Ep. 37 The Road to Project Manager in HR 

Mentoring and Hard Work Brings Career Growth for a Project Manager in HR

This week’s guest is Zion Joy Suvillaga, iQor project manager in human resources in Talisay City, Philippines. Since joining iQor without dedicated experience in human resources, Zion has grown her expertise and has been promoted several times. Today, her work as a project manager positively impacts more than 30,000 employees in the Philippines to foster meaningful employee connections. She was recently recognized with the iQor Hero Award for her work on compliance efforts with a government mandate that required great attention to detail. In this episode, we hear Zion’s inspirational story of how leadership development along her career path has led her to success and how her work output has generated wonderful accolades.

The HR Career Journey Begins

Zion (who goes by Z) joined iQor in October 2020 as a seasonal employee on a three-month contract. By January 2021, she was a full-time employee and was promoted twice within the year. She became part of the human resources analytics and audit readiness team in April 2021. The three-person data-driven team was tasked with creating process flows to guide iQor Philippines on how to best conduct human resources (HR) processes. Additionally, the team built the foundation for the human resource reporting structure.

After completing their mission to support HR processes, the team disbanded in December 2021 with each team member receiving an offer to move into a different full-time position at iQor. Z took on the role of HR project manager, handling HR processes for the entire Philippines.

With 16 contact center locations in the Philippines and nearly 32,000 employees, Z’s main responsibilities as an HR project manager include business process documentation and transformation. She covers this end-to-end process from the moment HR sources employees and continues through to the hiring process, onboarding, development, retention, and off-boarding when necessary. Z also manages all HR-driven initiatives that might impact the tools used by HR Philippines. It’s a lot of process work! Throughout it all, she works closely with recruiting, training, and operations to achieve their common goals.

What Z loves most about her current role as human resource project manager is that she’s able to impact the lives and the experiences of all iQor Philippines employees, regardless of level. Indeed, she embraces the opportunity to create positive change and improve the experiences of more than 30,000 employees while they are with iQor. She also enjoys being exposed to different departments and understanding how they come together to achieve common objectives.

Career Growth Stems From Mentoring and Hard Work

From her first days at iQor, Z has supported HR processes and analytics, ultimately becoming a project manager. But, without a background in HR, how did she do it?

She attributes her growth in skill levels to her on-the-job coaching and learning at iQor. When Z joined iQor, she was exposed to incredible and supportive leaders who focused on the individual potential of each employee. These leaders supported Z and others in a multitude of ways to develop their potential. In this, Z says, iQor lives up to its motto to Be More With iQor. She says the saying has great truth to it because leaders at iQor truly guide their employees to be more.

One of her favorite quotes is from Mark Twain whose words inspire Z to believe that truly great people and leaders are those who make you feel that you too can become great. Twain wrote, “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

Z says these are the types of leaders she’s encountered at iQor, whether her direct supervisor or leaders throughout other departments that she works closely with such as training, recruiting, and operations.

Z meets regularly with her supervisor, the senior director of HR for all of iQor Asia, in one-on-one sessions with clear goal-setting. The two analyze problems and develop the best solutions. Z enjoys putting her project management organizational skills to good use and being given the freedom to work at her own pace. She also appreciates the consistent and constructive feedback she receives on her work output. This honest and transparent feedback characterizes her interactions with leaders at all levels at iQor.

She says the incredible support all of these leaders have offered her is a testament to the iQorian values. She believes this support has been instrumental in her personal growth at iQor. Further, she’s grateful her growth opportunities extend beyond the mentoring she has received to include a project management course she will soon begin, enabling her to further hone her craft as a successful project manager.

Leadership believed in Z and empowered her with opportunities to learn, grow, and contribute in an area in which she excelled, despite not having prior experience in HR. Opportunities abound for her today and into the future.

An Inspiration to Others

Z recalls growing up in the Philippines in a fairly unknown town. When she moved to the big city, she didn’t know anyone and lacked connections, but through hard work, determination, and helpful guidance from iQor leaders, she grew. She attributes her success to the opportunities and experience iQor presented her along with the mentoring sessions with her manager. The guidance she received has helped Z develop her human resource project management skills.

She strongly believes that working hard, doing her best, accepting support, and maintaining integrity to always do the right thing makes it possible to achieve any dream.

An iQor Hero

Z was recently recognized with the iQor Hero Award for her instrumental work handling a special project focused on compliance efforts with a new Philippines government mandate. The project scope required extensive planning and great attention to detail. The HR analytics and audit readiness team was deployed to determine the impact of the mandate on iQor Philippines’ 30,000+ employees.

Z collaborated with project team members, IT, and other departments to determine how best to prepare and use data. She designed process flows and ensured they were audit-ready. This was essential given that the government does spot audits and unannounced visits, so being audit-ready provided confidence that they were in compliance and a spot audit would be handled successfully.

The award came as an utter surprise to Z, who felt like she won Miss Universe when she was acknowledged with the great honor. She held back tears of joy as she received the award in the presence of iQor executives among other mentors and leaders. She was so moved by the award and recognition of her hard work that once her camera was turned off in the virtual ceremony, she cried buckets of happiness. Her focus has always been on doing her best and striving to excel, no matter how small or large the task. The recognition she received for her project success truly meant a lot to Z.

Through mentoring, support, hard work, and dedication Z turned her short-term seasonal employment contract into a full-time project management position in which she is making transformational differences for HR and is being recognized for her tremendous efforts. She is a valued asset to the iQor team. Moreover, she’s an inspiration in accomplishing so much in a short amount of time in the BPO industry.

What Z Does for Fun

When not working, Z has always relished her time at home, long before the worldwide adoption of social distancing. Despite her outgoing nature and varied interactions with many people, she’s an introvert. She enjoys spending her free time at home with her cats to recharge her battery. She loves her cats! Z and her partner rescue cats from the streets to rehabilitate them and make sure they have a loving home that gives them the care they need. Z also enjoys reading books, listening to music, and watching Disney movies and musicals.

Learn more about iQor’s digital customer experience capabilities.