Helen Czinege, training officer for mail order photo-processing company
Harrier LLC focuses on developing people
How long have you been in this job?
Two and a half years
How long have you been with your organisation?
Two and a half years
What does your role involve?
Harrier LLC is the company name for Truprint and York Photo mail order
photo-processing. My role involves co-ordinating the training for up to 400
temporary and 200 core staff.
What’s the best thing about your job?
The people
What is your current major project or strategic push?
Preparing for a very busy season and ensuring we have the skills to cover
the huge number of films we get in the summer
Preferred terminology – training, development, education, learning
Learning
Favourite buzzwords?
Energised
Most loathed buzzwords?
Thinking out of the box
Are you good at self development?
Yes. I keep my CPD up to date.
What self development have you done in the past six months?
Principles and Values Course and IIP Evaluation. Also a lot of reading on
current legislation and future changes.
Where do you want to be in five years?
My attitude is seize the day. I’ll only know when the moment arrives.
What was the most useful course you ever went on or most useful learning
experience you ever had?
A course on communication, which went into transactional analysis in a lot
of depth. My relationships suddenly seemed to make a lot more sense.
Which is the best management book you have ever read?
Anything by Jack Canfield, one of the authors of Chicken Soup for the Soul,
which I notice that previous Career File participants recommended too.
What was the worst course you ever went on?
Managing export documentation.
What did you want to do for a living when you were at school ?
Work as a film critic.
What was your first job?
Weighing out clotted cream!
What was the best career decision you ever made?
To go into training and development.
What was the worst career decision you ever made?
Weighing out clotted cream.
Which of your qualifications do you most value and why?
I value my philosophy A level most of all. I had wanted to do it for many
years and eventually did while working full time. It also gave me the
discipline to study CIPD and gave me a much healthier outlook.
Evaluation – holy grail or impossible dream?
Neither. Evaluation is not a mystery, but it sometimes appears that only
training and development practitioners appreciate it. It is a matter of having
the skills to cascade the benefits through the organisation.
How do you think your job will have changed in five years’ time?
I think that we will be giving more time to training. Working in a company
which employs seasonal staff is a Sisyphean task and I feel that we will move
towards cross training our permanent staff more and more.
Close up and personal
What do you think the core skills
for your job will be in the future? Â
More emphasis on evaluation of training and improved
communication.
What advice would you give to someone starting out in
training and development? Â
Track your progress and your own learning first.  Â
How do you network? Â
I meet with my college CIPD group and also belong to the local
employers’ forum. Also, I exchange
business cards on courses. You never know who you might meet and how they might
help you.
If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?
Johnny Depp’s personal adviser
Do you take your work home with you?
I try not to, but it is inevitable sometimes, even if it is only mentally.
What is your motto?  Â
Â
Do as you would be done by.
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Describe your management style in three words or less?
No frills.
How would you like to be remembered by your colleagues? Â
As the girl who went on to become Johnny Depp’s personal
adviser.
