Elizabeth Morgan, president of the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) student club at CSU, had a brilliant idea on how to achieve a SHRM Merit Award. The importance of receiving a Merit Award is in the potential growth and an opportunity to create a bigger organization. According to the Merit guidelines, the more initiatives the organization completes, the greater the chance they have to receive recognition.

After collaborating with the Career Management Center and talking to various professors within the Department of Management, members chose to engage both professionals and students by creating a new, two-hour event called the “How to Get Hired” Workshop. They modeled the workshop structure based on an HR conference Elizabeth attended with fellow SHRM members.

The workshop featured six different high-caliber professionals including Maggie Hirko, HR Manager at Wolf Robotics; Wayne D’Atoni, HR Consultant at MSEC; Justin Cross, New Belgium Brewing Recruiter; Lorie Humphrey, CSU COB Career Management Center Counselor; Peter Boyle, Director of HR at HP; and Mike Kohler, a Leadership and Workforce Development Trainer in Larimer County.

There were three sessions held, each featuring two speakers. Students and professionals had the ability to choose which speaker to attend according to the topic that best fit their needs. Topics from planning your job search to comparing work environments were presented.

“The goal of the evening was to connect and empower students by giving them the opportunity to create professional relationships with those who can help them in their career and future,” said Elizabeth. Nearly 60 College of Business students turned out and many came out of the experience with a new mentor to call upon as a resource.

With succession planning in place for the SHRM club, students and alumni can expect this event to continue for years to come.