Connections key for Wintec | Te Pūkenga HR student
Cara Galletly is completing her Bachelor of Applied Management at Wintec | Te Pūkenga, majoring in Human Resources. She was the Human Resource New Zealand (HRNZ) Waikato region student ambassador from 2021 - 2022. She says making connections is key to succeeding in the Human Resource profession.
Cara comes from a big family.
“I have three sisters, two brothers, a niece, a nephew and three sets of parents. I also have quite a large extended family, and I like to think that because of the family dynamic, it can be uncomfortable at times, I can make people feel comfortable, no matter how we’re connected.”
The 24-year-old has worked in the same job for nine years at Countdown in a variety of different positions.
“I’ve enjoyed working alongside many different people. I’ve got to know a lot of people in my current job and a lot of people here at Wintec and I’ve been grateful for the connections that I’ve built through those pathways. From that, I’ve also extended my networking from a HR perspective. It’s awesome knowing a lot of people who are in the industry that I want to get into.”
Cara chose to study business with a major in Human Resources, because she had a friend with mental health issues. She was exposed to the struggle they went through, and first hand witnessed how that friend was taken care of with their employment and the steps they took to help them. Cara said this inspired her because she hadn’t heard of a company going to those lengths before.
“That was five years ago when the stigma around mental health was still quite bad. It was an organisation that I think most people would want to work for because they support their staff, and my friend actually kept their job for another two years even though they had to take a lot of mental health leave.”
Cara said she started out her first year by making connections and quickly grew to realise that networking was going to help her through her studies as well as in the future.
“The people I met in my first year became my support network throughout the rest of study. I found it crucial to have a good relationship with my tutors too because when they understood me as a person, they understood how to teach me.
“I want to give a shout out to Joe in Business Heritage, he was an awesome tutor, he made me want to be here and it was exciting to learn from him.”
Cara completed her internship at a company in the agricultural industry, looking at a wide range of Human Resource issues within the business.
“My internship was a serious eye opener. It was an awesome experience that showed me the importance of knowing your team and culture and how much that can impact day to day running.”
She also based her research paper around the industry she took her internship at, around the health and safety factors within the working environment.
Cara has been a student ambassador for HRNZ for most of her studies. She says that her main responsibility for the committee was to provide feedback from a student perspective and help with events to target the student section of the audience.
“I love the role; I work alongside some awesome people. It’s been such a great benefit for me as it’s helped me get my foot in the industry and I’ve been able to host events for the business which include professionals and students.
“It’s all about connections, it’s great to have qualifications, but you need to put yourself out there to get in the industry,” she said. Hinting that HRNZ have provided that opportunity for her.
