Caryanne Nash

Human Resource Management Certificate (2010)
Certificate in Professional Management specializing in Risk Management (In progress)
Certificate in Adult Learning specializing in Workplace Learning (In progress)

Caryanne Nash didn't start out planning for a career in Human Resources. In fact, it was the other way around. "I was already working when HR found me," she says.

Despite being a busy working mom, Caryanne knew she wanted to establish a career path. She was already working in an office, doing a little bit of everything, when she decided to take a few courses to help with some of her HR duties. Eventually, she chose to credit those courses towards the Human Resource Management Certificate program.

Having taken the initiative to pursue some learning, Caryanne was asked by her manager to take on a greater HR role. Today, she has changed positions and employers, but still works in HR, in a role she wouldn't have been able to fill if she hadn't been an HR Management student when she applied. "If I hadn't been in the program, they wouldn't have even considered me for the position," she says.

"At times it's been very difficult to juggle everything," says the mother of three. "But I think it's been all the more satisfying because of the challenges."

Today, Caryanne is working as an HR generalist and is continuing her studies. She's enrolled in the Certificate in Professional Management specializing in Risk Management, and already has plans to follow that with the Certificate in Adult Learning specializing in Workplace Learning.

Fortunate to have a very supportive family, Caryanne took most of her courses in the classroom during the evenings. For flexibility, she also took some online courses and utilized the option for elective credits through Business Seminars.

"Having the mix of online and classroom was great," says Caryanne. "But for me, I still preferred the structured classes. They offered a great opportunity for networking, and since most of the students were in similar situations--working and raising families at the same time--everyone would encourage each other to keep going."

That's not to say that Caryanne didn't like online courses. "I absolutely loved the online blackboard system!" she says. "Technically, it was much easier than I expected, and it was really neat to learn that way."

"Everything about the program was really well done. The Instructors were excellent and there was a great variety of classes."

"Would I recommend Continuing Education? Actually, I already do...pretty regularly," says Caryanne.

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