IHRP was proud to host a dialogue session with Dr. Jaclyn Lee on the 19 September 2018, which was attended by our Certified Professionals (IHRP-CP) and Senior Professionals.
Dr. Jaclyn shared with us about her journey throughout these 26 years of human resource (HR) experienced. However, she did not start this journey with the thought of joining the HR sector. In fact, Jaclyn started in medical social work. It was after 1.5 years that she realised she had a skill in management and after a few work experiences, she discovered HR is her passion.
With the constant technology and business model disruptions impacting the business and HR landscape, we asked Dr. Jaclyn how she keeps herself and her team prepared and future-ready.
The Mindset & Self-Directed Learning
“Being future ready is basically about the mindset. Learning be compared to an Apple watch. For example, today I have to take care of my own health and fitness, the apple watch tells me what are my step counts everyday. Similarly for learning, you have to take responsibility for your own learning, it is all self directed.”
“You cannot depend on organisations. I’ve never depended on organisations to train me. Since the day I graduated, I have not stopped upgrading myself, get a master degree and online courses. In fact, now I am doing an online course on Data Science from MIT, and the next thing I want to learn is coding.”
“Some learning is self-directed, you have to learn continuously. I don’t believe in waiting for my boss to tell me to go and take up a course. “
Dr. Jaclyn Lee & Karina Kuok (Head of IHRP Professional Practices)
What Dr. Jaclyn said about the IHRP Certification
“The Singapore HR profession has yet to reach a level of the US, UK or Australia. Their level is quite high, as they focus on certifications. Certifications is the key to setting standards. Thus for the Singapore HR profession, it is about time to raise the bar.
When you are certified,you can go out there and say that I am certified and recognised. Moreover, IHRP is set up by the government and tripartite. Thus, you can be rest assured that if you get this certification, it is recognised. So, I think that it is a very good initiative by the government to really professionalise. I encourage all of you to move towards MP.”
Lastly, the sharing ended with Dr. Jaclyn’s piece of advice to our CP & SP
Dr. Jaclyn mentioned that one always has to be open to ideas and go the extra mile in this HR sector. She believes that HR professionals should have good service attitude and hardworking. In addition, Dr. Jaclyn shared that one should always be humble and approachable. Lastly, she emphasised on the importance on nurturing and groom the younger ones.
” You’ve got to be approachable anyone must be able to come to your office and talk to you. Nowadays there are many students coming to speak to me. I will never turn students away because we must mentor the younger generation.”