Resume | Reself

Sonya D. Harris

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SUMMARY

Masters of distance education with emphasis online learning and development in the workplace, instructional design and distance education project development. An expert HR Specialist with an emphasis on recruitment and talent management. Known for an energetic and cooperative attitude combined with excellent judgment skills for hiring the best employees for any given job. More than 14 years of experience working closely with hiring managers and HR departments, having sound knowledge of staffing policies and procedures.

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EDUCATION EXPERIENCE

Univ of Maryland Global Campus, Masters of DE Est. Grad Date, May 2022

B.S., Business Administration, Wayland Baptist University, Honolulu, HI, GPA: 3.2 /1994

A.A., Human Resource, Community College of the AF, Honolulu HI, GPA: 3.5 /1993

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

University of Maryland, Global Campus (UMGC) 09/2017 - Present

Adelphia, MD

· Full time student from 09/2017- 9/2018 pursuing a Masters of Ed (MDE).
· Classes include, but a rot limited to technology in distance education, cost and economics of distance education, and management and leadership in distance education.

Supervisory Partnership Specialist GS-13

Census Bureau, Charles County, MD (Remote) 12/2018 – 09/2020

· Supervised a virtual team of 20 Census Partnership Specialists, while ensuring team operation effectiveness, team collaboration, and meeting orgranizational strategic goals.
· Provided written and oral guidance while setting priorities and preparing deliverable schedules in order to meet 2020 Census program objectives.
· Conducted research, facilitated forward-thinking strategies, developed plans and objectives for 2020 Census initiative.
· Coordinated with HQ, regional staff, and external stakeholder to create teams that initiate and implement program objective.
· Coordinated, developed, and oversaw partnerships with state, local and tribal governments, community-based organizations, faith base groups, schools, media outlets, and other business to build awareness and motivate participation in the Census.

National Employment/Recruitment Program Manger GS-13 10/2016 – 09/2017

Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), Washington, DC

Managed the national recruitment campaigns for more than 80 Employment Coordinators nationwide, ensuring the employment needs of more than 34,000 Veterans were met, while working closely with hiring manager in a business development capacity.

· Secured more than 1000 new jobs for Veterans.
· Co-Chaired agency work group, created and maintained interagency partnerships resulting in a contractual agreement to implement policies to improve veteran employment outcomes.
· SME who provided guidance to senior management and staff on various system principles, prohibited practices, valid selection criteria and other specialized approaches used in recruiting and hiring.
· Provided high level briefings on current labor market and workforce data monthly.
· Published a nationwide blog relating to Veteran employment that reached an audience of over 1M people.

Veteran Employment/Recruitment Specialist GS-13 08/2014 – 10/2016

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Washington, DC

Highly successful internal recruitment manager for the Department of Veteran Affairs. Increased staffing levels up to 45% by sourcing and selecting qualified Veterans. Influenced and educated hiring managers at all levels to ensure the staffing needs of the organization were exceeded.

· Organized a highly visible marketing and outreach program that delivered employment education to more than 5,000 individuals on a weekly basis.

· Forged collaborations between hiring managers and community leaders to increase employment potential for Veterans.
· Taught classes and educated more than 400 job seekers on resume writing, effective interviewing skills, and procedures on how to apply for a federal and civilian jobs announcements.
· Advised senior management regarding outreach and recruitment efforts for transitioning service members to help meet hiring demands of the VA.
· Mastered various applicant tracking systems to ensure timely follow-up and processing of each candidate.

Administrative Officer GS-12 04/2013 – 08/2014

Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC

Led the Worklife and Benefits administrative functions with deep exposures to finance, HR, recruitment and public relations activities. Coordinated with senior leadership to ensure efficient processing of internal and external client requests while providing support for customer engagement.

· Created and facilitated office operations to ensure time saving work flow processes and efficient completion of peak workloads.
· Reduced error rates of executive correspondence 75% helping ensure policies and procedures where administered in a timely manner.
· Increased timely submission rate of congressional deliverables by 80%
· Enhanced office staffing needs as HR Liaison by creating a pool of highly qualified candidates.
· Gathered, reviewed, analyzed and justified all purchase requests and budget.
· Justified and tracted annual budget of $3M.

Program Specialist GS-09 12/2011 – 04/2013

Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington DC

Coordinated a wide variety of administrative functions in support of the Office of Nursing Services for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

· Revamped agendas and meeting records for 10 monthly national calls.
· Streamlined the promotion’s boards for more than 89,000 nurses nationwide.
· Trained and educated new promotion board members on how to navigate promotion board processes.
· Worked with to education services to help design, develop, and implement conference training.

Adjunct Professor |Instructor 7/2011 – 12/2011

Curriculum Designer - Career Development Program

College of Southern Maryland La Plata, MD Taught English 101, Taught Reading 101, English 101 and Adult Basic Education at the local community college and the local adult learning center. Designed and delivered curriculum for Career Counseling utilizing engaging curricula and non-traditional teaching methods.

· Initiated, facilitate, and moderated classroom discussions in sentence structure and comprehension of English Grammar. Prepared and delivered lectures to undergraduate on topics such as poetry, novel structure, and translation and adaptation.
· Facilitated online discussions for online, instructor-led course delivery.
· Taught students the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
· Planned and developed curriculum for the Charles County Lifelong Learning Center Career Development Program.

Recruiter | Health Professions Recruiter 01/1997 – 09/2010

United States Air Force Reserve, Pittsburgh, PA Recruiter

Proven record of full cycle recruiter, always exceeding targeted requirement while ensuring organizational talent needs were met. Achieved more than 150% of recruiting goals in various fields to include IT, Health Professions, Nurses, Dentist, Bio Med, Attorneys and Pilots.

· Awarded “Top Recruiter” on numerous occasions for exceeding recruiting goals.
· Conducted countless marketing presentations to increase awareness.
· Identified & sourced targeted medical professionals using a variety of creative & effective recruitment methods that included: journal and web advertising, mining websites, direct mail, telemarketing, networking, referral programs, phone interviews, & search firms.
· Partnered with key executives, department managers, & internal staff throughout the organization; praised for excellent decision-making abilities, quality of recommendations, & resourcefulness.
· Provided career, education, life and health counseling to individuals transitioning from the military workforce to the civilian workforce.
· Identify and resolve inconsistencies in interviewees' responses by means of appropriate questioning or explanation.

JOB RELATED TRAINING

Global Career Development Facilitator Course, Jul 2016

Federal Human Resource Management, Sep 2015

Adjudicating Veterans Preference – Oct 2014,

Employee Benefits – Dec 2013

Introduction to Federal Budgeting – Aug 2013,

Project Management - Sep 2012

Leadership for Non-Supervisors - Mar 2012,

Project Management Fundamentals - Mar 2012

Title 38 Training - Jan 2012

ADDITIONAL SKILLS

Types 50 WPM, MS Office, Word, EXCEL, Access, Power Point, SharePoint, Project

AWARDS

Named "Top 50" Recruiters out of 300 – 2009

Superior Performer Award – 2009, Superior Performer Award - 2008

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

BIG | Membership Chair – 2013, Air Force Sergeants Association - 2012

Toast Masters – 2012, Charles County Literacy Council - 2011

Women in the Military Memorial Foundation - 2010