Flashback: Jay Hansen
Next up in our Flashback series is Jay Hansen.
Jay Hansen, 2011 Finalist
At the time of the competition, Jay was a Financial Educator with BECU ($9.5 Billion) in Seattle, Washington.
Where are you now?
For the past five months, I have worked at Cielo, a Global Talent Solutions company based in the greater Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. Prior to this, I worked at BECU in Washington State for six years, with my last position as a Financial Educator. As much as I loved working at BECU, last summer, I left my position and moved across the country to be with my wife for her one-year PsyD internship. In choosing to work at Cielo, I saw this as a tremendous growth opportunity to broaden my skills and experience within organizations. In addition, I am currently enrolled in the Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership program at Gonzaga University.
As Senior Talent Acquisition Coordinator for business partner Selective Insurance, my primary responsibilities include conducting analytics, process improvement, and candidate coordination for the talent acquisition cycle. In addition, I create the reporting metrics and lead recruitment marketing efforts.
This coming August, I am looking forward to moving back to Seattle with the hopes of returning to the CU movement.
How did the competition help you in your career?
Entering the NTCUE challenge was one of the best professional decisions I have ever made. It provided me a platform to display my skills, passions, and abilities, while expanding my understanding of the CU movement. From the written blogs and videos, to presenting to numerous executives, each and every moment was valuable in itself and even prepared me to embark on furthering my education.
In addition, my last blog post on the NTCUE site explains what I learned near the end of the competition. The experience was extremely rich and I am deeply appreciative for the opportunity to have participated.
What’s your best memory of the competition?
As amazing as the opportunity to create and deliver content on an international scale was, my best memory was spending time with Devin Selte, Amanda Thomas-McMeans, Alexia Mavrakes, and Josh McAfee, my fellow 2011 Finalists. I have a deep amount of respect for these individuals and its been great to see them progress in their careers. I’ve been able to keep in touch with some of them and can say they are really AWESOME people!
Words of wisdom for those thinking of applying?
It is important to understand participating in this competition requires dedication and if you can make time, I definitely recommend stepping out and entering. You never know how you or your idea will develop. Maybe you could bring something the CU movement needs? Maybe you will create something that will help unite the movement or better the lives of our members and communities? As I stated in one of my blog posts, I echo the words of Randy Fujishin, “The saddest thing in life is not that we didn’t succeed, but rather we didn’t try.” Go for it. :)
The CUES Team
