On February 21, Greystone College Vancouver Business and Hospitality students had the opportunity to network, meet and hear Ara Priest, a highly respected Human Resources Advisor who has worked in Canada, the United States and Asia in different industries – hospitality (hotels & resorts), medical, retail and LTL. The purpose of these networking sessions is to connect our international students with local leaders and for them to learn from these leaders practical career advice.
After sharing her career highlights, Ara spoke about specific challenges and trends in Human Resources.
She provided insights into best practices for managing teams and fostering positive workplace environments.
Students and attendees gained practical guidance on addressing HR issues in real-world settings.
Key Human Resources Insights from Ara
Developing Talent
People are an organization’s most valuable asset, yet few have clear strategies to invest into and develop their people. Using her experience within the hotel industry as an example, Ara shared how organizations are moving towards having formal education departments and or programs that aim to grow employees’ skills in a structured way. She highlighted their development strategy, whereas high potential employees were identified and placed on an accelerated development path for a period of time. The purpose of these programs is to prepare qualified replacements as supervisors/managers thus creating a pool of qualified internal applicants for future career opportunities.
Operations VS Human Resources – The Eternal Conflict
The next topic addressed by Ara was how to reconcile the needs of Operations to get things done quickly with the role of the HR department, which is to make sure activities involving people are done right to protect the company culture and prevent people related conflicts to escalate. Ara shared that her own operations experience prior to being an HR specialist gave her empathy and understanding of the pressures faced by operations. Quoting Dr. Stephen R. Covey, “Seek first to understand then to be understood”, Ara advised our students to be open to listening to other parties before attempting to correct the issues.
“These common HR vs Operations and the conflicts of people in general motivated Ara to add to her skill set by joining the Justice Institute of BC to learn more about mediation and conflict resolution. She advised all to look at conflict by coming from a place of curiosity rather than an emotional response. Understanding the other party’s perspective helps discover new solutions that would have been overlooked otherwise.
Smart Interviews
Of interest to our students was what to expect in career interviews. Ara shared that her preferred interview style was to incorporate behavioral based inquiries with the interviewee which reveals to her more than traditional questions. She believes in hiring for attitude and train for skills. Skills are easy to acquire, changing an attitude or a personality is far more difficult. When it came to skills, she said that most companies look for transferable skills demonstrating adaptability. She also highlighted accountability evidenced by attendance and reliability as being one of the simple important things organizations look for.
Our Thanks!
Greystone College is grateful for the generous gift of time and expertise that leaders like Ara Priest share with our students. Events like these provide invaluable insights into real-world careers, inspire professional growth, and allow learners to engage directly with experienced professionals. By connecting students with industry leaders, Greystone fosters a learning environment that goes beyond the classroom, helping students gain practical knowledge, guidance, and inspiration for their future careers.
photo credit: futureshape via photopin
