Latest / The SEANC View / Gen Z Takeover! Young members discuss the future of state employment

Transcript

Gen Z Takeover! Young members discuss the future of state employment · The SEANC View

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Music.
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Welcome back to the Scenic View podcast. My name is Samantha Klein,
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and I am the Digital Communication Specialist here at Scenic.
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And today, the young staff and members are taking over the podcast.
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I'm joined by Jameson Rhodes, our Data Engineer here at Scenic,
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Hunter Shen, who is our Software Engineer,
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Tiana Alberts, who is one of our Insurance Specialists, and one of our Scenic
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members, Alexandra Kallback, who is a Probation and Parole Officer. Professor.
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So we're going to start by going around and letting our guests introduce themselves
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and talk a little bit about what they do here at the office.
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And Allie, you can tell us a little bit more about your job and your role and
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how you got involved with Scenic. All right.
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So, yeah, I'm Alexandra Callback, probation, parole, and rowing county.
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Supervise people that get put on probation in the county. But,
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I mean, I have jurisdiction all over the state, which is really cool about probation.
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It's different than, like, most police forces and everything, which is pretty cool.
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So I just supervise their conditions that the court gives them.
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Really, the court tells me what to do, which is nice.
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But do drug screens and make sure they're on the right path and help them succeed.
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Almost like keeping everyone in track. Yeah.
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Yeah. Keep them on track in life. There you go. Let's also add,
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how did you get involved with Scenic? Oh, yes.
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So I've been with the state for about five years. And in my correction,
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I was a correction officer first.
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My correction officer basic, they brought in Scenic. And I was like, oh, that sounds cool.
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Let me join, put my money towards it. And about two or three years ago now,
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I think, our chair, Timothy Morgan, gotta give him a little shout out.
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He was my supervisor. And he's like, hey, you want to come to a meeting?
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And I was like, sure, why not? And then two months later, I was interim secretary.
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And now I'm the District 10 Secretary. So, boop, boop.
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All right. Now, do we have any volunteers from our staff who would like to go
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first on introducing themselves and what they do here at Scenic?
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Yes. Hi, I'm Tiana Alberts.
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I am a member insurance specialist here, and I help our members get enrolled
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into insurance programs that we offer at a discount.
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I also help them with any issues or questions that might arise if they need
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help with anything. thing.
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And as far as how I got here, I have a background with insurance.
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I used to work with Nationwide and I just managed to see you guys and love the crew. So I joined.
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You got all the experience before you joined us. Just a little bit.
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Jameson, Hunter, would either of you like to go first? Okay.
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So my name is Hunter and I'm the software engineer at Cynic.
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So my duty was to building software to further facilitate the need of staff.
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So about how I joined the company. So I did my internship at SRS Consulting Services.
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Which is like the consultant company for Cynic.
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Like in one day, in one stand-up, so my manager, Brian Nisby,
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he asked me for a meeting after the stand-up.
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So I was like, oh no, I'm going to get fired.
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But instead, he asked me, do you want to work for Cynic? I guess he said something nice for Cynic.
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And then he asked me if I'm willing to take the opportunity.
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Then I said, hell yeah. Yeah.
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That's amazing. I don't think I ever heard the story about how you ended up
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here at Scenic before. So I think that's the first time I've heard that.
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All right. Well, hey, I'm Jameson. I'm the data engineer here.
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My job, I do a lot of the same stuff as Hunter, but in charge of a lot of the
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ETO processes that Scenic has.
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And we do a lot of special request work for other departments.
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As far as how I got here, when I first got here, the, was it the receptionist
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was out. So they asked me to fill in because I just graduated.
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And while I was just taking phone calls, they found out like what my degree
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was because I had an information systems degree and they had like no one in their IT department.
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So they came and asked me, you know, if I was interested and they showed me
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the job and the requirements.
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And I was like, sure, I'll try it. Ever since then, I just stayed.
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I mean, I had fun. I like the people here.
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So that's really about it. And I think out of the four of the staff members
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that are in here, I think you've been here the longest, I want to say. Yeah. Four years?
