Season 7 of Career Compass begins with this interview with Rutgers University SHRM Student Chapter President, Bryce Dupree. Hosts Demetrius Norman and Aly Sharp discuss how Bryce started his HR journey and what he has learned thus far.
Season 7 of Career Compass begins with this interview with Rutgers University SHRM Student Chapter President, Bryce Dupree. Hosts Demetrius Norman and Aly Sharp discuss how Bryce started his HR journey and what he has learned thus far.
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Demetrius Norman:
Welcome back to season seven of Career Compass, a podcast from SHRM. Career Compass prepares the future leaders today for better workplaces tomorrow.
Aly Sharp:
Thank you for joining us for this episode. My name is Aly Sharp.
Demetrius Norman:
And my name is Demetrius Norman and I will also be your co-host. During this episode, we have a great interview that we're excited for you all to hear where we'll be talking about internships in HR and how important they are for your overall career trajectory.
Aly Sharp:
We are extremely excited about today's conversation and with that Career Compass would like to warmly welcome Bryce Dupree, SHRM Student Chapter President with Rutgers University SHRM student chapter.
Bryce Dupree:
Thank you guys for having me. It is a wonderful experience and I appreciate all that you guys do.
Demetrius Norman:
Bryce, thank you so much for accepting the invitation. And with that said, let's get started. You and I have had some conversations outside of this element and most recently when you were in the office. Talk a little bit about what motivated you to choose the field of HR as a career.
Bryce Dupree:
That's a great question. It's long in a sense my story, but essentially in the beginning, my freshman year, I was actually doing pre-med during 2020, which was the COVID year, so I wasn't on campus, and throughout that process I realized that the pre-med medical field wasn't necessarily my track. By the time I got towards the end of the school year, I went on the internet and I searched up what jobs is right for me? And what career would be the right one? And I got a couple of things that popped up and human resources was there. I think it's a very interesting question because at first it wasn't necessarily motivation that got me into HR, it was more so trying to find another career path that would be suitable for what I wanted to do with my life.
But what's interesting and I think this goes for anything, it's my advice for anybody else looking for what career is right for them, but the focus is really I try something new and then while learning about what HR really is about and taking time to really focus in class and to just stick around, not to really quit on it at all, I learned to love what actually you're trying to do, what the mission is behind human resources. I think that what really had me stick around, it actually motivated me while going through my college career.
Aly Sharp:
I think that's really great advice for any industry, not even just HR is it's so easy when you're in college, you have so many options to just be like, "Oh, I'll try this, I'll try this." And if you don't stick with it, you're not really going to know if you like it or not.
Bryce Dupree:
Correct.
Aly Sharp:
On that same token, could you tell us more about Rutgers HR Program and how it prepared you for your internship that you had this past summer?
Bryce Dupree:
The Rutgers HR Program is amazing. I think one of the first things that I'd like to mention is the professors. I've loved every last one of my professors. They've been nothing but great supporters in everything that I've been trying to do. With the classes, I think they all are really informative. We separate our class. We have a compensation class, benefits, we have a class on HR financial accounting, so even though HR is primarily focused on how can you build programs and create a great culture for people, we have the HR financial accounting class so that you also understand how a business runs as well because as organizations, you're trying to create a profit. Having that in mind as an HR professional is really important. They provide the diversity in different ways you could learn about HR.
And then additionally, we have the master's program here. It's a great opportunity at Rutgers. We have within the program a couple of... Actually, I'm thinking about getting into it this year, but a little bit of competition. There's some competitive events that happen on a national scale regarding they give you an HR case study and you come up with the best solution on how to handle the situation. There's a lot of opportunity at Rutgers, and again, I can't emphasize it enough, the professors have always been supportive and I'm president now for the SHRM club, and I think the reason for that is because of my professors and how they've helped me become more suitable for the role.
Demetrius Norman:
Bryce, you mentioned something about compensation and benefits as one of the courses in your degree program. We talked about managing your generation and how our future HR leaders are entering into the workforce. Can you talk a little bit about the compensation and benefits overall and maybe what tips and tools you would tell your peers on how to maybe negotiate their salary when starting a new job or what they should expect from a salary component?
