply couldn’t afford not to get out there and make some contacts. So they started their own organization.
They had a few reasons for the initiative, said Teresa D’Arcy, CEO of the group. “If we were to get any kind of designation, we needed to belong to an HR association.” Forming their own group would get them free student memberships with the Human Resource Management Association of Regina.
Another reason was they wanted to set up their own mentoring program. Palliser diploma students lost hands-on learning opportunities two years ago when a co-op portion was cut from the program.
“You sit in class all day and you learn this theory. (We wanted) to actually go to a business and meet another human resource professional and see what it’s like to put theory into practice and see how things are done,” said D’Arcy.
With a goal of providing mentorship opportunities to everyone in the class, the group designed a mentoring program that makes participation easy for both the students and the would-be mentors.
For the HR mentor, the group offers a choice of four different mentoring models, each requiring a different level of commitment. For themselves, the students designed a program that would minimize travel to cut down on the disruption to their school schedules.
Their next step was to create a constitution.
D’Arcy, who pitched the mentorship program to members of the Regina HR association, as well as members of the Saskatchewan Training and Development Association and the International Personnel Management Association, said having a constitution improved the group’s credibility.
“(It’s) so that we wouldn’t just look like a bunch of students who took a class and thought this would be fun. This was something we were serious about.”
Schmidt, elected executive director of the association, remembered many animated discussions as the group fleshed out details, including a system for distributing mentorship opportunities, a code of ethics emphasizing confidentiality, and even a dress code. “We didn’t want the next year of students to show up in ripped shirts or anything because that would look bad on us,” she chuckled.
When it came time for her mentorship, one of the first things Schmidt was eager to ask was whether what they were learning applied in the real workplace. “(My mentor) said the theories and techniques that we had learned were pretty much what’s in use out there. I was pretty happy to hear that.”
That was important to her because as diploma students, said Schmidt, the Palliser group often wondered how they measured up against the degree students at the University of Regina.
David Ward, business instructor specializing in human resource management at SIAST, agreed with Schmidt that recruiters sometimes overlook diploma students at Palliser, despite the fact that the curriculum was designed in 1994 to mirror the requirements of the Certified Human Resources Professional designation. Courses in the second year include: training and development, compensation and benefits, labour relations, staffing, collective bargaining, human resources and personnel management, organizational effectiveness, and employee relations and support.
“Creating and managing their own student association, website and mentoring program, and then selling it to the professional HR associations, was a significant learning experience for the students,” said Ward. “The students worked very hard to set up their association, website and mentoring program. To watch and advise this dedicated group has been a high point in my career.”
Ask Tracey Schmidt, one of about 20 students in the HR program that last year founded the Palliser Human Resource Management Association, named after the Moose Jaw campus of the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology. For too long, the two-year diploma students in HR management at the Palliser Campus felt they were playing second fiddle to the four-year university degree students at other schools, including those at the University of Regina, 80 kilometres away.
They tried to attend lectures and other networking events hosted by professional HR associations in Regina, said Schmidt, but most of these activities were during lunchtime.
With their full-day class schedules, the students couldn’t afford to make the hour-long trip each way to attend. And yet, given the importance of hobnobbing in the HR world, they felt they simply couldn’t afford not to get out there and make some contacts. So they started their own organization.
They had a few reasons for the initiative, said Teresa D’Arcy, CEO of the group. “If we were to get any kind of designation, we needed to belong to an HR association.” Forming their own group would get them free student memberships with the Human Resource Management Association of Regina.
Another reason was they wanted to set up their own mentoring program. Palliser diploma students lost hands-on learning opportunities two years ago when a co-op portion was cut from the program.
“You sit in class all day and you learn this theory. (We wanted) to actually go to a business and meet another human resource professional and see what it’s like to put theory into practice and see how things are done,” said D’Arcy.
With a goal of providing mentorship opportunities to everyone in the class, the group designed a mentoring program that makes participation easy for both the students and the would-be mentors.
For the HR mentor, the group offers a choice of four different mentoring models, each requiring a different level of commitment. For themselves, the students designed a program that would minimize travel to cut down on the disruption to their school schedules.
Their next step was to create a constitution.
D’Arcy, who pitched the mentorship program to members of the Regina HR association, as well as members of the Saskatchewan Training and Development Association and the International Personnel Management Association, said having a constitution improved the group’s credibility.
“(It’s) so that we wouldn’t just look like a bunch of students who took a class and thought this would be fun. This was something we were serious about.”
Schmidt, elected executive director of the association, remembered many animated discussions as the group fleshed out details, including a system for distributing mentorship opportunities, a code of ethics emphasizing confidentiality, and even a dress code. “We didn’t want the next year of students to show up in ripped shirts or anything because that would look bad on us,” she chuckled.
When it came time for her mentorship, one of the first things Schmidt was eager to ask was whether what they were learning applied in the real workplace. “(My mentor) said the theories and techniques that we had learned were pretty much what’s in use out there. I was pretty happy to hear that.”
That was important to her because as diploma students, said Schmidt, the Palliser group often wondered how they measured up against the degree students at the University of Regina.
David Ward, business instructor specializing in human resource management at SIAST, agreed with Schmidt that recruiters sometimes overlook diploma students at Palliser, despite the fact that the curriculum was designed in 1994 to mirror the requirements of the Certified Human Resources Professional designation. Courses in the second year include: training and development, compensation and benefits, labour relations, staffing, collective bargaining, human resources and personnel management, organizational effectiveness, and employee relations and support.
“Creating and managing their own student association, website and mentoring program, and then selling it to the professional HR associations, was a significant learning experience for the students,” said Ward. “The students worked very hard to set up their association, website and mentoring program. To watch and advise this dedicated group has been a high point in my career.”
