Her Story
About Graciela
I've been in the HR field for over 22 years, and I currently serve as Associate Director with System Human Resources for the University of Illinois system, a position I've held since 2021. My career began when I was young, starting as an intern with the City of Chicago's personnel office. I was hired into a permanent role as a specialist, got promoted, and after about 3 years left to join the University of Illinois at UIC. I've been with the University of Illinois ever since, working my way up from HR specialist to my current leadership role. Today, my main focus is on employee relations and recruitment. I lead a team that handles hiring and employment, and I provide consultation to administrative units across the University of Illinois system - not the academic side, but the administrative offices that report up to the president, like University Council, Office of Technology Management, and University Press. A typical day involves providing guidance on hiring, ensuring compliance with guidelines, advising on employee relations issues, helping units navigate the disciplinary process for different classifications, and guiding them through promotions, separations, position eliminations, and layoff situations. Because we're a state university, we have to comply with the State University Civil Service System, plus other employment groups with different rules. It's a very complex organization because we have different campuses - UIC, Urbana-Champaign, and Springfield - and they all have different processes and rules, so we constantly have to switch hats depending on which campus employees work at.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Graciela
01What do you attribute your success to?
I am first generation Mexican, the first MBA graduate from my family with a graduate degree. I was a single mom and a teen mom as well, and my son is currently in grad school now. I think it comes from family and family values, and doing what I can do for my son, because I was a single mom at a very young age. I would say it's about perseverance and just pushing through challenges. Spanish is my first language, and English is my second language, so I've had to work hard to get where I am today.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think coming in with an open mind and flexibility when it comes to working with different people and different processes is really important. Also, being true to yourself when it comes to work ethic and values and just understanding what's right and wrong. Just having that work ethic to really push through some of these different challenges that we deal with is essential. Understanding and treating everyone equally is very important, no matter what position you're in or the individuals that you're dealing with. So just having that all-inclusive mindset, I think, is really important.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges right now are implementing a lot of the new laws that are coming into play, for example when it comes to leave administration or employee relations issues, and being able to navigate the legalities that come with it and liability as well when it comes to a lot of the different sensitive issues that we deal with. A lot of that requires continuous education and learning, which I do have to do for my certifications now as well, so I have to continuously be involved in webinars and conferences and just keeping up to date with all of the different changes and with administration and the laws, making sure we're in compliance with all of these things because we do deal with a lot of sensitive information and situations that can really impact the university and can be a liability. Being part of the University of Illinois system is very complex because we have different campuses and different locations - UIC, Urbana-Champaign, and Springfield - and they all have different processes and rules when it comes to HR work, so we constantly have to switch hats to know what process we have to follow for employees at different campuses. On the opportunities side, I think there's a lot of opportunities to work together and have a more collaborative type of environment within our work, and also to incorporate new ideas and things that can make our lives easier when it comes to certain processes and system-wise too. I think we have a lot of things that we do that are antiquated in terms of our systems, so when it comes to room for improvement, there are opportunities to really enhance and modernize a lot of the things that we do.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Having honesty, integrity, and a good work ethic, I would say, are some of my guiding principles.
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