HR career development

May 14, 2020June 29, 2023

Don’t be afraid to try new things: Jay Fortuna’s journey through HR

Jay Fortuna, a 2017 winner of Workforce’s Game Changer Award, is now the head of learning & development at FinTech company Rewards Network. As someone who’s been recognized for his achievements in human resources, Fortuna answered some questions for Workforce.com about his career path in L&D, the latest trends and innovations in HR and advice he would give his younger self.

Also read: How technology fits into an HR manager’s job description

Workforce: How have you grown professionally over the course of your career?

Jay Fortuna: I have been incredibly fortunate in a career where I have often been given the chance to raise my hand to take on more. Because of this, I have had the opportunity to take on the philosophy of being a life-long learner as it needed to yield results quickly.

I graduated college with a marketing degree and knew that it wasn’t the exact niche inside the business world where my passion truly was. I spent the early part of my career working hard to make chances and opportunities present themselves around learning and development.

WF: How has your career changed?

Fortuna: I was provided with an opportunity early in my career to move from sales into L&D, and I have not looked back since. I entered the L&D world as a facilitator and continued in that role in some capacity for years while I worked hard to master instructional design and transform into the leader I am today. Because of my willingness to learn more and make myself better I have been afforded the opportunity of becoming a well-rounded learning professional and because of my success while doing so I have been able to elevate in my career at an accelerated pace.

WF: What are some of the trends you’ve seen in HR over the past few years?

Fortuna: Over the past decade or so the biggest transformation — [other than] the continued growth of the use of technology, which will always be a constant — is recognition [of] that true and deep impact proper learning and development can have on the business. L&D has earned a seat at the table.

WF: What advice would you tell yourself five years ago?

Fortuna: In 2017 when I received the Game Changers award I was leading a small but mighty team, and we were attempting to change the landscape of an industry that had been struggling with organic growth for over a decade. At that point I didn’t think about anything else except accomplishing the goal in front of me and thinking about how I was going to attack the next five beyond it.

I wish I would have told myself then enjoy the moment and spend more time with the people that were there supporting me. I have always had a “Superman mentality” and because of it I missed out on some chances to enjoy the successes.

WF: What have you learned over the course of your career in HR?

Fortuna: The most valuable lessons I have learned over my career in HR are to be willing to raise your hand and never underestimate your ability to make an impact. Being willing to raise your hand for a project, even though you may have never done it before, will allow you to live the concept of being a life-long learner. When you are forced to learn a new skill on your accord, you often look at the task differently. It becomes a growth opportunity versus a task which was demanded of you.

WF: What do you foresee in the future of HR?

Fortuna: With the changes in learning happening so fast, I foresee the future of learning to continue [its] rapid shift to just-in-time learning. This type of learning mixed with programs designed with hyper job focus could make it possible to get learners to a point of proficiency at an unprecedented accelerated rate. When you take these two approaches and properly mix them with blended learning, the sky’s the limit.

May 6, 2020June 29, 2023

Always be curious: Khalid Raza’s journey through human resources

Khalid Raza, a 2016 winner of Workforce’s Game Changer Award, is now a talent acquisition leader at EY. As someone who’s been recognized for his achievements in human resources, Raza answered some questions for Workforce.com about his career in HR, the rise of data analytics and the importance of constant curiosity for a well-rounded talent professional.

Also read: How technology fits into an HR manager’s job description

Workforce: How have you grown professionally over the course of your career?

Khalid Raza: Career is not a destination but a journey where evolution happens with each experience. The growth of a professional is a story of continuous transformation stemming from experiences, interactions, reactions and self-reflection. Success and failures contribute to the depth of learning.

I had the luxury of being surrounded by visionary and compassionate leaders, talented team members who always set the bar higher, and my family which stood by me at all times. My professional growth has been fueled by curiosity to learn, do and achieve more.

WF: How has your career changed?

Raza: [As] someone who gets bored of [the] mundane, I moved roles within HR frequently, allowing me to appreciate and inculcate an understanding of every function and role. The organic accumulation of knowledge has helped me be more effective at all times. I am fortunate to not have a unidimensional career.

WF: What are some of the trends you’ve seen in HR over the past few years?

Raza: Equipped with data and analytics, HR now takes more informed decisions and provides measurable business solutions.

WF: What advice would you tell yourself five years ago?

Raza: The only advice I have is to be more curious about the business we work for. HR exists to support the organization. Isolated efforts yield amputated outcomes.

WF: What have you learned over the course of your career in HR?

