By: Ayanté Williams
Originally a music business major, Ansley McAlister got her undergraduate degree in Corporate Communication and minored in Music Business at Belmont.
Her reasoning for switching majors was that she wanted a degree that was versatile and applicable in various industries. Ansley’s interest in psychological studies and the business aspects of Corporate Communication like conflict management, communication styles in the workplace, and research made her a perfect fit in the department.
Now, the 2015 Belmont graduate works in the Recruiting Industry at IQTalent Partners (IQ) as the Learning and Development Specialist. Ansley stated, “If you would have told me in college, I was going to be working in the HR industry, I would have never believed you.”
By Ansley’s definition, “Human Resources is serving the people of the company and serving the company. You always hear people saying ‘don’t trust HR’. Sadly, HR is seen as the stepchild of the company. It’s true that we have to do the dirty work, but we can also do a lot of good things too. Regardless of any industry, if you are working in Human Resources, you are in the business of people.”
McAlister’s transition out of college to the professional job market was slow but beneficial. “I would say I had two first jobs out of college. My first job and my first ‘professional’ job out of college,” she stated. For around 8 months, McAlister worked at a boutique furniture store building her skills of effective communication, social media, management, and B2C marketing. After she landed her first “professional” job, she noticed how all the skills she learned at her previous job and college classes helped her develop as a communications professional.
During her time at Belmont, Ansley was the President of Lambda Pi Eta Honor Society and a Young Life Middle School Leader. She interned at Book`em and Salama Urban Ministries, learning how nonprofits operate financially and gaining work experience working on social media campaigns. From those experiences, she has been able to get her company to financially pour into nonprofits.
After working a few years at IQ out of college, Ansley got her Master’s in Educational Administration and Policy. Later, she got offered the job title that she has now, Learning and Development Specialist. Her job consists of creating the training curriculum, onboarding associates and contract employees (training on and off every two weeks), providing professional development for employees, and tracking employee engagement.
If you are interested in growing as a professional, here are some tips from Ansley:
Tools to get familiar with: Microsoft Suite, Excel (good for companies and personal use).
If you are interested in HR, invest in SHRM!
Lastly, listen to a professional podcast and join professional FB groups in industries you are interested in pursuing.