“With compensation, our whole goal is establishing pay and classification practices. We’re not a big team. We’re five people.

We have worked through creating these new job codes, creating the new pay classifications, doing the market research, and ensuring that the UCareer system is aligned within UHRM (University Human Resources Management) and overall University goals. This new system allows for career growth, so we’re able to not only bring good people in, but we’re able to keep those good people.

I want to be able to help people and advocate for fairness among employees, because we are all humans and it’s really important that we do get paid fairly.

I started with the U about eight years ago, and the majority of my time has been as an assistant. When I started at the U, I was not sure how I would fit into such a large organization — you feel like such a small part of it. I will say that since I’ve been with UHRM, I have really grown in that sense of belonging, where I feel like I am absolutely part of this team, my work matters and what I’m doing matters.

Since I have been at the university, I will say one of my biggest accomplishments was being able to finish my bachelor’s degree while working full-time and having a young family. Being able to have that degree, I now feel like I’m working in a career that fits me rather than me fitting into that career.

I’ve had a lot of opportunities while I’ve been in this role where leadership is genuinely saying, ‘We want you to grow, and here’s some trainings that are being offered. Here are various opportunities to get certifications that will help you grow either within this role or in a new role.’

It’s been really amazing because the leadership genuinely wants their employees to grow.

When you think about careers and jobs, this was an unexpected move for me coming into human resources. But it’s one I am absolutely grateful for because in the last two years, I feel like I’ve truly grown as a person and am able to step into who I am here at the U.

I grew up in a very small town in South Dakota, a town of 500 people, Timber Lake, South Dakota. It’s on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, which is part of the Lakota Nation.

I lived on a working ranch. We had about 3,500 acres, ran about 300 cows and we worked every day. Some days were hard, but you always had to show up. And showing up has always been a really deep part of who I am. Coming to work, it’s not just about me. It is about the staff, the faculty, the students.

There’s so much that is done behind the scenes, especially when you’re not on campus. The work is there, and I’ve never been one to shy away from having to step up to the plate, to be there and do the hard things.

I attribute a lot of that to how I grew up. I have all these different backgrounds, and I really do believe that all those things sprinkled together make you a person who is able to see people and connect with them on a level where they feel seen and heard. That is really important.”

—Jewel Poss, compensation analyst, University of Utah Human Resources Management Department