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2022. So really like my starting date was July of 2022.
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But that's because they were like basically contracting since February of 2022.
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Okay. So they want to be exact. Like my real join date was like February of 2022.
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Okay. I was about to say, I know you were here before I got here and I got here
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in June of 2022. Yeah, I remember when you got here, they were like,
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oh, the young one's here.
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It's like, okay, you're like, you're not the youngest anymore.
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No, now I'm still the youngest.
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It's been two years at this point and I'm still the youngest person in the office.
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Yeah, even he came in here and I was like, oh, you're going to be the youngest.
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He's like, nope, still Sunny. Nope, still me.
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That's okay. I enjoy it. Okay. So one big thing that is always on everyone's
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mind here at Scenic is getting the new Gen Z that are entering the workforce
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and becoming state employees to join Scenic.
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What do you think attracted you guys to join in
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scenic or what attracts you to get behind a cause or
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join an organization like scenic and what
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would encourage you guys to stay well i do really appreciate scenic
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lobbying for our state members and employees trying to get them either more
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retirement or raise the funds for them and that's something that's a big conversation
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with the younger generation is we're looking for players that are looking after
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us and so that's a big topic and i feel like everyone wants someone
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who advocates work that understands where we are in this economy.
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And that's definitely a big thing is wanting a company that will advocate on
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your behalf, even if you can't necessarily do it yourself because you're working. Exactly.
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All right, Jameson, Mr. Idea Man, he's always got some bright ideas.
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I think scenic should take advantage of their affiliate status.
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So basically, you know, affiliates don't necessarily have to be state workers to join.
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So we do a lot of work with colleges and a big issue in North Carolina that
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Scenic's always talking about is vacancy issues.
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So I always thought, you know, what if we took advantage of either the affiliate
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status or created a different type of membership that you could market to college students?
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Because Scenic has a lot of things that college students might use.
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So like, for example, if you look at the discounts page, there's tons of discounts,
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but I see a lot of like food trucks and I feel like college students and young
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people are the ones going and eating at food trucks and stuff like that.
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So I think they would definitely use that.
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I think if there was a way Scenic could explore maybe some limited access to
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insurances, because I know a lot of people in college, some people can't afford
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to have dental insurance or vision insurance.
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And then also Scenic has purchasing programs that help college students get
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access to school supplies like laptops, so they don't have to pay like full
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on, you know, maybe two grand for a laptop.
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They could take advantage of like Luther sales where you would pay a monthly
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amount or something like that.
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And then the best part is Scenic could talk to some of the state agencies.
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And maybe set up like a career program that could be, like I said,
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marketed to these college students to help them get a job right out of college.
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Because I know when I came out of college, obviously I work here,
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but I saw it with my brother. It's hard to get a job out of college.
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Some people choose someone with no degree who has 15 years of experience over,
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you know, someone that has no experience in a degree.
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So if there was something like career program that college students could access
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through Scenic, they could start, you know, getting some of those vacancy issues taken care of.
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And by getting young people incorporated into the state at a young age where
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they'll be more probably willing to probably take a little bit less pay for your first job.
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You're not going to get a lot of people aren't going to get paid,
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you know, the millions and billions.
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So that's the dream, though. Yeah, that is the dream, obviously.
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But get them some experience at these state agencies.
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Helps with the vacancy. And then also, if they're already associated with Scenic
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as a member in college, they might not have to drop off when they get their
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job because they'd be a state employee.
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The people that do go to like private sector or something, they're not state
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employees, they'll lose their membership.
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But for that time period, they'll be counted as a member and Scenic will be
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able to do more good, you know, because we help them and maybe they'll spread the word too.
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And what about the Gen Z that is already in the workforce?
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What do you think would attract them to Scenic? I mean, there's minor things you could explore.
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Like, for example, if you look at the Scenic Store, think that the Scenic Store could be updated.
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Could be broadened the horizons of options that we have there. Are you saying merch?
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Like the merch, yeah. Everyone loves merch.
