When Dylan Roguski moved from Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C. it was to finish his undergraduate in kinesiology at Simon Fraser University, a degree much in line with a career that had spanned several roles in the health and wellness industry, as well as management roles in the hospitality and finance industries.

Looking for a career change, and with a strong interest in people fueled by his ongoing role as a swim coach for SFU, Roguski recently completed a diploma in HR management. Sitting down to write the National Knowledge Exam (NKE) for the Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) designation in June 2015, Roguski emerged at the head of the class with the highest NKE score nationwide.

Roguski currently resides in Vancouver with his wife and young son, and is excited to find roles that continue to challenge him.

What spurred your interest in HR?
I was looking for a change in career.  After speaking with friends and family, human resources seemed like a great fit for my skill set. I have a background as a professional swim coach, and I think there are a lot of parallels between coaching athletes and the work that many HR professionals do. As a coach, there is obviously a big focus on training and development, but also performance management, resolving conflicts, developing an effective culture and, because I coach at SFU, recruiting is also part of the job. I took a couple of intro HR courses at BCIT and loved it, and enrolled in the full-time program as soon as I could.

Why did you decide to pursue the CHRP designation?
I like the idea of belonging to a community of professionals that are committed to a certain standard of excellence. I think that having the CHRP designation can really help my career, not only because it is a nationally recognized standard, but also through the professional development requirements that I will be held to. I am a big proponent of continually expanding and adapting your knowledge in your field, and the CHRP continuing education process helps to facilitate that.

How did you prepare for the exam?
I was fortunate that I had finished my HR management diploma at BCIT just a few weeks prior to writing the CHRP exam. They really did a fantastic job providing us with a base of knowledge and practical skills to build off of.

In terms of specific exam prep, I purchased an exam prep guide and just did as many practice questions as I could. That helped me to zero in my focus as to what was going to be covered on the exam.

Any tips for those studying for the next exam session?
I had a great study group that I worked with. Everybody has their own studying style that works for them. But I found it really helpful to have a group of people to bounce ideas off of and get help with a particular section or topic that I was stuck on.

Even if you prefer to study alone, just having some people that you can send a quick text when you find a question that is giving you trouble is really helpful. There is a lot of information to cover for the exam and I think it is pretty tough be an expert on every detail.

And on that note, try not to just cram everything in all at once. There is a lot to cover. Pace yourself.

What do you see as the current hot-button issues for HR?
I think privacy issues are a big one. As we continue to move more and more of our lives and jobs online, the types of personal information that employers should and will have access to will continue to be discussed and evolve. In the next few years, we will start to see the first generation of people who were born into a world with ubiquitous social media begin to enter the workforce and I think that will have a big impact.

As well, companies are storing more and more employee information online. How they secure that information, what they are storing, how long they are storing it for, and who has access to it will continue to be an important conversation to have.

Another issue that I think will be really important to HR, and we have been hearing about it for a while now, is the impending labour shortage, especially for skilled labour, in Canada. I think we are starting to see the beginnings of that have an impact on our economy and HR departments will have to deal with the challenge of tightening labour markets.

Related to this will be the continued globalization of the workforce. This brings up challenges such as, how do we promote diversity in the workplace, how do we pay staff in different countries, and what is our strategy for recruiting skilled employees from foreign markets if our domestic supply cannot keep up with demand?

How do you see HR evolving in the next five years?
I hope to see it continue to take on more of a strategic role within companies. I think as HRIS systems become more accessible and able to handle more and more of the transactional tasks that HR departments have typically been responsible for that HR professionals will be freed up to do more things that can really help companies improve and succeed.

Being able to address areas such as employee engagement, retention, employee performance management and development, is where HR really starts to add value to a company and that is what I am excited to be a part of.

What part of HR would you like to focus on? Is there a particular industry you would like to work in?
Given my background in coaching I think that performance management is an area that I would really enjoy. Of course, there are many components to that. Compensation would be really interesting, as I am analytical by nature and the idea of designing programs to incentivize employees to perform is very appealing. But at this point, I am just starting out in the industry and would like to gain experience in a variety of areas.

One of the things that really appeals to me about working in HR is that it crosses all industries, both in the public and private sector. So I don’t have a particular industry that I am focused on, but I would really like to have worked in a number of different industries by the time I finish my career. I think that will help to keep things fresh and interesting.