At the beginning of the day I was curious as to what the HR department does. I knew it had something to do with firing and hiring but I didn’t really know the specifics. George and I started off the day meeting with Bethany LeClair, who is the head of University Recruitment at SAS. She basically explained what HR is, what her role is, why she enjoys it, and how she incorporates younger people into the SAS community. After our meeting with her we were introduced to Laura Allen who would be hosting us for the day. We also met her close colleague and friend Kristin Strickland. Both of these young ladies just recently graduated from NC State and Kristin is on her way to becoming a full time employee after interning for a year. George and I stuck with Laura and Kristen throughout most of the day so I would say they co-hosted us. Having both recently graduated, they had lots of advice and information for us not only regarding SAS, but also college in general. Next we met Christie Doughtery, the Pro Recruiter who told us about her job and what she does. One of the most interesting parts of the day for me was meeting Leanne Logue who is an HR partner who deals with elevated situations. She had many interesting stories and had work experience at many places including Amazon. She talked about how she keeps like at work separate from life at home and why she enjoys resolving issues among others. Next was lunch time! We all had lunch with Juli Cox and Anne Mazza who are both close colleagues of Laura. After lunch we met Laura’s boss who introduced some programs to us and showed us around the SAS website. She talked about how analytics are beginning to be incorporated into the HR department. The last stop of the day was at the café downstairs with a male employee who gave us detailed insight into his career path and how he ended up at SAS. He also gave us tips about college and wanted to hear from us as much as we wanted to hear from him. I can’t wait for corporate creative tomorrow!
