 Hi, my name is Sharon Nelson, HR manager responsible for talent acquisition for the city of Columbia. Talent in the city is our effort to highlight and showcase the departments with the city of Columbia, the department's impact players as well as the talent who make the city run every single day. These impact players and departments oftentimes don't get the spotlight that they deserve, but without them the city of Columbia would not run as a beautifully old machine that it is. My name is Ryan Green. I'm Shadi Harrell and we are HR Specialist in Talent Acquisition. I think we help all the various departments. We're just an extra tool for them to use. We assist them in posting job requisitions, job postings, as well as we'll do hiring events and do pre-screening interviews to get the candidates through the first steps of the process and get them in front of hiring managers. And then from there it's on the department to kind of finish the job and bring them home and get them in the door. The most rewarding part of my job is just being able to assist individuals that are looking for employment. Once you get that first thank you, that means a lot to me knowing that I helped someone and they can continue to provide for their families. So the city, you know, it's a fast growing city. It's one of the fastest growing cities in South Carolina and at the end of the day it's only as powerful as the sum of the departments. It takes all 40 departments, 40 plus departments, it takes all the employees to keep the city running, to keep the city growing, to keep the city a great place to be and to live. There was a rewarding moment back when we did a job fair with Tyson Foods. Well their employees were being displaced and we were giving them a soft place to land. So I was in communication with a few of their candidates throughout the entire process and just being able to hear the excitement in one of their candidates' voice when she received the job offer lets me know that I did my job for that day. So I came to the city with 35 years of experience and benefits. When I came here it was four years ago and we've come a long way in benefits since I've been here. When I came we did everything manually on paper and I have moved that forward to now where only things we tend to on paper are the things that we cannot do online. That's awesome so you've really helped to bring this department into a new era. Of course and I wish we could continue to do that so my goal is to continue to try to come up with ways that we can better the benefits and keep it going that way so that it's easier for the employee and it's also easier for us doing the work on the back side. Benefits is an important role for everyone that works for the city because without the benefits a lot of people can't care for your family they can't get the health care that they family need and everybody's situation is different. My situation would be different from any other person's situation. I may not have kids someone else may have kids someone may have a spouse and other people don't. So every situation or every phone call that I get is a different situation. 2200 people do depend on me along with another 650 retirees. You know I consider myself the person that deals with all things employees whether it comes whether it's policy whether it's personal issues that they may encounter whether it's their ability or their desire to move to another position. Whether it's educational training they may want just all things employees you know always been a person who appreciated people and always knew that if I'd ever gotten a role where I could just help people especially those who feel that they don't have a voice. And I've had the opportunity to do that over the last five years here at the city. Well you know our portal is open to anyone who wants to apply. Myself and others in this department always get called from people who are interested in maybe some other jobs. And we really hope that they take the opportunity very seriously that they share what their desire is in terms of what they want to do. We talk them through the application process. We talk them through how those skills could possibly transfer. A lot of times they call and say what do you think do you think I'll be a good fit for this particular position. And then when that happens we try to help them get to where they want to be in terms of building their career. Sometimes well all times we require that the sending supervisor speaks with the supervisor who may be receiving an employee because that employee needs to be in good standing with the city. But otherwise you know there are a lot of different jobs here and a lot of different a lot of very talented people here at the city. And we help them try to achieve whatever career goals that they have for themselves. So this is not the first department I've worked with with the city of Columbia. I started out in the wastewater division worked there five years ago and then had the opportunity to promote up to human resources. Started off in talent acquisition and then started moved over to the benefits and now that's where I am. So if anyone was looking to transfer departments I would say go for it you know go online look and see if there's something else that you're interested in. The city makes it so smooth and such an easy transition that you can just apply and you know try new things you never know what you might be missing. I think a big key to any good interview is one doing your research on the job itself so you know what it is as well as having a few good questions. It's just just have a list of questions just in case there they might already be answered during the interview but there are always questions to be asked and any hiring manager loves to hear your answers by you asking questions. What I can suggest if a candidate is thinking about applying is to one go ahead and apply, read the job description, compare the job duties to your resume if something don't seem right you have transfer skills so just be sure you understand what you're reading on the job description and then go ahead and apply. Be ready to present your best self, show up acting and looking professional and be ready to present who you want them to know you are and to show that you are the person that you are in position. For more information about this position and its department please visit www.columbiasc.gov.