Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Cierrina Rice. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Cierrina, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry? Any stories or anecdotes that illustrate why this matters?

I have worked in human resources management for over 10 years in various industries including aerospace and defense, retail, and BPO customer service. Though these industries are vastly different, I have consistently seen the mistake of human capital mismanagement. Employees are often undervalued and underappreciated due to many companies placing their central focus on revenues and return on investment (ROI), not realizing that intellectual capital (i.e. talent) is also essential to business success. Companies should focus more on their return on talent (ROT) which is the measure of the relationship between people and production. If your workforce is enhanced, then related metrics such as production, sales, and quality also improve. My motto is, “You build your people, then they’ll build the business”.

Cierrina, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Outside of being a business owner, I am a wife and a mother of two beautiful children. I am multifaceted and wear many hats, but if I had to summarize what I do, I identify as ‘The HR Cultivator’. My “job” is to create systems and structures that build better people and businesses. I am the CEO of Corporate Ready LLC, an HR consulting firm in Huntsville, Alabama. Our mission is to serve our clients by providing integrated HR solutions to bridge the gap between employers and job seekers. We do so through developing strategic partnerships with businesses to help source, develop, and retain talent from recruitment to retirement. Additionally, we help job seekers with soft skill cultivation and provide tangible resources designed to assist with acceleration in the marketplace.

Though technology and artificial intelligence is becoming more robust, as a Senior Human Resources Practitioner, I don’t believe you can ever take the “human” out of human resources. I wholeheartedly believe that you need both people and technology to efficiently grow in business. With that said, our main differentiation is that we don’t sell services, we provide solutions through our ability to develop people and build processes. We assess companies’ unique HR needs to tailor-make processes that are advantageous for their advancement and growth. Similarly, we assess any soft skill gaps with job seekers to help groom them to become “quality talent”.

Any advice for managing a team?

The best way to effectively manage a team and maintain high morale is to adopt the mindset of a servant leader. Think of your team as your “customer”. Without customers, you can’t have or sustain a business. When you look at it that way, you realize very quickly that you work for your employees, not the other way around.

With all the technological advancements and social media, employees have more employment options now than ever before. In the post-pandemic world, we’ve seen unprecedented labor shortages across every industry. Since great talent – well now, talent as a whole – is hard to come by, it should be considered an honor that employees choose to come to work at your establishment each day. Gen Y (Millennials) and Gen Z are very unique generations that prioritize how you make them feel above compensation. That said, anyone managing a team in this “new” workforce must master both emotional intelligence and employee satisfaction. If you can effectively direct, appreciate, respect, and offer tangible tools for success to your subordinates, you can effectively lead any team.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Overall, I believe that both my expertise as a multi-degreed and multi-certified HR Practitioner and my consistency have allowed me to build my reputation within the consultant market. Like most companies, we have core values, and ours is the DNA of Corporate Ready LLC. I have made it a priority to ensure that my organization lives by our core values. Each employee, regardless of career level, is required to read and sign off that they understand the culture and DNA of the company and they agree to replicate it. In doing so, we have been able to create a consistent client experience that does waiver from customer to customer. We have been in business for almost five years, and successfully maintained a 5-Star Client Review Rating from both organizations and job seekers because of the results yielded.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.corporateready.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corporateready/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/corpready
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/corporateready
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/corporateready
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGJp4pzQ60Sjp1GD6l1Mnvg