Raza: People are the key to success. Organizations that understand this theme continue to grow through tough times, too. Humans are not resources. The most successful teams are [successful] because of the people driving the transformation.

WF: What do you foresee in the future of HR?

Raza: I see more real-time analytics impacting outcomes [and] more open organizations, allowing leadership to tap and leverage mutual knowledge of all the employees. Those days are gone where a bunch of suit-clad executives decide in a boardroom what the strategy of the company should use, oblivious of the fact that the next big idea may come from a desktop engineer.

Impact of changes need to be understood in real-time through sentiment analysis.
Tailored bouquet of compensation structures.
Skills and value-driven compensation and growth.
More focus on inclusion than diversity.

WF: What are some things that you value most about your career field/position?

Raza: Talent or HR as a function deals with people, and as I alluded earlier, people drive companies to success or failure. I value the impact HR makes to the organization’s growth.

WF: Do you have any advice for HR professionals?

Raza: Yes, I’d [like to share this] guidance to HR professionals:

Be Curious.
Strive to learn more at all times — people, experiences, struggles, success, and failures — there is always a lesson to be learned.
Don’t network. Build relationships. Adding random people on a social network is of no use unless you have built relationships with them.
Always find a mentor who can guide you — be it a career mentor or a skill mentor.

Also read: HR 101 for new human resources managers

November 1, 2018June 29, 2023

The 5 Paths of Falling Into HR

Raise your hand if you grew up dreaming of a career in HR. No one? Of course not.

The dirty little secret of HR is that most of us didn’t have a master plan to end up managing people functions and maximizing human capital ROI inside the modern workplace. We grew up with bigger dreams, which is cool because no one grows up dreaming of being a director of account management, financial analyst or marketing manager, either.

Those dreams all stink when you’re 16.

Instead, our teenage selves dreamed of being movie stars, recording artists or professional athletes. The freaks among us were entrepreneurial from the time they were 5 and likely knew they’d own their own business. The rest of us float, usually until the time we pick a major in college, at which time our career paths and ambitions solidify.

But the choice of HR as a career path happens later than most on average. For all the undergraduate programs in HR, the ubiquitous nature of the Society for Human Resource Management and the increasing importance of the human capital function, many HR pros don’t solidify a path into HR until they’re in the workforce doing other things.

Translation: Many HR pros will tell you they “fell” in to HR.

Falling into things can be a blessing and a curse. It’s all relative to the outcome. From my experience talking to the talented high performers who make up the world of HR, here’s some common ways people “fall” into HR without a real plan to enter it.

I started at the bottom, now I’m here. You are a bootstrapper! Right out of college, these people took entry-level roles in our function, usually doing transactions as an HR coordinator, payroll specialist or similar role. They enjoyed the function and in many cases rose to run the whole thing.
I’m a people person. These HR pros were generally present in a company and were identified as someone who was “good with people,” subsequently flipping into HR from another department. When looking at this group, “good with people” is a broad designation that can mean they are extroverted, a good listener or willing to take large amounts of abuse without exploding. It can also mean skill in solving other people’s problems and maximizing their performance inside the organization.
I got dropped into HR on an interim basis and never left. Big companies have rotational programs for high potential employees as part of succession strategies, and HR is generally part of that rotation. From time to time, HIPOs are rotated into HR, love it, are highly effective and never leave or come back to HR after their rotations are complete. In other circumstances, high performers are parachuted into HR on an interim basis to put out a Dumpster fire, find their perfect match and stay for the good times.
I was good at a specialty related to HR and ended up running the whole HR show. Feeder groups for HR include some specialties that are considered a distant or related cousin to the HR function like training or recruiting. This close proximity to the HR function provides a natural exposure and transition point to HR for the professionals in those functions with the chops to handle the chaos that awaits them in the big show.
I failed in another job at our company and they moved me into HR so they didn’t have to fire me. I didn’t want to include this one, but no rundown of all the ways people fall into a HR career would be complete without it. HR has a reputation in some company cultures as a backwater, a way station for average people doing average things. This leads to the perception that good people struggling in other areas can be dumped in HR. This seems to be decreasing in frequency, but it’s a historic reality of our lives together in HR.

You can probably add to the list of ways that people fall into HR. If you’re an HR pro who has an HR degree and has always possessed the clarity that comes with knowing you’d be in HR since you were 12, Godspeed to you. Don’t mess up your dream.

The rest of us woke up one day in HR with the Talking Heads song “Once In A Lifetime” playing in the background. I’m glad I’m here; I bet you are as well.