[VIDEO DESC & TRANSCRIPT: Isidore is seated in their office behind a desk. The NAD logo is transparent in the bottom right corner.
ISIDORE: Typically, Human Resources (HR) requires accounting and office administration studies. Which means that 30% of an HR employee’s work is paperwork! Of course, for starters, you need to know how to write formally, this is important because you need to detect mistakes, know certain words to avoid in order not to offend others, and know which words make people comfortable. Emailing is also a lot of work. For example, when I write a hiring letter — it needs to be clear. Rejection letters require careful wording. You don’t want to put down anything that could get your company sued! That’s the number one thing you need to have as an HR employee, to have that experience. To be honest, being an HR Director was not my childhood dream job — but now, I can’t imagine myself in any other job! I love my job because I enjoy multitasking and not boring “same old, same old” routine days. My job is never boring! Even though our practices are routine, the situations I address on a daily basis vary — I love that! My days are never the same, but it is exciting every day.
Black and white clip of Isidore typing at his desk. In the center, a white border surrounds white text “ISIDORE” underneath, appears in white text “HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR”.
ISIDORE: My name is Isidore Niyongabo. I’m the current Human Resources Director for Convo Communications.
Black and white close up of Isidore focused on something off camera.
ISIDORE: I was born and raised in Burundi, East Africa. I moved to America in 2005 and studied at a community college to get my Associate of Applied Science degree in Social Studies. Later, I entered San Diego State University for my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. After I graduated, I formed a non-profit organization focusing on advocacy, leadership, and empowerment for deaf people in Africa and other countries with lack of resources. When that launched, I decided I wanted a Master’s degree so I enrolled at the University of San Diego for their Peace and Justice studies. The program focused on three objectives: International Development, Human Rights Advocacy, and International Law. The third objective is important, because it became relevant to HR. You need to know International Labor Unions, about the United Nations (UN), and such. I deep-dived in this program! So, when an opportunity came up with Convo, I realized that all my background education really added up and became a perfect match for the job!
Black and white close up clip of Isidore’s hands typing.
ISIDORE: Someone came up to me and told me that they had an HR position open and they thought it would be a perfect fit for me. I reflected on my past experience with applying for jobs — this time, I paid a website to get resume and cover letter training to make sure it was detailed enough. My resume and cover letter was reviewed over and over by two or three experts. When they said it was ready, I sent it in. But then I heard nothing. I assumed that I was not qualified anyways. Eventually, to my surprise, they reached out for an interview! For the first interview, there were maybe six to seven people who asked me so many questions! When the interview ended, I felt horrible — I thought I didn’t do a good job. Then I remembered that I produced a short video about myself, maybe five years prior; I decided to send it in and mentioned if they wanted to know more about me that I didn’t share during my interview — I asked them to watch my video! Boom, I got a second round interview!
Black and white clip of Isidore in their office on the videophone with someone off screen. White text appears at the bottom center, “The H.R. Department shapes and creates the overall culture of the company.” Light blue text “- Isidore” and a light blue line outlines the left side of the text.
ISIDORE: When I was hired, I was their first in-house HR person. This meant I had to build the HR department from scratch. I was lucky enough to have a foundation on employment law and was already a good communicator with good people skills.
Black and white close up clip of Isidore signing to someone off screen.
ISIDORE: Job searching is incredibly difficult and it can feel like a full time job. First of all, don’t give up! I know it’s easy to get fed up and give up – don’t! Everytime you interview or apply for a job and don’t get a response — go back and review your resume. Please, please, please don’t use the same resume for five different job applications! Each job description should have their own resume because sometimes your skills could be on the bottom for one position but on the top for another. You need to change it up! Many companies out there now have Artificial Intelligence (AI), an automatic system that filter resumes and applications based on the word choices you make.
Black and white clip of Isidore writing something in a notebook.
ISIDORE: Now, you have a job, does this mean you can become a “summer goat” and relax? Nope! It is important that you’re not the same person from when you were hired. Please continue learning! You always have an opportunity to grow, to learn something new, gain new skills, and be open to different opportunities and positions within your company. Otherwise, you are already five years behind! Please keep learning!
Black and white clip of Isidore checking his computer and typing something. Next clip, close up of a Convo travel mug while Isidore is typing in the background. Video cuts to a dark blue background. Red alphabet letters of “N-A-D” in American Sign Language appears one by one in the center of the video. The copyright text appears in white underneath, “National Association of the Deaf, Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved”.]