From Classroom to City Hall

Hi! My name is Nasser Guelleh, and I’m a senior Psychology major. This fall, I have had the chance to work as an HR intern for Walla Walla’s City Hall. My everyday responsibilities as an HR intern have been to learn about HR department processes, policies and procedures, and programs including Workers’ Compensation, Safety, Wellness, Recruitment, Staff Training and Development. On some days I’ve also been able to assist with City Hall’s Wellness Committee to encourage employees to participate in events for intrinsic motivation and development of activities. On other days I’ve been helping the Safety Committee with tasks such as researching how to motivate employees to ensure they complete every job safely and comply with training requirements. Some other parts of work mornings include assisting with creating employee engagement programs, communicating and interacting with staff at all levels. It feels like I’ve had the chance to meet so many people and immerse myself in learning about all these different departments that contribute to making sure that all city works run smoothly.

I’ve loved every second of the opportunity that I’ve been granted and it wouldn’t have been possible if not for the Whitman Internship Grant. Each day presents a different challenge and a different learning opportunity and I’ve come to appreciate every second of it. This opportunity has allowed me to get first-hand experience pertaining to what I want to for graduate studies as I want to branch into Industrial/Organizational work. Specifically, the work done pooling research on employee recognition programs has been the most prevalent out of all my tasks but I love that I’ve also been given variety in my work as well. I haven’t felt pigeon- holed or that I’m just doing tedious tasks; my internship has actually felt very worthwhile.

I aspire to become an Industrial Psychologist, which is a growing subfield in psychology, and the experiences working under City Hall have helped me attain both skills and some foresight for my future path. Just for some background, Industrial organizational psychology is a specialized area of psychological practice and applied research that addresses workplace issues at the individual and organizational levels. Hopefully, if all goes according to plan, my tasks in the future will center around improving workplace environments and productivity, decision-making, ethics, and organizational effectiveness for wherever I’d be hired. As it stands now, I’m excited to cherish the rest of the internship while I have the opportunity and I appreciate the entry level experience I’ve been developing and I hope to build off of that for the future!