Bizarre Reaction to Bezaury Interview

Coincidentally, I had an interview scheduled with the Acting Human Resource Director for the City of Phoenix, Cindy Bezaury for a prior class. I will also use this interview for the purposes of this blog because Director Bezaury was a very interesting person to interview. Cindy Bezaury has been in the HR world for quit some time. She got her undergraduate degree in Public Administration and started work in the private sector with an aviation manufacturing company. Her interest sparked specifically in Labor Relations and so she furthered her education to get a better understanding. She received a Masters in Labor Relations and from there she moved out of the private sector and started to work for various municipalities including agencies in Texas, Tucson, and Michigan. 

The Director's key responsibilities are negotiating contracts and agreements with Union Leaders. The City of Phoenix is very lucky to have Bezaury and her background knowledge because of the current issues in pension reform Phoenix is facing. The pension issue is a big concern for the City of Phoenix and all of their constituents. Bezaury indicated that police and fire pensions were the biggest cause in the $25 million defect the City is facing. 

When I interviewed Director Bezaury I was slightly intermediate by her persona. She was well dressed and spoke loud, clear, fast and expressively. I asked her what her advice was for someone interested in entering into the field of HR and she responded by addressing the youth entering the field saying to be prepared to pay your dues. I thought that was interesting advice. There is stigma against the Millennial Generation is that we are impatient and want things here and now. While I agree, we have adapted to the technology at our finger tips, is it true that we are not willing to climb the ladder? This article states how the stigma has gotten Millennial all wrong. I think a large part of this misunderstanding comes from the separation of these two issues. 1) my generation is attached to their screen 2) my generation is impatient. Viewing the two characteristics separately, an HR Director would be frustrated by the upcoming workforce. However, if you think critically about the issues and combine them it is because we are attached to the screen and therefore have more information readily available for us that we are impatient with the petty tasks at an entry level position. (Why couldn't I have said this at the time!) This indicated to me that Bezaury had a relatively narrow view on how to manage the future. 

I would indeed be interested in a HR position because I love that the department's responsibility is to cater to the hard working pool of public servants. I enjoy learning about the behaviors of individuals and creating a better society so the HR field would be an interesting combination of the two. Although Bezaury was an intelligent, well respected Director I am not sure if I would want to work under her supervision. She was big on accountability and metrics to prove ensure accountability takes place. She also said she enjoyed the challenge in negotiating with Labor Unions. Yet, she said she would no longer work for the City if legalization of marijuana would be passed. Hate to break it to you Bezaury but strong efforts and the trends indicated by PEW state that it is coming for AZ. I understand that this places HR Departments in public entities in a very difficult position but I want a Director who is ready to take on that kind of challenge. Taking risks and being innovative isn't just for corporations and the science and technology field; disruptive creativity can be manifested in the policy realm as well.