Bryce Dupree:
Compensation and benefits, it was a very interesting class, specifically compensation. It was the first time I got some experience with Excel. From there, I just started learning on it on my own. But I'd say with compensation, what's interesting is that, again, of course it pertains to position depending on the level of the position that you're on, also what you're doing, companies look at positions and how you're compensating them is it really has to do with what you're doing and what value you're providing to the organization, but also how can the organization support that person as well. It's not just like, "How much money do I want? And that's what I'm going to get." It's not really like that. Benefits is what I learned is that it's focusing on retaining talent. Benefits you have different insurance plans, retirement plans. These are all things that we use to keep people for as long as we possibly can. But these compensation and benefits, I'd say I learned that they're both very important when it comes to engaging with your employees and making sure that they're getting the proper support that they need.
Demetrius Norman:
That's good stuff. And as you were talking, it's causing me to think about my daughter and she's your age as well. And I wonder what the expectation is of this group when entering the workforce in terms of what they expect as it relates to compensation and benefits. What do you think that folks would gravitate more? Are they looking more at the benefit side or are they really looking more at the compensation side?
Bryce Dupree:
That's a very good question. I think that another thing is that it all depends on the person and what you're looking for. As an employee looking for a new job, the benefits are what you're looking for or is there a certain salary that you're looking for? That all depends on what are you valuing, what are you prioritizing when you go into a company? And I think another thing that I actually learned through my internship experiences is that people go to an organization for many different reasons. Well, sometimes it's not just because of work.
Sometimes it's really they have a passion for what they're doing or they're doing it for the next generation that they have for their children and being able to provide. For example, when you have insurance plans and retirement plans that can benefit your child and that situation. For me, going into the job force or the workforce, do I benefit benefits or compensation? That's a good question. I think you look at the company and you see how can it impact you for years to come and what are your overall goals, what are your priorities? And going off of that. There's some organizations that have really great benefits, other organizations have great salaries, but again, it depends. You got to do your homework.
Aly Sharp:
Just to tap in on that, I think that our generation tends to forget that benefits are something that is even on the table when you're job searching because everyone's just like, "I want to make X amount of money." And then I also have to have health insurance. That's great. But now I will say that's mostly because a lot of us don't have to deal with the price of insurance until we're 26. I was not so lucky. I have been paying for my own insurance since I got my first job. I realized from pretty much that moment that my salary isn't going to look like my salary when I get the check because we've got extremely good healthcare, but I didn't realize as a 21-year-old how much it costs to have great healthcare. I think that that's something we tend to forget, especially for people who aren't in HR because it's like, "Heck yeah, I got this offer letter."
And then they're like, "Okay, well now you have to sign up for all these benefits. You get dental vision, blah, blah, blah, blah." And you're like, "Oh, who's paying for that?" But I would say that when we're looking for jobs, obviously it's about the paycheck, but if you could see yourself working for that company, I think a lot of times people get caught up in what the name is going to look like on the resume and they just want to work for the big names.
But there's also the little things when you are to that point where you're thinking about accepting a job offer, go through and see. One of the main things for me was tuition assistance from SHRM, because I was thinking about pursuing an advanced degree and I was like, "I can't. I'm going to be on my own in this, so I'm going to need help. I'm not going to go unless I get help." And that's one thing that also plays into the company looking out for your future because though there is an agreement for me to stay for a certain amount of time, they do want what's best for me and my career development and getting that advanced degree. That was a tangent, but that's just the things I was thinking about when I moved jobs when I came to SHRM.
Demetrius Norman:
Do your homework and also just explore what other benefits are available to you. And what I got from both of you is that it's not always about the money, but it's about how the company makes you feel and what it offers you in the long term. That's all good stuff.
