Megan Baldwin’s secret sauce as a human resource professional is having the courage to explore.
When she started at Purdue in 2017, Baldwin was undecided and examining what majors aligned best with her interests and curiosities. She knew she wasn’t oriented toward technical jobs, crossing healthcare and engineering off the list, but she did love people. She found human resources at the heart of people-centered career paths, seeing that it intersected industries and held potential for helping people. She switched to the Human Resource Development (HRD) program her sophomore year.
“One of the reasons I loved the HR field is I could do anything. My advice is to be open to anything and everything,” she said. Coffee chats with professors and getting real-world experience through internships were at the top of her list for success in college. “You don’t know what you like if you don’t give it a try. Someone could say they love the analytical side and want to go into payroll, but if they focus on that, they may miss the other facets of HR.”
People are her motivating factor, Baldwin says. She chose the HR field because she’s a people person, and she wanted to work on a close-knit team who cares about each other. Baldwin now works for JD Finish Line North America as a talent acquisition partner.
“I have definitely found what I don’t like,” she said when asked about her career goals. After college, her first job was challenging but gave her clarity. “I was doing talent for an engineering and construction firm based out of Chicago. I was remote, and I realized I can’t recruit engineers. I didn’t like working remotely either. It was hard to network and meet people. After a while, I felt eaten up inside.”
Baldwin’s goals shifted as she discovered more about her preferences and strengths. Management roles didn’t seem as appealing, and she wanted to feel closer to the customer. In college, she didn’t consider that finding alignment with her passions might be the key to feeling fulfilled.
Baldwin sees candidate interviews as a deeply personal process, where she gets to know people’s wishes and disappointments. She enjoys matching people with jobs and helping them find a better quality of life once she learns more about a candidate. New hires who succeed in their roles are the ultimate result of her passion and hard work.
“We just opened a flagship store on the Vegas strip. Having hired for that store and seeing all the moving parts come together for the creation and opening of that store is the coolest. You see people who are a really good fit in their jobs. That brings me back down to earth. I may be a number, but I am making an impact.”
Outside of work, she taps into her love of customer-facing roles with part-time and volunteer work near her home in Indianapolis. She enjoys volunteering with a food bank and tutoring at a center for unhoused children a couple hours per week. Baldwin has encountered people from all over who recognize the Purdue name, and it makes her especially proud to be a Boilermaker.
“When I tell someone from a different state that I went to Purdue, they say, ‘Oh, you’re really smart!’ So there’s prestige with it,” she said. “Everything you have access to at Purdue can build you as a person. It really feels like you’re being set up for success. I can apply my degree to anything I want to do.”