I was halfway through the Organizational Dynamics program, and I was at a loss for what was next in my career. I was in a real rut. My path up to that point had been atypical, and it was tricky for anyone I consulted with to envision what could be next for me. The truth was that what was next for me was in my hands; my career thus far had been driven by passion – not promotion – so I had the control on what I would do next. So what in the world did I want to do?
Course six in my OD journey was “Social Media and the Organization,” a course led by dynamic teaching team Dr. Syd Havely and Bruce Warren. I stepped into our first evening of class with a guilty admission during our obligatory round of introductions: I had recently deleted my Facebook account. Perhaps not what your social media professors want to hear.
As we journeyed into the course I was faced with an interesting challenge in my work as the manager of the product design team at Comcast — we were struggling to attract talent to the company and to Philadelphia. It was frustrating for me as I found our biggest issue was that we were sorely misunderstood as an employer and company. So I took a bow to social media, with the guidance and inspiration of Syd and Bruce, I leveraged the course final to develop a social media strategy to attract talent to Comcast. Not only was it a hit in class, but it was a hit at the company. Soon enough my office moved from the design team to the Human Resources floor, where I was launching the first team dedicated to recruitment marketing. That was three and a half years ago. I had found my niche: employment branding and recruitment marketing. And since launching on this path I have been able to accomplish a whole lot and find great fulfillment through it all. When you join the OD program, enter without expectations. Allow the program to surprise you, and you just might end up surprising yourself.
– Kristin Dudley