Bryce Dupree:
That's funny that you say that. I guess that's why also creating a great culture and organization could be so valuable. Then if you have that, then often your employees aren't looking at compensation or benefits as heavily. They know they're coming into work and they're coming into a place that they love to be in, and they may even feel like they have that job security and everything that they need where it's almost like they're like a family. You go to work and you almost feel like you're going to your second family. That's one way of really keeping your employee around. Definitely.
Demetrius Norman:
And I was going to ask you, can you talk a little bit about your student chapter experience and the impact that SHRM has had in just dealing with the student chapter and how it's worked for you so far?
Bryce Dupree:
Funny thing, I came officially on campus my sophomore year, and then I learned about SHRM and how it was related to human resources like the major. I joined and I was able to come to a couple of events and it was putting my feet in the water as I was really like a freshman, even though I was a sophomore, if that makes any sense. By the end of my sophomore year, I applied for really any e-board position. I just wanted to get more involved, and I was blessed to be able to become the president. And again, it goes back to what I was saying in the beginning, but again, I didn't really know much about what the Society of Human Resource Management was. But by putting myself in that situation, I learned because I wanted to provide great opportunities to our members that come in, new freshmen, sophomores, people that were just like me trying to find their way.
That's when I really started doing my research. I even started reading Reset by Johnny C. Taylor and really understanding what HR is all about, especially how it's changing because of COVID definitely changed some things, and I understand that, but it was really about just learning as I go. In SHRM, I think now we have a lot of events now at Rutgers providing internship opportunities, allowing students to really learn from HR current news events that have been going on. We try to do our best to express the importance of getting your SHRM certification and becoming a member, so it's been a wild experience and a great opportunity.
Demetrius Norman:
That's good. And I love to hear even the decision to get into the field and also the process by which you went through to one, pay it forward and inspire others to be involved and be active in the chapter. Let's talk a little bit about your internship experience. You were in our area for the summer, and I know we can't talk about where you actually worked, but can you tell us a little bit about just what you learned about the field of HR and what you got from your overall experience?
Bryce Dupree:
Additionally, I had this internship this summer, and then prior I had an internship with Provident Bank. That was my sophomore year, that summer, and I'll combine it together. I feel like both those experiences helped me to get the full picture. It wasn't necessarily I learned one from one internship and not from another. But I think the overall picture that I've learned is just if I had to summarize human resources, I'd say there's an importance on recruiting people from many different talent pools, being able to bring people in. And then it's about creating programs to be able to, and making sure that you can keep those people, retain those people in your organization because they're valuable. And then it's how do you engage the people that you're putting into your organization? How do you create the most value from them to make your organization more efficient? And then finally, I'd say sometimes it's not emphasized enough, but creating the right culture in the organization. At the end of the day, we're in a world where I think my generation specifically, we like to-
Aly Sharp:
Our. Please.
Bryce Dupree:
It's important to be able... After you graduate and everything at first, you're just going to work, you're going back home, you're doing it just to make a little bit of pocket money, but at a certain point it's essentially 80% of your life. Being able to go to work and to go into work that has the right culture and right space where you feel like you belong, and to feel like you're a part of what the company is trying to do, that is probably one of the most vital things. And to be able to have that for any employee is a blessing. As a leader of an organization, it's important to be able to provide that, to keep those people.
Demetrius Norman:
And you raise an interesting point about the next generation of HR leaders, and I am not a part of that movement. I'm very much older than the both of you, but I want to touch on that. As a person who is graduating, you've had wonderful internship experiences. What should HR managers and leaders expect from your generation coming into the workforce? What is that thing that you're looking for that will make you decide, "This is the place that I want to work, this is what I want to be doing and where I want to do it?" What is that thing for you guys? This is for you too, Aly. You don't escape.
Bryce Dupree:
Once again, I would emphasize work-life balance, and I'm experiencing it right now, but I value my health a lot. Being able, for example, to go to the gym, whether it be in the morning or at night, if I want to be able to go out with my friends and just hang out, I want to be able to do that as well. I want to be able to go on vacations, be able to experience the world, be able to enjoy the life that God has given me. And often in the past I've noticed that in the organizations, it's work, work, work, but also creating those spaces because now we live in the age where there's social media, TikTok, people want to show how beautiful life really is and what there is really out there.
