By Vic Cox

Despite the competing attraction of free ice cream, more than 50 staff employees attended Human Resources Director Cynthia Cronk’s May 7 noontime talk on staff career development. It was the first time CSAC had tried to kick off Staff Celebration Week with such substantial fare, and it appeared to work.

Cronk, a human resources professional with 12 years heading the UCSB department, mixed together humor and plain talk to offer a broad picture of the constellation of skills needed to secure or advance along the University’s job spectrum. She upended some shibboleths along the way.

For example, she said, passion for a new job is overrated. “I like my job, but I’m passionate about my cats and my Vespa,” cracked the petite Cronk.

“Don’t worry if you do not have passion for the job,” she said. “Just do it well.” Showing a slide on “Workforce Engagement” from a large survey of private industry employees, she noted that around the same percentage of employees fell into the category of “highly committed” (11 percent) as in “highly uncommitted” (13 percent). Most workers occupy the middle of the continuum.

Money, she said, could be an irritant if an employee feels underpaid, “but if the salary is about right (for the job) research shows it alone won’t satisfy career aspirations.” She urged her audience to figure out what is most satisfying about their current job and what is missing before jumping to another job.

Depending how honest those lists are, it may be that an employee’s best strategy is to see if more of the missing features can be incorporated into his or her existing job, Cronk suggested. Employee initiative comes into play as a well-grounded special project proposal to a supervisor could end up making a difference in how the future looks.

Beyond the self-inventory and analysis, Cronk stressed the hard work of career advancement and some of the specific steps available to UCSB employees, such as computer training, management development courses, and special skill certificate classes. Going to HR’s Web <http://hr.ucsb.edu> can offer many other avenues for advancement and answer policy questions on things like equity increases and reclassifications.

“Some of these (advancement moves) take a few weeks, and some take years,” she said. One basic requirement for advancement in a university setting came as no surprise. “If you have not completed a bachelor’s degree, do so,” she urged, adding that it would be wise these days to go for a master’s if you do not already possess one.