Member Profile: Maeve Neilson

Maeve has recently been appointed to HRNZ Branch President in Te Whanganui-aTara (Wellington), where she is doing a fantastic job revitalising the HR community there.

1. What do you do in your current role to help your organisation be successful?

I am the HR Services Manager at the Civil Aviation Authority. My role involves managing the Recruitment Team, the HR Business Partners and HR Advisors, and the operational Health and Safety Team. Our team work with people leaders to enable their teams to deliver the activities required to successfully ensure safe and secure skies to help New Zealand fly. I think HR professionals have a critical role in understanding where an organisation is going, and then ensuring people are supported and can succeed in achieving those goals for the organisation. That’s something I enjoy doing, and something my team support our leaders with.

2. What attracted you to pursue a career in HR?

I never pursued a career in HR. I moved to Wellington when I was writing my Masters thesis in psychology and I fell into a job at ACC. That job then led me to a career in health and safety. I got to a point in my early 30s where I thought is this my career? I decided to branch out and do something else. I picked up a role that had health and safety elements, but it also had a strong HR element. That enabled me to widen my skill set. I enjoy HR because you are key in coaching people to be better managers and leaders. You can support them to understand an organisations’ deliverables and help them align their people to that vision.

3. What motivated you to apply for the role of HRNZ Branch President?

I took it as an opportunity to have a voice in the HR community, particularly as a non-traditional HR person, and to broaden what was previously being offered by HRNZ in Wellington. I wanted to question what we offer and who our members were. For example, I wanted to attract people leaders, as well as engage with our less experienced members around people management and good HR practice.

4. What has been a highlight in your career to date?

I've had a few. When I think back on the ones that make me smile they are generally when people have stopped me in the street and said, "Hey Maeve, the best thing you ever did for me was…". Any opportunity where I've enabled someone to develop and grow so that they can step out of wherever they are and go to the next level is a highlight. I'm also proud of giving people a shot. I will quite happily read a young person's CV or meet with someone wanting to switch careers because I know what it's like.

5. What do you value about your membership with HRNZ?

I think for me because I consider myself to be non-traditional HR, it's terrific to connect and engage with a range of HR practitioners and professionals to learn, share ideas and have a laugh. I also really value my Wellington Committee. I'm very proud because they are one cool and diverse bunch. We have student members, HR Ambassadors, right through to consultants and a mix in between.

6. What's something that not many people know about you?

Well, if you google Maeve, you will generally find my bodybuilding stuff.

However, the one thing that people don't know about me that they are always surprised by is that I am a massive introvert. I do not get energy from people; I do not get energy from socialising. I get my energy generally from being by myself. So the Maeve that people see at work would make people think that I love both of those things, but I actually find it very hard. But when I entered the workforce, I had to learn very quickly that if I wanted to be where I wanted to be, I needed to learn how to be comfortable in that space.

7. If you could have dinner with three people living or dead, who would they be and why?

The first one would be my father. I lost my father four years ago. My dad was a high school teacher and a very, very smart man. He was of the proletariat, standing up for the less fortunate or those without a strong voice. I miss my dad’s coaching and the guidance that he gave me. The other person would be Abraham Lincoln. I think what he achieved in America at that time was fantastic. I love political thinking, so I would enjoy picking his brain. Third would be Hillary Clinton because I'm reading her book at the moment. Regardless of what you think of her politics, the insights she's providing me with as a female and a leader are incredible. The challenges she went through were immense to be the first female to run for the presidency in America, and she covers all the stuff we are currently looking into; diversity, inclusion, how we treat women and the perceptions that we have of women when they step up into positions of power and say they want to be at the table.

8. What's your happy place?

Āpiti in the Manawatū. That's where I grew up, and that's where Mum (and Dad) live. We have cows, chickens, racehorses – you name it. It is miles away from anywhere but central to everywhere. The other place is at home with my husband, spending time in the garden.