Human Service Professional Interview Paper
Human service agencies are becoming one of the most helpful organizations in the world. From the different roles played by human service agencies, it is evident that community service agencies play crucial roles in the community’s well-being. Some of the critical roles played by human service agencies include providing shelter to the members of the community, providing food, providing health assistance, providing mental and physical aid to the members of society among other roles (LeBlanc et al., 2018). in most parts of the world, human service agencies have significantly been upheld and also appreciated for the excellent work the play in the society. In the research that I conducted about human service agencies, I had a lot of questions that were left unanswered, so I proposed to look for a professional working in a human service agency so that I could obtain as much information as I needed. I then chose one official from Human Resource Administration in New York City, one of the well-known human service agencies in New York. To obtain all the information I needed, I had to carry out an interview whereby I was an interviewer. Before I carried out the interview, I had to do some research about the historical perception of human resource administration.
Human resource administration in New York City is the most incredible human service community, also known as the social service department. It was founded in 1966 in the United States, New York City. Human resource administration was mainly found to fight poverty that had entangled many communities in New York. Its leading role in the community has been providing food assistance and emergency rental assistance to the people in need, with a long period in service. Human Resource Administration has been able to serve many people in various communities in New York. With a high number of people serving or instead aiding annually approximated to three million, Human Resource Administration has been ranked among one of the greatest human service agencies worldwide (Preston, 2020). Its annual budget being $9.6 billion, Human Resource Administration has been able to serve its clients with a lot of satisfaction fully. Its greatness has been proved by its high number of employees, with 14000 employees playing essential roles in providing human service. Human Resource Administration has also been echoed by its sustainability with 12 main public assistance programs (Kaur & Sussman 2019). These programs have been critical in ensuring efficiency and convenience from the way the organization works.
In the research, I found some questions worthy of obtaining the answers from a primary source. This made me contact one of the employees in Human Resource Administration for an interview. The interview took place in Manhattan community, Board 8 in New York. The reason that made me choose the Manhattan community is that this is one of the communities that the roles played by Human Resource Administration have significantly impacted. Below is the interview I conducted with an employee from Human Resource Administration.
( The interview starts at 8.00 am from the office of the employee who is the secretary-general of the agency. As the interview begins, I have my questions well written on paper. The discussion starts with brief greetings and an introduction. In the interview, I am a student, the interviewer, while the secretary-general of Human Resource Administration is the interviewee.)
Student: Good morning, Mr. Roy? I am Ryan, a student from John jay college.
Employee: Good morning to you; I am Mr. Roy, a secretary-general at Human Resource Administration, New York City, currently serving at Manhattan community.
Student: I am happy to meet you; Mr. Roy is a great pleasure to have you in this interview, whereby we will look at some of the happenings in your working place, Human Resource Administration.
Employee: A great pleasure to meet you too; welcome to Human Resource Administration.
Student: Let me begin by asking you what is the mission of the Human Resource Administration human service agency?
Employee: The mission of Human Resource Administration, being one of the greatest human service agencies in the world, is mainly based on our mission statement. The mission statement of Human Resource Administration, ‘ensuring that poverty is fully eradicated from our communities and wiping income inequality in the essential benefits.’ This has been our mission and our paramount goal, which we must achieve as an agency. Every employee in this agency has been working hard to make sure that we fully serve our mission in our societies.
Student: Thank you, and what is the vision of Human Resource Administration as you serve people from different parts of New York
Employee: In our company, we work guided by our vision statement. The vision statement stipulates that ‘our vision is to see a community free from poverty entanglements and a community where there is income equality. This can only be achieved through working together to achieve nothing less than these two provisions in our vision statement.
Student: In my case, I was more interested in the Manhattan community. Can you tell me more about the location of this community?
Employee: Manhattan community is one of the well-known communities in New York. It is located on Board 8. Manhattan community is encompassing the upper east side of New York, and its neighborhoods are Lenox hills, Yorkville, and Roosevelt Island. It is one of the most affected communities which we are determined to transform.
Student: What is the population approximation of the Manhattan community?
Employee: Manhattan is a densely populated borough. Being a 5.31 square kilometer area, Manhattan has a population of 217063 people according to the 2010 census, which we have been using. The statistics also show that the population is approximately 42312 people per square kilometer.
Student: What does this population imply to the demography?
Employee: Manhattan population is composed mainly of aging people who are approximately 65% of the total population. Out of the whole population, 60% is made up of females. This implies that there are fewer males in Manhattan as compared to the number of females. The Manhattan community also has high unemployment cases, with most of the aging population being out of working age. The people of Manhattan are greatly affected by poverty as most people in the people are not employed. This has drawn our attention as an agency and made us mainly focus on this community to ensure that the population is not adversely affected by poverty and inequality in the income distributions.
Student: How many people do you serve in Manhattan as an agency?
Employee: As most of the people in Manhattan are still struggling with poverty; we have been serving a large number of people, approximately 3000 people annually. This number shows the number of people badly affected by poverty, poor health, lack of shelter, and other problems. Though, in the recent past, we have seen the numbers reducing probably because of the efforts done by the agency in promoting the living standard of our people.
Student: Can I get to know your educational and personal backgrounds?
Employee: Yeah, I was born in 1982 in Manhattan borough. In my early years, I could see how people were suffering from poverty, and this feeling hurt me. There is not a single day that passed without thinking about this situation that was facing our community. When I later got an opportunity to go to school, I had to work hard to change our society. While I was in my primary level, I dreamed of working with one of the most outstanding human service organizations. I was too passionate about helping my people and also our neighbors. After my high school studies at Bronx community High School, I secured a chance at New York University, pursuing a degree in Human Resource Management and development. At this point, my dream and my passion were coming to fulfillment. I worked hard as I knew that for me to get employed in any human service agency, I had no other option other than working hard and passing in my studies. After enrolling in my bachelor’s degree, I then furthered my studies in human resource management under the scholarship of HRA. After graduating with a master’s degree, I was lucky to secure a job at HRA, whereby I was posted to Manhattan, where I’m currently serving as the secretary-general.
