A year in the game!

12 December….an anniversary that is worth celebrating.

Never did I think that my career would take a step further, a turn for the better and feel like a journey of learning & growth when I joined a company that I had never heard of as well as an industry that I knew little to nothing about.

Working in recruitment for 19 years, each December looked like the previous one. I would look back on the year, reflect on the lives I had changed, the clients I bonded with, the numbers that had grown each quarter and that each end-of-year party I was invited to was a total celebration of numbers. As I would bid farewell to another year of recruitment, I would have a slight sense of dread, like hearing the evening news music on a Sunday night knowing that a new week of school started the following morning.

This year is different. What I see behind me is how I had the nerve to take an opportunity, purely based on my gut-instinct and my current managers guidance. Instead of seeing numbers, I see red, amber, and green next to deliverables and projects. I’m not closing off everything and simply starting anew in 2024, I’m continuing with the paths, processes, and projects that I have on my screen. What a thrill! Instead of starting with a zero, I start 2024 with the beautiful RAG visual of a traffic light and I simply can’t wait.

What changed? It’s no secret that im in my “mature” years, the wrinkles and sunspots show you that I have experience, but I always wondered if recruitment would be my forever-career. I always found it annoying when my parents or friends would say that I worked in HR because I was adamant that Recruitment required a completely different set of skills, knowledge and requirements to that of my “real” HR counterparts. Yet, I have made the move into HR. I’m not working with payroll, disciplinary action, employee time off approvals, contracts, etc.….to be honest, I probably wouldn’t know how to do half of these or enjoy doing it either. What I do is an absolute privilege and pleasure (to me) and I wake up with a sense of purpose. I am now proudly a HR Centre of Excellence Manager at OnAir Entertainment, and I am loving it. I almost wish I had had this opportunity sooner, but I’m here now.

I still get the rush of juggling many balls in the air, the pressure and the sense of satisfaction or disappointment from people, the same as what I would get in recruitment. But my path of impact is different this time. The mental image of my impact has moved from a line (Hiring manager to candidate), it is now circular, kind of like that of a disaster impact circle (like an earthquake) – Im having a quiet giggle to myself as I make that analogy – oops! I now work with data, reporting, culture initiatives, learning & development, promotions, progression plans, etc. I see my role as still making people happy, just in a different way. The focus, for me, is more deeply intrenched in the brand and culture than ever before and this gives me a greater sense of purpose.

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I am forever seeking meaning and satisfaction in what I dedicate my time to, and I can proudly say that the periods where I have not experienced this in my career are few and far between.

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As I step out of 2023 and into 2024, I am excited to open my new notebook and write the header “2024”. As always, I am grateful, humbled and honored. It is a privilege to do the work that I do and to feel how I feel about it. I have a great leadership team to look up to, a fearless and wise mentor in my manager and I am treated like a valuable team member. What more could I want?

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Happy 1 year anniversary to me!

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Enjoy some pictures of my year of work at OnAir?