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Stuff like that, you know, updated merch that would be more trendy to young people.
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They'd wear it. People would ask, you know, what is that? What are you wearing?
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Kind of like sweatpants, joggers. Yeah, and I think young people do enjoy being
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behind something that's seen as good.
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Like D.A.R.E. Some people make fun of D.A.R.E. Some people...
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I had a D.A.R.E. shirt when I was in high school, and I thought it was cool
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because you feel like you're doing something good.
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So if you could really market it to young people as something that's good,
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like you're supporting a really good cause, I think that they would be interested in it.
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I still think that there needs to be more incentive, too, because obviously,
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yes, you're supporting something, but what do you get out of it,
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too, other than just, oh, I feel good because I'm supporting it?
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Kind of like maybe networking or training opportunities? Stuff like that. Yeah.
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And then really pushing. I think it'd be a good thing if Scenic looked at all
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the discounts they have right now and maybe they could identify the most popular
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discounts or what would be considered the most useful.
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Because, I mean, there's a discount, but it's got thousands of things on it.
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I feel like from what we've seen on my department side and the communications
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department is theme parks.
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Everyone loves a good theme park. Those are one of our best performing posts
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on social media every single year.
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Whenever we put out all of our theme park tickets, everyone loves the good trip to a theme park.
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And I don't know about you, but like I saw this recently.
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I didn't know, but a lot of young people, they don't care about insurances because
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they're young, especially like health, except like, oh, I'm young,
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I'm not thinking about it. They don't realize how important it is.
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When you don't have it, it is scary. Yeah.
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And another thing, what if Scenic was able to scratch together some deal with a streaming service?
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Like, for example, Paramount Plus is new and they are trying to get market share
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because you already got Netflix, you got Hulu, you got Disney Plus.
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Plus, there's a way we could get like a discounted, maybe annual pay rate that
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you could market to young people. Like, hey, if you join, you know, you get all this stuff.
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And also here's some streaming services like a bundle, like the Scenic bundle
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or something that, you know, instead of you having to pay $30 a month for all
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this stuff, you join the Scenic, you pay $25 or $20.
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And I feel like stuff like that is what unfortunately a lot of young people share about.
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I've never thought about it that way because I love my streaming services.
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I have almost every single one. And everyone, the prices keep going up.
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Yeah. As a new graduate student who just graduated like two months ago.
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I totally agree with Jameson that CENIC should bring more attention to the university.
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So I don't know if you guys have attended like job fairs, like career fair.
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So basically, it's an opportunity for students to meet their potential future employers.
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So I believe if Cynic wants to attract more graduate students,
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like more young people like us, they should go to the job fair,
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potentially bring some free food.
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You know, college students, they are crazy about free food.
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And yeah, it would be a really good opportunity to attract employees.
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And yeah, and also in universities, they have really good candidates.
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Also, there are typically usually a lot of state employee agencies that are
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at job fairs. So I think scenic showing up there and kind of talking about,
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hey, these other state employee agencies are here.
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So are we. We advocate for them. It would definitely be a good opportunity to
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introduce scenic to those people entering the workforce.
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Yeah, absolutely. And also, I was thinking since people, especially those students,
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they are crazy about sports, maybe scenic can sponsor a sport team or something.
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That would be a lot of fun.
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Maybe we should make a sports jersey merch. Might be very divisive. Like a scenic jersey.
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District 10 might be wearing football jerseys. Might be. We're trying.
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You could do the blue that they add that scenic lights. Yeah. Like white pinstripes.
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A pinstripe would be cool.
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Baseball version of the jersey. Do a football version of the jersey.
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Get a basketball version. Definitely.
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I would do the first ones would be basketball and baseball for sure.
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I think those are the most popular ones that people wear casually.
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I feel like football is more and more casual than basketball, personally.
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What about baseball, though? I feel like everyone loves a good baseball jersey.
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I would love a baseball jersey. It's got to be pinstripes, though.
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You've got to put the white pinstripes. Of course. You can't have just that plain blue.
