Jennifer Chicas

I began my human resources career about 7 years ago as a human resources specialist for District 300, starting in academia. From there, I went to Judson University, a non-for-profit Christian college in Elgin, Illinois, where I was part of a one-person HR department and learned a lot while working very closely with the president of the college and the head department for about 2 years. I then had an offer with Oakton Community College, which was another wonderful opportunity in academia, where I served as a benefits and lead specialist for about 3 years. Now I'm in my current position, going on 2 years, working as an HR generalist with over 200 people. My role focuses on recruitment, mainly for public works, and I'm in charge of benefits, FMLA, onboarding, offboarding, and all of that. I've been in local government for nearly 2 years now, which I fell in love with. I received my master's degree from Judson in 2019, and I was the last class that got to walk out before COVID. Looking ahead, I would love to be a senior generalist with a few certifications under my belt, but still in the municipal world because that's what I love and what I fell in love with.