Who: Jessica Hutcheson
What: Works at the Rotman School of Management’s career centre; formerly at Accenture, a global management consulting and outsourcing company. Contributing writer at TalentEgg.ca
Where: Toronto
When Jessica Hutcheson graduated from Ryerson University’s Arts and Contemporary Studies program in 2007, she couldn’t have faced better prospects. The Canadian dollar was climbing as methodically as a mountaineer ascending the last stretch of Mt. Everest, the GDP had surpassed that of the U.S. (the “recession-plagued” U.S. as Statistics Canada put it) and employment across the country continued to grow. Grads might have had a few grand in debt, but there were good chances they’d find work in their fields.
- Toronto-based human resources professional Jessica Hutcheson. Photo by Kate Dewasha
Hutcheson was exceptional among the graduating class of 2007: She was part of the first group of students to graduate from Ryerson’s new contemporary studies program. She’d studied highly unemployable things. “Everything from philosophy to early technology,” she recalls. Every semester her stream took a course called Ideas That Shape the Modern World. She studied history of the world, religion and culture. “The idea behind it was to expose students to as many ideas as they could possibly be exposed to. It was really about idea creation.” She focused on diversity and equity to marry her twin interests of business and feminism, and minored in human resources with the idea of following in family footsteps (she comes from a family of HR professionals). How was HR going to influence business? What would its presence be at the boardroom table?
Hutcheson’s prospects were good. This was 2007. “It was fairly prosperous, and that worked to my advantage because a company that historically only hired BComms and business grads was willing to hire a BA,” Hutcheson says. “I think they were willing to take a risk on me.” She started at Accenture, the international management consultant and outsourcing company, where she worked in human performance consulting, an area of management consulting that helps companies implementing new technologies and deal with the HR issues that arise, like structural changes.
Last year, one month before the economic downslide came across mainstream radar, Hutcheson used a networking connection to land a one-year maternity leave position at the Rotman School of Management’s career centre. She’d started at Accenture two weeks after graduating and it was time for a change. A mat leave position at a prominent institution – and in her field of interest, no less – was a way to try out another company and a different role. No pressure. “I felt like I needed to evaluate where I wanted to go,” she says.
The catch is that Hutcheson’s contract ends this October, after months of rising unemployment, after people in human resources have been at the frontlines of the crisis. “I started in August and the bottom fell out of the market in September, so I’ve only seen doom and gloom,” Hutcheson says. “I don’t know if I can say what’s unusual.” It’s not a great time to be looking for another job, she admits, which is perhaps why she started making connections in early spring. She was a little early, she admits, but she wanted the time to find a company that impresses her as much as she impresses them. “I feel good about it,” she says of her job search. “It will require a little more singing and dancing but I’m fired up to add value and make change.”
Category: Career Track, Profiles, Work
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