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Or we can have the lighter color blue from our scenic logo. Yeah, that, too.
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That's always an option. All the colors. All the good colors.
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Put the mascot patch on there.
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Oh, my gosh. There you go. I would like to piggyback on something.
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And I do agree with Hunter of going to universities because currently right
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now I've been going to these events recently of we go to hospitals or a place
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where state employees actually are and get them enrolled into our programs.
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But the idea of going to colleges is also great because when you're young, you don't realize,
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I mean, you have the standard jobs that you always hear about,
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but there's so many job titles that no one's ever heard of, especially in state
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jobs where a lot of students might even have think about.
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And then to also add our discounts on top of that, if they were to,
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you know, join the state, that's great opportunities all around.
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I think too, it would be good for scenic to talk to those as college students
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as well, because I think that there's unfortunately a negative stigma that people
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have associated with being a state employee.
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Like maybe young people think, oh, you know, they got these big dreams,
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like I'm going to work for Microsoft, right?
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But they don't understand that working for the state has its own benefits and
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they can get you to where you want to go to, even if you had to use it as a stepping stone.
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Like you can get a lot of good experience in the state and there is a lot of good jobs in the state.
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And I think that that's It's not really explained to young people as much that
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being a state employee is still a very good thing.
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Definitely. And I know I've definitely
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heard scenic members talk about how state employment used to be.
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And it used to be you got better benefits, you got a little bit less pay,
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but the benefits make it up for it in the long run, especially when it came to retirement.
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And now they feel like they're not getting those benefits as much,
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which is causing more state employees to leave and causing that mass vacancy rate.
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One of the biggest things I see in the workforce, maybe not with the first few
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years of people, but people who are a little bit older, they complain about
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things a lot. They're complaining about everything in the workforce.
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And then I'm like, well, do you know Scenic's talking about this?
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You know, Scenic can make changes.
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You know, people talk about all these things that there's a list of things they've
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already changed that we're happy that we have.
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And they're like, wait, Scenic did that? And like, yeah, Scenic did that.
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Scenic's talking about this.
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You can bring up problems. You can bring up anything that's going on.
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So it's a big thing. I'll talk to some of the older people that I work with
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about the changes that Scenic actually makes.
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And I like that they don't shy away from the problems.
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They're like, okay, there's a problem. What can we do about it? How can we change this?
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What about if they made a Scenic t-shirt that on the back it had listed things that we've done?
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Like, you know, big time changes that Scenic was a part of that really,
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maybe if Scenic wasn't a part of it, it wouldn't have happened.
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Yeah. So people could, I don't know, like, I don't know how many people walk
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around and look at t-shirts and like, oh, you know, what is that? Or that's cool.
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But I think there is still some people that care about stuff like that.
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Yeah. Kind of like what we do on our website. We have the successes in the General
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Assembly and successes during certain time frames on what Scenic has done for the state employees.
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But I really think like if Scenic modernized some of the merch to be geared
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towards some young people, they would like imagine like a Scenic hoodie with
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flames on it, like the Thrasher flames, you know what I'm saying? Blue flames.
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Blue flames. Because blue flames are hotter than orange flames.
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Yeah. I mean, there might be some trademark issues with that.
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We might have to look into that.
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You know what I'm saying, though? Like the flames are like lightning and stuff.
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Like, yeah, you don't have to do everything like that. But I think if you do
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some stuff like that, it would be cool. And I don't know, is the Scenic Store
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open to anybody or is it just to members?
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Like, do we have an online? We have it on the website. You can go to the website and anyone can order.
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Because I was like, I don't do we really market this Scenic Store? Not really.
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Like, do we put it out there, advertise it? Because I'm curious that if you
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really updated your merch, you could probably make some sales and get your name out there.
