Her Story
About Kaelynn
I came into consulting as a campus hire right after undergrad, and I've been in the field for three and a half years now. What really drew me to this work was my senior project, where I was an HR intern for a firm and helped them completely redevelop their training and onboarding handbook. I fell in love with that aspect of 'here's a problem, will you help me fix it?' I've always loved HR, so now I get to merge my love of HR and my love of problem solving. I work in our human resources practice helping with workforce management technology implementations - things like clocking in, clocking out, timekeeping, and scheduling. I'm certified in this workforce management technology, so I can help our clients implement it and train them how to use it. I also have a training and change management background, so I'm able to help clients who are going through these implementations teach their employees what to do. Even if I'm not actually the one using the technology, I can show them how to do it. I don't specialize in an industry, but I have the background for all of payroll and all of workforce management. The people at my firm really shaped me in managing my career - it's almost like choose your own adventure within the firm, where you figure out what you want to do and what you want to help clients with.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kaelynn
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I always say, say yes to everything, but also be mindful of how many yeses you're saying yes to. Definitely try new things, say yes to everyone inside and outside of the firm, because work-life balance definitely matters. But then just also be mindful of your time, because you can really only do so many things at once, and I think that's a hard lesson to learn, is realizing when you run out of time, and you can't always do what you put yourself out to do.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I don't know if this is necessarily a problem, but it's definitely a distraction or disruptor - AI and the workforce. Managing how to use that professionally without causing any sort of privacy or infringement issues within our clients is a challenge. But also, it's a great tool in using it in our meetings, just making sure we're not sharing the meeting notes anywhere where it's not supposed to go. But then also still getting emails back from people with not the best AI usage. So I think it's definitely a big disruptor, but I definitely see the benefits in it, so pros and cons with AI currently.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My value is trying to maintain a happy, just positive energy to the room, because I know currently my client is under some stress with just due dates and timelines, minimal resources, just working longer hours, trying to make these due dates. So I'm trying to maintain my positivity, and I feel like I'm pretty happy, positive person, so I want to make sure I show that to my client, my team as well, boost their energy, knowing that, you know, we'll make it through. It might be hard now, but it'll get easier, and it's worth it, too.
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