Boler Business
Finding HR within Finance (Mellon Series)
By: Nicole Spindler
The 64th speaker of The Mellen Series was Neil A. Schrimsher, the President and CEO of Applied Industrial Technologies. Numerous professors teaching economics and finance required or provided bonus points for their students to attend the presentation on Thursday, Oct. 26. While the presentation was eye-opening on various levels that correspond to the business world, what I discovered coming out of this presentation was that business majors align and mold together; in regards to the Mellon Series, Human Resources was brought into the realm of Finance.
Schrimsher mentioned the importance of talent development, which is a critical part of Human Resources and explains how Applied Industries Technology has been able to be successful over the years. Talent development’s core purpose is to attract, develop, motivate and retain employees who will be productive and engaged within the organization so strategic and operational goals can be achieved. With the talent development package comes the management development and planning process, a five-step process: anticipate, attract, recruit, develop and retain.
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The importance of this process is to expand organizational vitality, while simultaneously enhancing performance and realizing potential of the employees. This can be easily achieved by creating both succession and organizational plans. With plans in place to obtain top talent, companies need to emphasize continuous development to keep retention rates high and to keep internal growth alive.
Applied Industries Technology is paving the way in the talent development aspect of the business by focusing on strengthening leadership and organizational capabilities; Schrimsher mentioned that they launched a competency-focused career website to help employees continue to keep their skills, while learning new ones and they expanded their data analytics for the selection and development process.
The talent network of Applied Industries Technology provides direct, ongoing communication to over 8,000 candidates. Through an extensive network such as this one, Applied Industries Technology has embedded and deployed several HR Information Systems including recruitment, performance management, career development and succession.
An integrated system connects its large network of employees to enhance their hire-to-retire process. This is a growing trend for companies because retention is a key factor for company’s success. By hiring and continuously training employees, a company can help the employee learn and improve their skills, while advancing them within the company until they are ready to retire.
Although it was great to listen to Schrimsher discuss various topics that skimmed the surface about different business sectors within Applied Industries Technology, I also walked out of that presentation realizing that no matter the topic, you can also find something to grasp onto that sparks an interest of yours no matter how big or small. I encourage all students (both business and non-business) to attend and engage in presentations. Everyone and anyone can learn something vital for all you have to do is listen.
