Five Minutes With...Kara Emerton, director, people support, Department of Human Services

How would you sum up HR professionals in two words?
Passionate and dedicated
 
What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?  
Dr Adam Fraser, author of The Third Space, recommends taking three minutes before entering the next phase on your day to visualise how you would like to be in that situation. For example, what qualities do I want to show my work colleagues in this meeting? What type of partner do I want to be when I get home, regardless of how my day has been? This has enhanced my ability to engage and connect with people, and achieve a work/life balance.
 
What are some of the biggest challenges that HR deals with?  
Helping staff to understand that how they use social media in their personal lives can have a consequence on their working lives.
 
How do you see the role of HR changing in the future?  
It would be a shame for electronic forms of communication to take the place of face-to-face communication. Let’s keep the ‘human’ in HR.
 
What’s your favourite style of coffee?  
It’s always lovely to have a nice cup of tea, sorry not a coffee lover J
 
If you could invite three people to dinner, dead or alive and excluding family and friends, who would it be and why?
Dr Jane Goodall. How she connects human behaviour to her observations with animals is fascinating.
Dr Jason Fox, author of The Game Changer. I’d like to hear his insights about how to motivate people to progress through change.
And at the moment someone like Pharrell Williams. To lighten the mood, provide some music and have fun!
 
Complete this sentence: If I wasn’t in HR, I’d be…..
…a travel agent, as I love travelling to new places and meeting interesting people. Actually, that sounds a lot like HR….