Northern Michigan University Careers

Direct and coordinate all employment activities, hiring processes, onboarding activities, time keeping processes, payroll, and employment paperwork for Dining Services and Auxiliary Operations. This includes student employees (600+), temporary/casual employees (up to 20), and full-time staff (up to 50). Responsible for the oversight of file and electronic personnel record maintenance, documentation for temporary staff, overtime equalization, leave balances, and vacation requests. Serve as a liaison and central point of contact with the NMU Human Resources department for all human resources related information and activities for Dining and Auxiliary Services. Support an employee-focused culture by identifying, developing, coordinating and/or conducting training for Dining Services and Auxiliary Operations. Create and disseminate all policies and procedures to staff within Dining Services. Serve as backup and support for the Dining Services central office team. Provide assistance to the Director of Dining Services, including relief from routine administrative duties. Hire, train, supervise, and evaluate one full time administrative professional, oversee the hiring, onboarding, training and evaluation processes of at least six part-time student team members, and provide employment guidance to over 600 Dining and Auxiliary student team members.

The culture of NMU is inclusive, innovative, supportive and transparent. I especially appreciate NMU's focus on creating a collaborative culture. At NMU there is a focus on work-life balance. I enjoy direct problem-solving as a team when complex issues arise and creating solutions that are proactive versus being in a state of reactive. I enjoy that my role and the NMU community constantly pushes me to learn new technologies/skills. I love the creative freedom I have to look at new ideas and to create employee engagement. As a team, we work together to explore these ideas and implement programs that enhance our employee's work experience. Northern Michigan University provides the right tools and resources to do our jobs well. In Dining Services, we have clear paths for career growth and the University invests in professional development and training. To be straightforward, I really appreciate our direct and indirect benefits as it creates peace of mind that my family and I are not struggling to meet high deductibles, don't need to budget for dental and visual appointments, or worry that we don't have paid time away when we need it most.

Identify your strengths and be sure they are the foundation of your everyday work life. Be a life learner, never stop learning, exploring how to enhance your career. Listen with intent. You are surrounded by people with years of experience. Listen in meetings, trainings, listen to how colleagues talk to students and the NMU Community. Absorb what you hear and incorporate it into your work life. Own your mistakes ASAP. You will make mistakes. The worst thing you can do is hide them or blame someone else. The fastest way to build trust is to say, "I made a mistake, here is my plan to fix it, and here is what I'll do to make sure it doesn't happen again." Do what you love... Collaboration Modesty Work life balance is a promoted value on campus.

Since joining Northern Michig University, I have been promoted from Manager of Employment to Assistant Director of Employment. I was actually a student employee at Northern Michigan University and many years later returned to campus in a management role. I am also honored that I was recognized for my contributions by receiving the Excellence In Service Award. I have served on the Union's negotiations team in my former role and in my current role served on the management/NMU negotiations team. In both situations, I experienced collaboration between both sides to meet the needs of NMU employees.