Student: What are your current responsibilities in the Human Resource Administration agency?
Employee: Well, as I have told you, I am currently working as the secretary-general in the HRA. In my position, I am responsible for ensuring that all my subordinates are playing their roles effectively. I am also responsible for ensuring that all public assistance programs work efficiently to deliver our service to our clients (Allard et al.,2018). I am also responsible for ensuring that all the operations of HRA as a human service agency are run efficiently. the efficiency of operations is made possible by providing that all employees report to their working centers in the proposed time.
Student: What some of the types of interventions do Human Resource Administration provide?
Employee: There are several interventions which we carry out as an organization. Since our primary focus is on ensuring that people do not suffer a lot, we usually provide several interventions. The interventions that we provide include providing food to those suffering from hunger through our food program in different boroughs in New York, providing health services to the community’s sick members, and providing emergency rental assistance to those without shelters. The agency also plays a vital role in providing scholarships to many students who perform well, among other provisions. For instance, in Manhattan, we have also sponsored several students who are currently pursuing their studies in different institutions. Such interventions have enabled Human Resource Administration to grow in another part of new work as many community members greatly appreciate our work.
Student: What are some of the issues do your clients/patients struggle with?
Employee: There are several problems which are facing our clients. From the high population we are currently facing in Manhattan, there are few issues that we have seen our clients struggling with. Some of the issues include a constant lack of food. Lack of food, especially in the Manhattan borough, has become a significant threat to our people. This has been a result of constant growth in population and unemployment. Another issue facing our clients from Manhattan is the lack of shelter. As a result of the grown population, especially in urban centers and poor housing, many people in Manhattan have greatly suffered from a lack of refuge. This problem has made Human Resource Administration significantly invest in a housing program that will cater to those who lack shelter; Infection and pandemics are other issues facing the Manhattan community. From the poor living conditions that people live in, many people from Manhattan have been found suffering from several diseases, most of which are deficiency infections.
Student: What do you enjoy most in your work, and what do you want least?
Employee: In my work, there are several moments which I enjoy, and at some other times, some different experiences are not worth enjoying. One of the moments that I want most is when I share my life experiences with young people after helping them. This makes me instill in them the zeal to work for a better future. The moments that I least enjoy include when I find myself able to justify our clients’ needs fully. Such experiences make me feel as if I’m a failure in my own game.
Student: How does the Human Resource Administration agency define assessment?
Employee: Human Resource Administration defines assessment as a part of the service, whereby we as employees and the agency mainly concentrate on getting deeper into the community and getting to know more about some of the problems facing members of the community. In the assessment process, we also consider some of the ways we can use to solve the issues facing our clients.
Student: Which tools do you use in the assessment?
Employee: There are several tools that we use to assess our clients. Some of the commonly used tools include use of questionnaires and interviews. These tools are used randomly as they greatly help in obtaining crucial information.
Student: How does your agency obtain informed consent?
Employee: Human Resource Administration has several ways of obtaining information from different sources. Some of the commonly used mechanisms in obtaining information include interviews, observations, and even questionnaires. Some of the agency workers have been given the role of getting data from members of the community.
Student: Does the Human Resource Administration agency conduct research and evaluation?
Employee: Yes. As an agency, we know that it’s essential to carry out researches concerning our communities of different. In the study, we mainly focus on the problems facing our clients and their causes. We then come up with the proposed solutions to each situation. In our research, we especially deploy statisticians, and demographic experts who we believe can give us the most relevant and correct information concerning the community in question. After the results were obtained from different researches, we then tasked experts to evaluate the data obtained.
Student: What are some of the Human Resource Administration agency’s strengths and weaknesses?
Employee: There are several factors in our agency that I can term as our strengths. Some of those factors include the availability of sufficient funds in our organization. Having enough funds, we are placed at a point where we can get comfortable handling some of our clients’ problems. Another strength is the availability of enough workforce. Having a high number of employees has dramatically helped the agency to serve our employees with satisfaction (Hyde, 2020). Though there are several strengths, there are also few weaknesses which we have as an agency. One of the main weaknesses that are currently facing us is the lack of well-experienced employees. Human Resource Administration, as compared to other agencies, has been facing the problem of a well-experienced workforce. This has made many of the agency’s goals remain unachieved. Another weakness facing the agency is the lack of sufficient information from the community (Broberg & Sano, 2018). As a result of incorporation, especially from many clients, the agency has been unable to get enough information. Lack of adequate information has been a significant weakness associated with our agency.
From the interview, I made several observations concerning the human service agencies. One of the observations made is that an excellent workforce is required for an efficient operation of an agency. According to my interviewee, for the efficient and effective operation of HRA, many employees are still needed. Another observation that I made is that human service agencies play a very crucial role in society. From the functions explained by my interviewee, I observed that the agency plays many parts. Lastly, I also observed that human service agencies are essential. Since they help promote people’s lives by helping the needy, it was worth observing the critical role agencies play in different parts of the world.
In conclusion, being greatly dependent on organizations in different parts of the nation, human service agencies should be encouraged in other parts of the world. There is a need for those already existing to extend their service to different regions as most of them have not covered many parts of the world. The government also should consider increasing the number of funds allocated to human service agencies in their budgeting.