HR Star: Charlie Judy

I was introduced to Charlie Judy a few months ago and was told that he was this super smart guy with a CPA designation and he chose to work in HR. A CPA? In HR? That just didn’t compute. But I met him and I heard about how he got where he is now and I was impressed with what I heard. He also had this passion for people executing HR on the ground level of organizations (Trench HR).

All of that intrigued me and I was glad when he was nominated for this series because he was a person I wanted to get some more background on and figure out.

Getting a foot in the door

I get asked questions all of the time about how to get your foot in the door in HR. It’s always me hemming and hawing because many of the folks I know who went into HR did so through non-traditional means. And even many of the folks who did go the traditional route of starting with HR internships and moving their way up sometimes find out it isn’t the best role for them.

In any case, Judy’s story is another example of how someone could take a completely divergent path into HR. After school, he got his CPA and spent the next eight years doing accounting and auditing work for Deloitte. He decided he didn’t dig accounting and decided to move elsewhere in the company. “There was a chance to be the Chief of Staff for the Firm’s Chief HR Officer out of New York – I applied, interviewed, and got it,” he said. “While I didn’t know a lick about HR mechanics, I had managed people, was intimate with the firm’s inner-workings, and knew how to manage the hell out of a project.”

He started off by simply helping out the CHRO and it turned into a career that he is doing a dozen odd years later.

What keeps him going

Judy told me that what keeps him passionate about HR now that he’s over a decade into the field is reversing the trend of complex and intricate HR policy into simple, people facing service. “HR has battled the perception that we were inconsequential to the business only to trip over ourselves and the complex programs and systems we created in the process.” he said. “I’m passionate about removing that complexity from our business.”

In light of that he has tackled two major initiatives at his current company. One being variable executive compensation and the other integrated the company branding with the employment brand and getting more social media savvy. As he explains, “I like playing change agent – particularly when the odds are against me.”

One of the great things about HR is that it is such a different field depending on where you are. Even if you go from doing HR over one functional area to another in the same company, things can change dramatically. I think his career has shown that you can spend an entire HR career doing different things and never leave the field.

Getting into social media

One of the reasons I’ve been able to get to know Judy is because of his presence on social media. He has a must follow Twitter account and a great blog called HR Fishbowl where he talks about many of the issues that impact Trench HR. One of the things I hope he does continue to work on is bringing practitioner’s stories to life through his blog. One of the most rewarding things is being able to bring people and stories to the limelight (even with our limited audiences) because people connect with that. They say, “I’ve done that!”

Another place I’ve enjoyed hearing his take on things are at conferences (or unconferences if you will). The first one being at HRevolution where he was the good type of outspoken participant and the second one being Recruitfest where he was one of my favorite speakers.

In any case, the beauty of social media makes it easy to connect with Judy. You can get a taste of his ideas and thoughts for leading HR forward and you can always connect with him for more insight.

The HR Stars Series is sponsored by Rypple, social software that makes feedback easy and fun. Our software is built around people, not process, which means teams actually get things done. Managers don’t waste time. People get the useful feedback that they want. Teams stay on track, learn and adapt faster, and get recognized for great work. Learn more at http://rypple.com.