And for an organization to be able to still be efficient, still get work done, of course, but making sure people's wellness is okay, their health, and making sure that working isn't taking away from life itself. Because life is amazing and life should be enjoyed. And the more healthy your workers are, the more efficient your company is. If I'm going to be really honest. That's definitely a big one that I've even noticed that some of my peers in college right now, we're doing RA training or we're getting that time doing what we got to do, but we want to go to the gym at night or in the morning, maybe get something in or it is just trying to find balance. That's it.
Aly Sharp:
I don't mean to steal his answer, but I'm obviously of the same mindset. One thing that was really important to me speaking on college is that I never pulled an all-nighter because I valued my sleep more than I valued that studying I was going to get done when I was half asleep in the library. It's been instilled in me for quite a few years now before I was even in the workforce. And I think that with the whole quiet quitting thing we saw last year, it put a bad name on seeking that work-life balance or integration as we call it, at SHRM, because it was like, "Oh, this generation doesn't want to work." It's like, "No, this generation just wants to work and still have a life. And not everything has to be about work." And that's why when I come to work, I try really hard to make relationships with the people I work with because you can't just be talking about work all the time.
That's not your whole value as a human being. It's the same answer. But I also studied a little bit of HR when I was an undergrad, so I already have that kind of thinking. But that is just something I really focus on in my workplace, and I try and introduce that really positive company culture at SHRM, and I will continue through the rest of my career wherever it takes me, because I do think it's super important. You don't want to come to work and be surrounded by people who don't care or aren't happy to be there. If I can be that person who cares and be that person who wants to be there, it will rub off on other people.
Demetrius Norman:
Self-care, wellness, wholeness, more self-awareness, being around folks who are self-aware and creating a culture and an environment. I got it. Which is interesting, as you were talking about never pulling an all-nighter, I immediately went to my undergraduate days where I was constantly pulling all-nighters, and I would do that, get up, and whether it was for a paper or studying for an exam. But it's interesting just the pace and the rate in which each generation works and what's important to them. It's good to hear the feedback and what employers should expect to see and learn from you all that you're concerned about your overall wellbeing. And you want to not only enjoy where you work, but you want to be well while you're working.
Aly Sharp:
That's a great way to put it.
Bryce Dupree:
That's right.
Demetrius Norman:
Thank you both for your feedback and just giving me your perspective on that. This has been a great conversation so far, and I just want to pause just for a second to take care of a couple of housekeeping items. First, those of you that are listening to this podcast who are seeking professional development credit, this program is valid for 0.5 PDCs for the SHRM CP or the SHRM SCP. The code to redeem your PDCs is 24F5P6M. Please note that this code will expire September 20 20th, 2024. And again, that activity code is 24F5P6M and we thank you guys for listening. We're going to get back to the podcast. We got a couple of more questions for you, Bryce, so hang in there with us and we'll go ahead and wrap this up. Aly, did you want to ask him?
Aly Sharp:
Yeah. I know we just touched on the graduating happening soon, but let's step back to a little bit younger. If you were in a room filled with high school seniors looking at schools and college freshmen trying to decide their major, what would you say to them to convince them, maybe not necessarily convince them, but introduce them to HR as a major or career choice?
Bryce Dupree:
I was a peer mentor last year for some residents, and a lot of them are freshmen, sophomores, curious on what they want to do. And I think coming up this year, I'm going to be an RA now, but still for those same residents. But I've had a couple that have been interested in HR, and I think through my experiences talking to them, just seeing how they maneuver through college early, I'd say probably one of my advices would be, not specifically to HR as an option, but the first thing I want to let them know is that first you got to know who you are, you got to know what you like.
