Workplace MVP LIVE from SHRM 2022: Verónica Gómez-Vilchis, Central Washington University

Verónica Gomez-Vilchis is an HR Business Partner with Central Washington University, and a graduate of CWU. She shared with host Jamie Gassmann her experience at SHRM, the role the University is hiring for, a profile of the University, and much more.

Workplace MVP is underwritten and presented by R3 Continuum and produced by the Minneapolis-St.Paul Studio of Business RadioX®.

This show was originally broadcast live from the 2022 SHRM Annual Conference held at the New Orleans Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Verónica Gómez-Vilchis, SHRM-CP, Central Washington University

Verónica Gómez-Vilchis is a Human Resources Business Partner at Central Washington University, which is also her alma mater.

She is a first-generation college graduate from a farm-worker background and prides herself on being bilingual, bicultural, and bi-literate. As a proud Latina of Mexican heritage, she loves dancing, exploring other cultures, and she is a foodie! Food is one of the best ways to learn about others.

Human resources has become the pathway for Verónica’s professional growth and advancement. Her passion is to serve, guide, and be an anchor for those who are in her care. It is essential to her to interact with employees to learn what motivates them, what success looks like to them, and to explore avenues that can lead to highly engaged and happy employees.

Verónica wants to inspire and uplift. While doing all of this, she aims to be intentional, understand the organization’s mission, vision, and goals, and seek to be aligned while being true to herself.

Central Washington University

Central’s commitment to hands-on learning and discovery and individual attention takes students beyond the limits of the classroom and books. Students get to do what they’re studying in real-world, professional settings, which makes learning exciting and relevant.

Each year, CWU graduates thousands of well-educated citizens who are ready for high-demand careers in the workforce: construction management, accounting, engineering technology, teacher education, wine business, paramedicine, aviation, and more.

CWU prepares students to succeed in a global economy through strong partnerships with 30 colleges and universities around the world. In recent years, we have welcomed more than 400 students from 36 countries to our campus.

CWU’s residential campus in Ellensburg encompasses 380 acres. There are also six university centers (Des Moines, Lynnwood, Pierce County, Moses Lake, Wenatchee, and Yakima) and two instructional sites (Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Sammamish).

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About Workplace MVP

Every day, around the world, organizations of all sizes face disruptive events and situations. Within those workplaces are everyday heroes in human resources, risk management, security, business continuity, and the C-suite. They don’t call themselves heroes though. On the contrary, they simply show up every day, laboring for the well-being of employees in their care, readying the workplace for and planning responses to disruption. This show, Workplace MVP, confers on these heroes the designation they deserve, Workplace MVP (Most Valuable Professionals), and gives them the forum to tell their story. As you hear their experiences, you will learn first-hand, real-life approaches to readying the workplace, responses to crisis situations, and overcoming challenges of disruption. Visit our show archive here.

Workplace MVP Host Jamie Gassmann

**Jamie Gassmann, Host, “Workplace MVP”**

In addition to serving as the host to the Workplace MVP podcast, Jamie Gassmann is the Director of Marketing at R3 Continuum (R3c). Collectively, she has more than fourteen years of marketing experience. Across her tenure, she has experience working in and with various industries including banking, real estate, retail, crisis management, insurance, business continuity, and more. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mass Communications with special interest in Advertising and Public Relations and a Master of Business Administration from Paseka School of Business, Minnesota State University.

R3 Continuum

R3 Continuum is a global leader in workplace behavioral health and security solutions. R3c helps ensure the psychological and physical safety of organizations and their people in today’s ever-changing and often unpredictable world. Through their continuum of tailored solutions, including evaluations, crisis response, executive optimization, protective services, and more, they help organizations maintain and cultivate a workplace of wellbeing so that their people can thrive. Learn more about R3c at www.r3c.com.

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TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from SHRM 2022 at the New Orleans Convention Center, it’s time for Workplace MVP. Brought to you by R3 Continuum, a global leader in helping workplaces thrive during disruptive times. Now, here’s your host.

Jaime Gassmann: [00:00:20] Hey, everyone. You’re host, Jamie Gassmann here, and I am coming to you from the SHRM 2022 Exhibit Hall in R3 Continuum, our show sponsor’s booth. And with me is Veronica Gomez Vilchis. Did I say that correctly? Awesome. And she is an H.R. partner in human resources with the Central Washington University. Welcome to the show.

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:00:42] Hi. Thank you. Glad to be here.

Jaime Gassmann: [00:00:44] So, let’s start out with you telling me a little bit about your H.R. background and how did you make your way to the Central Washington University in the H.R. role you’re in today?

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:00:54] It was an interesting journey because I graduated from Central Washington University with my bachelor’s in education. And then, I took a job mentoring college students, taught a little bit. I did a little bit of everything at the university. In 2012 and 2014, I did my first stint in H.R., focusing on training and development. Then, I went into more of the diversity and equity work, and then just recently in November, I came back to H.R. at Central Washington University, and now I’m a business partner.

Jaime Gassmann: [00:01:30] What a fun journey.

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:01:32] Yeah. It’s been a great journey.

Jaime Gassmann: [00:01:32] And I’d love that you came back to like your alma mater if I’m saying that. I always make those words come out a little goofy, but that’s really kind of fun.

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:01:38] Yeah, yeah.

Jaime Gassmann: [00:01:39] Very cool. So now this is your first time at SHRM.

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:01:42] Yes.

Jaime Gassmann: [00:01:42] So what are you – what got you most excited about coming to SHRM this year? What were you most excited to see and experience?

