91制片

Inside 91制片

Julie Luetjen is rarely sighted by 91制片鈥檚 members 鈥� but her behind-the-scenes work keeps the organization fully staffed and working effectively. As the association鈥檚 human resources manager, she is responsible for all employee staffing, benefits, compliance and community projects.

Luetjen has worked for 91制片 over 20 years, not always full time. Today, she works 32 hours a week. She took a full-time administrative assistant job with 91制片 in 1997, then became an HR specialist. She left 91制片 in 2001 when her son was born, but returned within two years as a consultant. In 2007, she took on the human resources post full-time.

While her role and hours have shifted at times, she has always lent a hand when 91制片 needed work that couldn鈥檛 easily be picked up by someone outside the organization. And 91制片 has accommodated her life as well, she says: 鈥淥ne of the great things about this place is that [my supervisor] really understands how important the flexibility is, and how important it is for me being there for my family.鈥�

The following interview of Luetjen by freelance writer Joetta Sack-Min has been edited for length and clarity.

The job of a human resources manager is multifaceted and wide ranging. Can you tell us about the array of duties relating to personnel at a professional association? 

I would consider us a small association 鈥� we only have 36 employees.  I am the only H.R. person here, I consider myself a department of one, but my supervisor has experience with H.R. so she鈥檚 a great person to work with if something comes up where a second person is needed. 

I facilitate the hiring process. We have a process where we create the job description and post the job, then we do team interviews, which is common in the education field. I feel it鈥檚 an efficient way to meet the candidates and get a sense of the person, get a sense of their personality and skills. Then I do the reference and background checks, and I work to narrow down the applications and then to negotiate an offer. Because we are a small organization, we don鈥檛 have the technology that a larger organization or school system would have, so I have to create my own way of functioning. For most jobs we get about 150 resumes.

I also manage the benefits 鈥� medical, dental, and the pension plan. I鈥檝e learned a lot from doing all those things, with continuously changing legislation there is a lot to know and it can be very confusing. And I work on company policies, laws, compliance and the employee orientation process.

I also coordinate the staff holiday party. We鈥檝e gotten a little more involved with our social planning group, and we鈥檝e also tried to do more philanthropic giving. For instance, over the holidays we adopted a family, and we also have done donations for Toys to Tots. We had a toiletry drive for a shelter in D.C. after 91制片鈥檚 annual conference. We鈥檝e been trying to do more community things like that, and team building activities.

How many people do you typically hire in a year?

It totally depends 鈥� we have a very low turnover in general, but things happen, like we might lose a grant. There鈥檚 not a lot of room for upward mobility in a small association, so people move on. It tends to be the busiest time for hiring when we get new grants.

What are some of the behind-the-scenes duties that we may not know about? Is there anything such as a typical day, and what would that look like?

There鈥檚 lots of little things that go on, we鈥檙e always trying to find ways to better serve the group. For instance, we started an intranet 鈥� even though a lot of technology isn鈥檛 economically affordable for our group, we went and figured out how to find affordable ways where we can better function as an association.

A typical day is like most jobs 鈥� I begin by going through e-mail to determine whether if anything is urgent. Depending on the time of the year, and if we鈥檙e hiring, that urgent thing can monopolize my day. There are times when we have to do pension reports, or a census for the audit, or look at compensation surveys and contribute to those. There are a lot of projects that go on throughout the year.

How does your role assist 91制片 in its vital services to members? What are some of the services you provide directly to 91制片 members?

The only service that I directly provide to the members is a life insurance policy for the executive board. Working directly with members is something I miss out on in my role so it鈥檚 nice to have opportunities to meet them. 

In 2016, I got to participate in the Memory Mission sponsored by Lifetouch. This is a mission trip where every year, they take superintendents and 91制片 staff to the Dominican Republic and help them build schools. The country needs schools and the government doesn鈥檛 supply them. That was great because I got to meet some of the 91制片 members and work alongside them. Years ago I also coordinated a walk-run at the 91制片 annual conference.

Besides that, I feel I am here to support all the people who support our members, to make sure they have what they need, the right staff, to help them do their jobs.

How has working at 91制片 changed over your time here? 

Things are constantly changing 鈥� the needs of the members are changing. Going back to 9/11, that changed people鈥檚 travel plans for going to the conference. Then there was the big crash where budgets got slashed in school districts, and some people weren鈥檛 allowed to travel out of state for meetings. Our challenge has been trying to figure out how to work around that. Now, certifications are a big benefit for the field.

What changes do you foresee for the human resources field and for your role at 91制片?

I think the role of technology can make a difference 鈥� but it also can be hard for people to accept the technology, there is a learning curve and trying to get that acceptance can be hard sometimes.

Tell us about your efforts in attracting qualified candidates for job openings.

We don鈥檛 have a lot of money for hiring, so we look at the job, and see where the best place to advertise would be based on the job. For instance, most regular office jobs we might advertise in The Washington Post or INDEED. For most jobs I try not to look outside the area because we don鈥檛 offer relocation. If it鈥檚 a grants job we look different places depending on what the job is, if it鈥檚 a policy job then we would look toward one of their publications. We try to advertise in as many free places as available, and we try to keep track of where people come from so we can go back.

What advice would you have for anyone who is applying for a job at 91制片?

Follow the directions for applying, and make sure we understand what you can give to 91制片 and how your experience relates to the job.  I tell people that you need to include a cover letter and a lot of people just don鈥檛 do that, and if you don鈥檛 you just won鈥檛 be considered.

Some people just apply to as many places as they can, they don鈥檛 necessarily look at what鈥檚 involved. But we want to see how you write, that you鈥檙e looking at us, that you want to work for 91制片, and that you know something about 91制片 鈥� you can tell when someone sends a cover letter and they don鈥檛 even know who we are.

We get a lot of resumes when we advertise, and probably half of them don鈥檛 include cover letters, and a third to a half have probably never looked at our website.

What are some of the factors that make 91制片 a great place to work? 

No. 1, the mission 鈥� education is important to everyone, whether you have a kids or not. We are doing what we can for the leaders to provide the best schools that they can. Second, it鈥檚 a really good place to work, it鈥檚 flexible, people care about each other and they鈥檙e accommodating for things like taking care of a sick child or parent, 

Also, being able to work from home once a week, having a very good leave package, 11 paid holidays, and you start with two weeks of vacation but after five years you can get four weeks. You also get two personal days, 10 sick days. That鈥檚 nice, as a lot of places have [paid time off] and when you look to transition to a PTO plan, it鈥檚 not going to provide as much leave. 

We also try to make the insurance plans as affordable as possible 鈥� but it鈥檚 hard to make decisions because we don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 coming down the line with legislation.