This is the inaugural post for the “Day in the Life” snapshots of interns and professionals from the LER program. Today, we welcome comments from recent graduate Cristian Biviano, in his first months of a position with IBM.
In December 2020, I graduated from the LER program and began my career change from Higher Education to Human Resources. I recently joined IBM in March 2021 in their Human Resources Leadership Development program and my first rotation is in HR Analytics, specifically working with Diversity and Inclusion data.
I usually start my day around 7 am CST in a global team meeting and I love the fact that our team is diverse in thought and geographically. I appreciate IBM’s commitment to not being “camera ready” all the time and we can have our cameras off. Although I may have an early start on some days, I have not had any work-related evening or weekend commitments (yet).
One of the differences I noticed transitioning from higher education to human resources was the meetings. I was used to having committee meetings last anywhere from 1-2 hours now to having working session meetings from 30min to 45mins. Also, working in a fast-paced corporate environment means some of the tasks are typically due the next day. Although it’s a faster pace my current schedule allows me to complete and meet deadlines. I also started to pick up and use corporate lingo.
As I mentioned earlier, I am part of the Diversity & Inclusion Analyst team, meaning I look at a lot of data and excel. I will be honest and say this was not in my comfort zone, but I know these are skills I need in order to be a future HR Leader. Thankfully, I have had team members who walked me through how to read the data, showed me excel tricks, and taught me how create pivot tables. I now can create diversity analysis reports for our clients. I am glad I stepped outside of my comfort level because I feel this is how I grew the most.
My transition was pretty smooth, but I did miss working with students and underrepresented groups. I voiced my concern to my peers and soon joined the Talent Acquisition Team on a project to help develop the curriculum and advise High School interns from underrepresented backgrounds this summer for six weeks. I also connected with our Global Diversity & Inclusion Leader for Hispanics and she connected me with IBMers to see how I can contribute with our Business Resources Groups.
Since my transition, I have a better work-life balance and I am able to spend more time with family and friends but also volunteering. I currently serve as the President for the
University of Illinois Latina/Latino Alumni Association, where I am able to live out my mission and assisting students and the Latinx community. I wanted to share this reflection in hopes to assist people entering Human Resources or get a glimpse of a day in the life of an HR Professional. Please note these are my personal experiences and observations and everyone’s journey may look differently.
Sincerly,
Cristian Biviano, MHRIR’ 2020