Getting Ahead in HR

Human resources, marketing, accounting, entrepreneurship &innovation, and business intelligence &analytics – these are the 5 streams that students in Ambrose Business can choose from. With each of these streams, we offer specialized courses, industry opportunities, and extracurricular activities. Here, we bring you the latest in the Human Resources stream.

HR CPHR Certification

experience, join their provincial CPHR association, and adhere to the CPHR Code of Ethics. Special thanks to alum Lizzy Dornian and HR professor Tim Vanderpyl for seeing this application process through!

"The CPHR demonstrates HR expertise, experience and ethical management of today’s human capital." ~ CPHR Alberta

Through this certification and partnership with CPHR, our students will strengthen their commitment to ethical standards, lifelong passion for their profession, and expert knowledge for their future workplaces. As a liberal arts institution, we are well poised to equip our students with the higher level thinking required to succeed in the HR profession. With our small class sizes and industry-facing opportunities, our students can get the hands-on experience that sets them apart. We are proud of our HR students and can’t wait to see what they will achieve!

Competing in HR

Ambrose students competed for the 3rd time this year in the annual HRC West case competition. Practices were held, work was done, presentations were fine-tuned, and of course there was some fun too. Veteran students Fern Rayas and Sarah Janz were joined by rookie students Hanson Qin and Rob Rayas, and supported by HR professor Tim Vanderpyl.

"As a data analytics student, I thought that the main challenges HR executives/practitioners faced were hiring the best candidates and dealing with employees' problems at work. However, my perspective towards HR changed when I attended this year's HR West Case Competition. I realized that many issues arise from a lack of HR data. Organizations need the information to justify their expenses and applying an in-depth understanding of organizational dynamics based on data to make better business decisions.As a data analytics student, I thought that the main challenges HR executives/practitioners faced were hiring the best candidates and dealing with employees' problems at work. However, my perspective towards HR changed when I attended this year's HR West Case Competition. I realized that many issues arise from a lack of HR data. Organizations need the information to justify their expenses and applying an in-depth understanding of organizational dynamics based on data to make better business decisions."

-Rob Rayas

Couldn’t do it Without Them

Our HR faculty and students continue to be supported by our HR Advisory Committee. Check out our current membership on Partner with Business page. Some key learnings from this committee this year were:

• Promoting our business program – highlight our small class sizes, achievements of our past graduates, and our focus on the whole person and not just employment (though employment is indeed important!)
• Expand on the use of technology (Covid helped with that!)
• Continue with assignments and projects that bring students into direct contact with industry professionals (our students are overwhelmingly positive about these opportunities even though they find it a little intimidating at first!)

Email business@ambrose.edu or a business faculty member to learn more about our HR stream and business program. We would be happy to connect you with some of our HR faculty and students!