Month: May 2020

1. What am I good at?

I am good at building relationships and being a trusted advisor. Leading people on a project and being the driving force behind accomplishing goals. Staying calm and collected in most situations has also been a strength of mine. Finding creative people solutions to complex problems. 

2. What do I value?

I value recognition, compensation, work life balance, benefits, mentoring and coaching as well as timely performance feedback. Working alongside a high performing team that is accountable and pleasant/fun is also something I value.

3. How did I get here?

Key decisions carefully planned out have brought me where I am today. From making a decision to leave a full ride scholarship in Mexico to migrate back (a second time) to the United States at 13 years of age was one of those key decisions. I also made a decision to move to the PNW after I graduated college, I helped set up a start up company and enjoyed that venture for almost ten years. I made the painful decision to walk away to continue growing even though I loved the job as I knew there was more to experience and learn. It was a hard decision but it was timely since I have been able to grow within the HR field. I find myself in Corvallis following a decision to take on a new challenge, move away from family and start fresh with a fast paced HR Manager role, which I have really enjoyed. Making the decision to start the MBA program was interesting. I have always known I wanted to go back to school and looked into it every couple years but never had the drive as strong as this time around. I felt that in order to keep advancing in my career I had to take that next step in my education to continue growing.

4. Where am I going?

It has been challenging but fun to work full time and be a part time grad student, have a child and husband. I always keep in touch with that 13 year old self that had a dream when coming to the US. I stay inspired in seeing how far I’ve come and how the decisions along the way have brought me where I am today. I plan, ponder and hope future decisions continue to make me happy, keep me challenged and continuously learning. 

-Nicte

I took the IPIP-NEO long version questionnaire and the results were not necessarily surprising to me in most areas. The test results indicated I am an extrovert and enjoy being around people, I am outgoing and sociable. Being Hispanic and growing up in a large family I was always attending parties and large gatherings of people, which I have always enjoyed. Therefore, that is one of the things I miss the most right now with current pandemic restrictions. Depending on the position, being an extrovert can be an important strength to have. I work with people day in and day out so being an extrovert makes it easy and desirable from an employer standpoint. 

I rated high in agreeableness which means I can be described as pleasant and caring. Working in HR, I feel like this is a trait is really important to have and employers would likely see this as a strenght. I also rated high in conscientiousness and I feel like I may be on the verge of being deemed a workaholic, which is important to be aware of. It was interesting to see that rating high in this trait is not always positive but I definitely think I am not in the extreme of being a perfectionist but rather dependable and hard working. Employers should be weary of those individuals that display perfectionist and workaholic behaviors as it can lead to employee burnout. 

The rating on the neuroticism area was low meaning I am a calm individual even in stressful situations. I have known this about myself for a few years now and it has also been a great ally when handling difficult situations such as HR investigations, safety incidents and life in general. When others freak out, I am there to provide a calm, positive, realistic vibe with a plan of action. This is also another strength to offer especially in a collaborative setting as organizations are becoming more team based. 

I thought I would rate high in the Openness to Experience area but the results showed I scored average meaning I enjoy traditions but I am open tor trying new things. Employers would typically identify rating low in this area as a weakness. 

Overall I think this is an accurate representation of myself and its always interesting to see it laid out. A potential employer would likely see my personality traits as strengths. 

-Nicte