by Carrie Resch
Jarik E. Conrad has worked in human resources for many years in the corporate world, but recently decided to start his own consulting firm. He opened The Conrad Consulting Group, LLC in September of last year and is located at his Southside home. The human resources consulting firm is the featured minority business of the month by the State Office of Supplier Diversity.
Conrad graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois. He received an M.B.A. from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, and an M.I.L.R. from Cornell University graduate school of industrial and labor relations.
He is currently working on his doctorate from the University of North Florida.
His wife is an attorney for McGuire Woods and the couple has lived in Jacksonville since 1999. Conrad is also involved with several professional and civic organizations.
Why did you decide to start your own business?
“As a human resources professional, I’ve always considered myself an internal consultant. What I liked most about my job in HR was going in and helping groups solve complex issues regarding people. I’ve been successful within corporate America, now I want to go out and see if I can do it with different organizations. I’m also finishing up my doctorate degree and I’m at the dissertation stage, so I thought starting my own company would give me more flexibility to have chunks of time to work on the dissertation. I also wanted to try and adjunct teach to see if that was something that interested me, and it was difficult to fit that into a corporate schedule. I teach a human resources management class and a labor relations class at JU.”
How would you describe your company?
“When people ask me what I do, I tell them I flip between human resources consulting and leadership consulting because I really believe all of it is leadership consulting. There are three major branches that I deal with. One of them is executive coaching. That mostly consists of one-on-one type of assignments. Another branch is training and development. That is anything from diversity training to communication skills training, and team building. The last branch is the basic human resources or organization development needs and services, which are things like performance management, succession planning, and employee relations. It really appeals to either smaller organizations that have limited HR capacity or larger organizations that just don’t have the time to focus on these projects. I’m also probably one of the only people in the area who is certified to work with the IDI, the Intercultural Development Inventory. It really measures people’s ability to effectively perform in a cross-cultural environment. In the beginning of April, I will be certified in EQi, a tool that is used to measure emotional intelligence.”
What is your prior work experience?
“Most recently I was Director of Human Resources with CSX Technology. Prior to that I was with Citibank where I held positions in human resources as well as their business credit card operation group. I think that a true HR professional needs to spend some time working in the ‘line’ function. They can have a better grasp of the overall business that they are in. They can also gain some credibility so they’ll be able to empathize with managers when they approach them about human resources issues because they will have been there. Prior to that, I did stints with McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis, Union Carbide in Danbury, Conn. and the Pillsbury Company in Lithonia, Ga. With Citibank I worked in Chicago and Stamford, Conn., but probably my most exciting work experience was when I was in Dublin, Ireland. I was there for about six months. That was the most rewarding experience of my life from a professional perspective. Also I think that my time in Ireland helped me in my diversity training because I was able to immerse myself in a different culture.”
What brought you to Jacksonville?
“When it was time to return to the United States from Ireland, my wife and I just opened a map and looked at all the Citibank locations in the United States. We wanted to find a place that had a nice climate, where the cost of living was good and a place that was growing. We narrowed it down to Florida, first, and we visited Jacksonville and loved it.”
What’s most challenging about owning your own business?
“Every organization is different. It has a different culture, so trying to figure out what the proper solution is for an organization is a challenge. It’s a fun challenge, but it’s a challenge because the thing that works at this place doesn’t necessarily work at the next place. You have to be creative, open to listening and willing to be flexible.”
What do you like best about your job?
“When I can help change people’s perspectives. If I think about the diversity training I do, when I can see that people are opening up and they’re thinking about things that they’ve never thought about before, I feel like there is hope. That is very rewarding.”
What organizations are you most active in?
“I’m in the current class of Leadership Jacksonville. Also, I’ve just become more active in Community Connections. I’m the diversity chair on the board of directors for the Society of Human Resources Management and I’m on the board of NCCJ. I’m a professional speaker with the National Speakers Association and I also do work with UNF in their division of continuing education. I’m also working on a book on leadership with some other authors that will be out in the fall.”