Career Path of a Senior Human Resources Manager at Precision Construction
Stephanie's career path, beginning with a pivot from a student-athlete after injury, led to unexpected opportunities. The experience as sorority president, "taught a lot about conflict resolution, negotiating," and unexpectedly landed Stephanie a junior HR specialist role, propelling a career trajectory through increasingly responsible HR positions at a tech company, Stryker, and finally, as the sole HR manager at Precision Construction, where Stephanie seeks to "have more of an impact on the culture, on the business."
Networking, Resilience, Career Development, Human Resources, Leadership
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Stephanie McDonald
Sr. Human Resources Manager
Precision Construction Services
Cal Poly - SLO
Communications
Architecture, Construction & Design
Human Resources (HR)
Honors Student, Greek Life Member, Student Athlete
Video Highlights
1. Stephanie's injury during her first year of college led to a career pivot, highlighting the importance of resilience and adaptability.
2. Her experience as sorority president demonstrates the value of leadership skills, conflict resolution, and networking in career development. This directly led to her first HR job.
3. Stephanie's career progression from a junior HR specialist to her current role as a Sr. HR Manager showcases the importance of gaining diverse experience (recruiting, generalist) and intentionally seeking roles that offer greater impact and leadership opportunities.
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college? Did you have any internships or jobs before your current role?
Absolutely. I'm a Cal Poly alum from San Luis Obispo. I started out as a student athlete, playing softball.
Very early in my first year, I got injured, which really changed my perspective and trajectory. I thought I'd be a student athlete all four years and perhaps have a career in softball after graduation. But getting injured and having to pivot taught me a lot about resiliency.
As a sophomore, I joined Greek life, something my older brother had been a part of. I didn't expect to join, as I was very focused on my softball career. However, that turned out to be the best learning experience of my college career.
My senior year, I became president of my sorority, which made me legally responsible for over 90 college-aged women. It taught me about conflict resolution, negotiating, and how you have to change your approach and perspective based on whom you're working with or talking with. That experience led me to my first job out of college.
I graduated at the end of 2011, just as we were on the tails of the recession, so I was very lucky to even have a job. I landed that job through networking with my sorority. We hosted a large event, and an alumna who was an HR manager in Silicon Valley attended. Because I was president, I gave a speech, and she recruited me.
Honestly, I had no idea what human resources was. I knew I was good with people and had great time management skills and attention to detail. Ultimately, my first job was as a junior HR specialist for a tech company in San Jose.
That role really threw me into the HR world. It was a junior generalist position where I had responsibilities in all facets of HR, including payroll, recruiting, and onboarding. You name it, I got exposure to it.
About a year into that job, the HR director left, and they promoted me to HR manager. I gained a lot of experience, but I knew I wanted to join a larger organization with other HR mentors.
Eventually, I joined Stryker, a large medical device company. I started as a recruiter in the endoscopy division. I grew there for about five years, recruiting onsite specialists, technicians who work in hospitals, all the way to sales reps across the country.
Recruiting is a great, and probably the most fun, part of HR. Yet, after a number of years, I felt I wanted more experience and exposure, which led me to my current role.
I started with Precision Construction as an HR manager. I'm the sole HR person in the company, as it's a smaller business. Intentionally, later in my career, I wanted this type of role where I truly have more impact on the culture, the business, and the direction of the HR department. Ultimately, I will lead and grow the department for years to come.