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:01:50] Well, a couple of things. I think one is as I was talking with my colleague, Tracy, who’s here with me, we were talking about how do we expand our knowledge in H.R., looking at ways that we can deepen it, thinking that we’re not the only ones that are battling situations. So, building that network to learn more about what others are doing and sharing ideas and getting inspired to come back to our institution and say, “Okay, these are major things that we’ve learned. And what about we apply these? These might work for us as well.” So that’s one of the biggest reasons.

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:02:24] And then, the second reason is that we’re here to recruit. We want to look for folks who would like to work at Central Washington University. There’s a major role that we’re trying to fill. Our leader is retiring, gave us plenty of notice to allow for us to do a really solid recruitment plan for that particular role.

Jaime Gassmann: [00:02:43] Yeah. Give you that time to really make sure you’re bringing in that right candidate that fits that culture the best.

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:02:48] Right.

Jaime Gassmann: [00:02:48] So, I’ve kind of – you were talking a little bit before, you jumping on these microphones about your approach at hiring and you’ve got like a business card you’re handing out. So, are you just like, you know, handing them out to everybody, kind of like the swag here at the conference, or are you like really looking at somebody, having a conversation and choosing the people you want to hand that to?

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:03:08] Well, it’s kind of like a mix. You know, we are partnering with a recruiting agency, another source. And part of the idea from them was to do a drip campaign. So basically, start getting the word out because eventually we’ll start taking applications this summer. But we wanted to get people excited and think about Central as an opportunity to grow in their career, right?

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:03:33] So, we created these business cards. It has basic information about the role, and then it has a QR code that links them to the web page that has more in-depth information about the position as well as about the area that they would be in and the students they would be serving indirectly, right, in all those pieces. So when we interact with folks, we learn a little bit about them and then we say, “Hey, you know, we have this position,” give them the business card. And they’re like, “Oh, interesting.” Right? Because you never know.

Jaime Gassmann: [00:04:02] No, you never know.

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:04:04] Right?

Jaime Gassmann: [00:04:04] Yeah.

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:04:04] So, you know, we’re trying to avoid that passive approach of recruitment and really engage and get to know another person and say, “Hey, have you ever thought about Central Washington University, Washington State, and come and work for us?”

Jaime Gassmann: [00:04:19] Yeah. Well, and it’s interesting in the hiring process when you think about it, the candidate is very much vetting you as an employer nowadays as much as you are vetting them as that candidate. I mean, it really is kind of that relationship that needs to be, you know, you both have to kind of, you know, like each other basically. So, yeah, no, that’s a great approach that you’re doing. So, so far, how many have you been handing out, like a ton?

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:04:44] It’s little by little, right? We just got here yesterday. So today has been really the day that we started to connect with folks and spread the word. Some are like, “Oh, you know, I’m pretty happy where I am.” And I said, “Well, can you still take the card because you might be able to find somebody in your network that might be interested, and please just let them know about it.”

Jaime Gassmann: [00:05:03] It’s kind of like social media in person in a way, right?

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:05:07] Yes.

Jaime Gassmann: [00:05:07] Like just take the card. You might want to share that with somebody. Well, I think that’s really an interesting approach. And so, if there’s anybody listening –

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:05:14] Yes.

Jaime Gassmann: [00:05:15] That is, you know, really excited about hearing about that opportunity, so tell us a little bit about the university. What makes it so wonderful to work at? What would they be getting themselves into? Maybe talk a little bit about the role, you know, so if you share this later, people can hear about it.

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:05:31] Yeah.

Jaime Gassmann: [00:05:31] Kind of go there.

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:05:32] Yeah. Well, Central Washington University is located really at the center of the state, in Ellensburg, Washington. And we serve about 10,000 students. We have seven centers, seven to eight 8 centers, around the state as well. And we’re in a small town, which is kind of great, but we’re not that far away from cities so an hour and a half southeast of Seattle and about 45 minutes from Yakim, so that’s another big city.

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:06:06] So, it’s a great, great university to work for. We have a new president, university president. He’s about a year in now and has great initiatives, great ideas to really diversify our staff, our faculty, looking for ways to serve our students in ways that make them feel like they’re part of the institution, right, which is really important for us because students are the whole reason that we’re there. So, without students, right – so our intention is to hire people that can really make an impact on student lives. That’s the whole purpose. Right?

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:06:45] So, I think anybody who’s out there who’s interested in the associate vice president, human resources, I think that they will have a great team. We have about maybe 20, 25 folks in the H.R. department itself. This person will be integral in really leading that department and also leading in important conversations on campus to make some changes on campus in partnership with other leaders of the institution.

Jaime Gassmann: [00:07:14] Wonderful. And if somebody wanted to check out that role, where would you direct them to?

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:07:19] Okay. So if they wanted to learn more about it, they can visit our website at cwu.edu/hr. And then on the left-hand menu, just click jobs in the spotlight and they will be able to learn more about the role.

Jaime Gassmann: [00:07:35] Wonderful. It’s been such a pleasure to have you on our show.

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:07:38] Thank you.

Jaime Gassmann: [00:07:38] Thank you for stopping by.

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:07:39] Thank you for the opportunity to share.

Jaime Gassmann: [00:07:41] We’re absolutely honored to be able to let you share that information and showcase that kind of, that really cool, creative approach to hiring. Yeah.

Veronica Gomez Vilchis: [00:07:48] Thank you.

Intro: [00:07:54] Thank you for joining us on Workplace MVP. R3 Continuum is a proud sponsor of this show and is delighted to celebrate most valuable professionals who work diligently to secure safe workplaces where employees can thrive.