James Hardie Sponsored Professional Development Event at NCSU’s Forest Biomaterials

Change is not easy. Any life transition can feel like a new beginning but also be a dive into the unknown. As a way to guide upcoming graduates through the shift from college to work life, James Hardie hosted a professional development seminar for PSE students on March 24th. The team that visited consisted of NCSU students and alumni working at James Hardie, from new hires to five years of experience at the company. 

After welcoming students with Amedeo’s Italian for dinner, the HR representative from James Hardie, Liz Englehart, briefly introduced what the company does and the roles of each team member co-hosting the event. From there, students sat back with their spaghetti and learned about work-life balance, how to set boundaries, and managing senior year interview season. 

Everyone who shared their story had a different perspective. Here is some advice from two guest speakers at the event.

Meagan Harrison has been with James Hardie for one year and she shared some tips on setting boundaries: “I realized that I needed to set boundaries within a few weeks of orientation. I was staying until 4 p.m. [which is considered overtime for Maegan’s schedule], not because I had anything to do or someone told me to, but because I felt an inner pressure to stay as long as everyone else. I felt guilty leaving when others were still working. It took me a while to realize that everyone who was staying late was part of management and that it was unreasonable to expect myself to hold the same hours as them. One day, I started to leave around 2:30 p.m. instead. I felt so guilty, but to my great surprise no one cared. No one cared that I left at 2:30 p.m. because no one had expected me to stay late except for myself. 

One day, I started to leave around 2:30 p.m. instead. I felt so guilty, but to my great surprise no one cared. No one cared that I left at 2:30 p.m. because no one had expected me to stay late except for myself. Since then, I’ve been lucky to have mentors who know me and look out for my well-being in that way, but it was an important lesson to learn that I was in charge of my own boundaries.

I know that my boundaries will continue to change as my life does and that’s okay. That being said, I try to stay very in tune with myself, and if I start to feel burned out, I speak up. Sometimes it has been met with resistance, but I have never regretted doing so. It can be scary to self-advocate but being burnt out ultimately doesn’t help yourself or the company.”

Gabby Diaz, who has been with the company for 4 years now, also shared a few tips on when to ask questions vs. when to seek it out yourself: “Whenever I am given a new task or problem to solve, I do my due-diligence researching the topic to understand the foundation of what I’m trying to solve. I’m not trying to solve the problem, just understand it better so that I can go to the subject matter experts, operators/managers/scientists etc., with questions. I’ve learned more about the process being on the floor talking to operators and supervisors than I ever would behind my desk. But being a big-picture, visual learner I need that basic understanding before any information will make sense. Don’t make the mistake of doing hours of research when you’ll find your answer with one conversation 50 feet from your desk.” On making friends after college, this is what Gabby has to say, “Don’t be afraid to go to new places by yourself, join a local club that interests you, if there’s another recent graduate at work, make friends with that person and meet new people together. Just be friendly, you never know who you’ll meet or what someone’s story is.”

Author: Allie Temple, PSE junior