Alyssa Klimuszka is the Owner and President of HerHR Solutions. She is an executive level Human Resources Professional with experience in the non-profit, private, and public sectors. Alyssa graduated from the University at Buffalo with a Bachelors degree in Human Resource Management.
1. What do you do as the owner of your own human resources firm?
My role is to focus on business development with prospecting new clients, and interfacing with them on their personnel needs. From there, I work directly with management and ownership of those clients to craft a proposal for their needs and then put them into action. My services offered include HR consulting, large scale HR projects, compliance & risk mitigation, executive and leadership coaching, as well as policy creation.
2. What was your career path that led you there? Did networking help you, if so, how?
I have been fortunate to quickly grow in my career, become an HR executive before the age of 30. To get there, I have placed a great deal of emphasis on understanding and connecting HR processes and procedures back to overall strategic goals and objectives. I started in recruiting which allowed me to really understand the work that was being performed for an organization, as well as the basics of all HR compliance with onboarding. From there, I took on additional roles as an HR Coordinator, working on reporting and benefits administration. What really took off my career was when I truly learned how to map out processes and conduct large scale project implementation. That was where I learned the ins and outs and how HR is truly connected to all various facets of an organization.
3. What was your educational background. How did it influence your career path?
My college degree from UB is with Human Resources and then I continued my education by earning a certificate in Compensation Analysis and Studies from Cornell University and then became certified in Human Resources through the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). Through my education, I learned various components of HR and was then able to put those into practice and from there find my niche of expertise and passion which is organizational improvement and development.
4. What organizations, clubs or internships were you involved in during college?
I was a part of the Undergraduate Academies and was heavily involved with the Athletics department doing marketing and promotions during UB games, as well as interning for ticket sales. Outside of UB, I was also a soccer coach for 4 teams in the local Buffalo area. Fun fact, I was the UB Bull for several years!
5. Looking back, what, if anything, do you wish you would have known when you were just starting out?
To really grow in HR, you truly have to become a sound business partner for the organization. This means understanding how compliance, policies, and metrics impact the day-to-day and long term business operations and goals. To know the regulations and laws is one thing, but knowing how to implement them to support operations and remembering the human element, that is what will make you successful.
6. What are the biggest challenges that you typically face in your career?
It is remembering to separate our own emotions from the emotions of everyone around you, and not taking on everyones emotions as your own. Part of HR is employee investigations and handling personnel concerns. During these times, it can be very emotional. Your job is the professional so you need to remain cool, calm, and collected. Just because the employee you are talking to is upset does not mean that you need to be upset.
7. What advice do you have for anyone that would want to pursue a career in working in human resources?
Although it can be difficult to do, you have to remember to not take anything personnaly. In HR, you need to have some thick skin as you will see the good, the bad, and the ugly with personnel. Our role in HR is a dual purpose to serve as the voice of the employees but also to serve as the voice of the company. This is balancing act that needs to be treaded incredibly carefully to avoid bias. Every person who has ever joined one of my teams, I have the same set of rules: what you do everyday must accomplish 3 things: it is legally, it is ethical, and you need to be able to go to sleep at night knowing you have done what you have. If either one of those is not being met, you need to do some self reflection and I will help you along the way.
8. If a UB student wanted to talk with you, what is the best way to reach you?
LinkedIn is the best way to get ahold of me
NOTE: if you are a UB student or alumnus who would like to connect with others to give or get career insights you can join Connect-a-Bull. Interested in sharing your career story with UB students by answering questions like Allyssa? Email Ed Brodka, UB Career Design Consultant, at brodka@buffalo.edu.
