Greg Weishaar

 

         Let me introduce you to Greg Weishaar.  Greg works at VMWare.  What is VMWare you ask?  VMWare is a cloud computing company.  And his position in the company is HR Tech Mgr.  He manages the talent acquisition technology tools that support the hiring process. 

        Greg got into HR by accident.  One of his friends approached him and said he would be good in staffing.  He originally was in sales.  After tossing the idea around for a bit he decided to take the leap of faith and try staffing.  That same friend offered a position where he worked at the time.  At first, Greg thought about pursuing an HR Generalist role, but he fell in love with the recruiting part of HR instead.  Through experience and learning he started to focus on the technology field of recruiting. 

        Greg’s first job in the HR field was where he learned the most.  He had a wonderful mentor who was patient and taught him a lot.  Greg was able to fail on his own and figure out what worked and what didn’t work on his own.  He started off as an Account Manager for the recruiting firm.  Two valuable lessons he learned while working there was that you never stop learning, and networking is a MUST in this field.

         An obstacle he had to overcome was finding a mentor who wasn’t his boss.  Not every company has well defined mentorship programs.  Greg quickly learned he had to be his own advocate and to self-serve.  He also had to chart his own growth and seek mentorship outside of his previous employers.  If you are looking to get ahead having a good can be beneficial. 

         Some advice Greg would like to share is to take advantage of any internships that might come your way.  It’s a great way to get your foot in the door, learn new skills, brush up on skills, and networking.  You never know when you will need it/them.  Also, see if your company has any network groups for you to join.  It is a great way to learn more about your company and other departments.  You can never ask too many questions and don’t be afraid to ask questions if you are uncertain or unclear.  You are never too old to start learning.  And lastly, find a person to model your work after.  Every company is different so every company will have different expectations for you and your role.

          Throughout Greg’s career, he’s had a couple of mentors.  One that came to his mind was one of his old managers.  This person taught him the business and how the “operations” worked.  She always taught him new things and never let him coast along his career.  Mentorship can come in a variety of ways.  Within the workplace or out.  You can have a mentor you used to work with and years later run into that person at a later time. 

         Working in HR will give you a perspective on the company in general.  And you might also see and witness some behaviors that would typically come from a 6-year-old and not a professional.  Like an employee throwing a tantrum because their boss didn’t promote them.  Or name calling between employees.  You will also see at times when an associate gets promoted to an executive level, they can sometimes forget where they started.  Meaning, not wanting to help others succeed or thinking that they are better then others because they got promoted.  Greg used a good analogy.  It’s like the duck.  “Everything looks fine above water but underneath he just wants to stay afloat.”  Remember, people are people, and we are no different than another human being.

         Greg balances work/personal life by owning his own destiny.  Meaning, he doesn’t let work life overtake his personal life.  When Covid started most people started working from home.  Which was a struggle to separate the work life and personal life.  One of the lessons he learned and shared is that your computer can be 5ft away, but that doesn’t mean you need to keep it on and consistently check your email.  Most employers are now adopting to the new work style of remote work.  To make working remote a success you will need to find out what the flexibility is with your company.  And talk to your family/roommates as to what your needs/wants are.  As most people share their living space with their workspace.

        Greg has been success by having a thirst of knowledge.  Learning new ways on how to be more effective and proficient in his career.  Having the freedom to fail so he didn’t make the same mistakes again was also something that helped in along the way.  A couple things he would like to mention is 1) Find the resources you need.  Sometimes it’s up to you to do some research  2) Don’t be afraid to make decision and follow through with them.  You never know the outcome.  It just might be what you are looking for.  And 3) have the data ready or evidence on why something should be done a certain way to make it successful.  This gains confidence with who you are presenting it to.