What are your strengths, what are your weaknesses? I chose HR because I knew I actually wanted to be around people. I wanted to impact people. I could see people on a day-to-day. There are certain job positions where you're not necessarily doing that or there's job positions where you're doing other things. Everything's a little bit different. Got to know yourself first. After that, I know for example, HR you've had some people majoring in psychology, communications, maybe something like I've seen people in data science.
It's very broad on the amount of different kinds of students that we have in HR, so the next thing when it comes to talking about HR and having people see the benefits in how HR is so great is understanding that HR is part of business. It's an important factor in how organizations are to succeed. You're talking about companies cannot really be profitable without people actually working. I guess that's when you open up the can of worms when it comes to artificial intelligence, but let's not do that for right now. But just specifically talking about organizations and just being successful. How do you manage and lead people? It is critical, and I try to emphasize to anybody, whatever field they're looking to be in, if they're looking to create their own organization to become an entrepreneur, HR is important to know. Even if you don't want to do it specifically, it's knowledge. It's information that you can apply to whatever it is that you do and be successful.
Demetrius Norman:
That's good stuff. And as you were talking, I was thinking about our annual conference, and we have this cool exercise that we do with the folks that come into the SHRM booth where we have them write a letter to themselves, their future self, of some of the tips and tools that they would like to remind themselves of when they got back home or something like that. With that in mind, that same exercise, if you had to write a letter to your older self and it would get to you five years from now, what professional tips would you leave the older Bryce? What would you tell the older Bryce to be mindful of or to not lose or to keep track of?
Bryce Dupree:
This isn't necessary professional. It's personal, but he better still be in the gym. He better still be on the treadmill. He better not play any games. Don't do that, Bryce. But on a more professional level, I would say this, this is definitely professional, even though it may not seem like it, but remember what you've already have accomplished, what you've done, what has worked and what has not, because that feeds into how you're going to go for the next five years.
Being able to recognize those things, where your wins were, where they weren't, and learning from those, I think the next thing would be continuing to network. I feel like a lot of success that individuals have is due to who they know, not what they know. Being able to interact with people that may know more than you. They may be in a better position than you, whatever it may be, but that's to pull you forward. Everybody's there to help somebody else. Everybody has value, which goes back to HR and human capital. Everybody has something to bring to the table. Making sure that I still keep that going. I'm very antisocial sometimes where I can get into my own little box, but being able to still make sure that I'm reaching out for help and knowing that I could have those connections.
And then finally, I would probably say professional, just continuing to improve my craft and from big to small. For example, continuing to read and stay knowledgeable of human resources, but also different industries, whether that be the medical industry or oil or any sports, anything. Just keep having knowledge fill into my brain so that I can adapt as the world continues to change and move forward and just continue to grow. I think to sum it all up, continue to grow, continue to improve. There's always something that you can get better on. You just got to find it.
Demetrius Norman:
I love that. Bryce, this has been a great conversation and I just want to thank you for one agreeing to come on Career Compass with us and kickoff season seven. And I also just want to wish you a great semester and last year at Rutgers University. I know that there are great things on the horizon for you, and I just want to say that I'm proud of the work that you're doing and the partnership that you have with us, and I just look forward to hearing and seeing great things from you. Thank you for being on the podcast with us today.
Bryce Dupree:
Thank you. I appreciate it. This has been, once again, a great opportunity. I thank you guys for all your support and whatever I could do when it comes to my chapter at Rutgers, being able to give back for you guys and to showing what SHRM really is about, I'm all for it. You guys are amazing.
Demetrius Norman:
Thank you.
Aly Sharp:
Thank you. And with that, we're going to bring the first episode of season seven to a close. Thank you all for joining us, and we hope you stay with us throughout the rest of the season as we discuss the career pathway from intern to CHRL.
Demetrius Norman:
For more exclusive content, resources, and tools to help you succeed in your career, consider joining SHRM as a student member. You can visit us at shrm.org/students to learn more.
Aly Sharp:
Lastly, if you're looking for more work and career related podcasts, you could check out all things work in Honest HR at shrm.org/podcasts. Thank you again for listening, and we'll catch you on the next episode of Career Compass.