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People wear it. the scenic store is a little hard to find on the
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website the way you get to the scenic store for anyone who
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wants to know is you go to the scenic website and then hover
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over the membership section and at the very bottom there
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will be a bar that says scenic store so if anyone wants to
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buy anything from the scenic store that's how you get there but it's not right up
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there in front of your face you do kind of have to look for it and find
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it so i definitely think you know marketing that would be something very interesting
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to think about and work on i really want a blue flame scenic like i want that
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now you should design one for yourself and then share it with everyone else
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i do too now like the shirts in sorority people just make shirts and they'll
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be like who wants to buy it and then they'll make a whole thing about it
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But to add to that, I tried to suggest in my district of doing more like work-related items.
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It's like, or like, I don't know some of the stuff that I've gotten,
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but it's like, what about some more like folder, file folders or like one of
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the nice portfolios and everything.
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We go to court sometimes, so stuff that'd be nice for court.
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I know we have notepads for sale in the scenic store that have the scenic logo
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on the front of the notepads that are like almost portfolio style.
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You just remind me of like the biggest idea ever. And I forgot that I thought of this idea.
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We are never going to finish this podcast. Think about this.
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His ideas are endless. Beer festival and stuff, right?
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Forget about that. What if there was a scenic festival, right?
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And you get all these vendors and stuff to come out there.
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And then maybe you get some artists to come out there. And then in the middle
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of it, artists comes out on the stage. I believe that is what we call a convention.
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No, no, no. But that's only for members. It can be part of a convention.
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Imagine in downtown Rylan, it was the big scenic event, right? Right.
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You got some like live bands and a bunch of food trucks came out there.
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And then, like I said, artists to come out on the stage, you know,
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entertain people. I'm there for artists. I just want you to know that.
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We always support artists.
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We would have to expand to like the colleges and everywhere else first and get
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big, big. That's actually a good idea, though, is to do a little festival at a college.
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Yeah. This whole conference room fully supports and loves artists is what Allie
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is saying. Just so you know, artists. We all love her.
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All right. So now we are going to move on to our next kind of topic.
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So within the next five years, we are expected to have a mass exodus of state
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employees who are retiring or getting ready to retire.
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How do you think that this is going to affect state employment and will affect
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state employees when we already have such a large vacancy rate?
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I believe it's a 25% vacancy rate within state government.
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I feel like this is directed more towards Allie since she is working in state
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government at the moment.
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I definitely see it already happening because about, I think it was like May-ish,
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they were trying to get people to hold off to retire until about last May.
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So right now it's kind of starting already.
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So there's a lot of movement and DPS just expanded, I guess.
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So DAC, Department of Adult Corrections, separated away from Department of Public Safety.
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So there's a lot of change in leadership and everything.
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Just going from that. Along with retirement, though, I think it's a good thing
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in a sense because we see it in our politics.
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There's caps on ages. Here's a big thing for me.
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Our federal government has a cap on age, but it doesn't count for like all these
20:06
politicians that might be a little too old to be holding certain positions.
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And they also say you can't start applying for these things or trying to be
20:17
these positions until a certain age. Which is also a huge problem because you're
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getting people out of the military who are now, quote unquote,
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too old to start a government job.
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And it's kind of people you want in that government job.
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So that's a whole nother thing. So I think it's a good thing in a sense that
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we're going to have sort of a mass exodus because some of these old ideas and
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traditions can be kind of washed away.
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And maybe some of the negativity will be washed away, too, because a lot of
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retirees have a little bit more of a negative kind of thing.
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With all the changes that have come in.
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So I think maybe we'll get some of a younger mindset coming in and maybe we
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can get some new people during that because there's a lot of younger people
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that just most of them want to be doing social media type things.
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And one of our bosses hates social media because of what it usually brings, unfortunately.
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But if we could spin it in a good light, that could also help us get new hires.
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Show the positive effects of that. Maybe even be in the spotlight to get new
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hires and it can snowball into a good thing.
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And I know we talk a lot about vacancies at the office and the vacancy rate
21:27
in the current state government employment.
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And with this mass exodus, what do you guys see as staff of Scenic when it comes
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to this max exodus and this already very large vacancy rate?
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I mean, my vision for the future is if more Gen Xers and millennials start to
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be the managers and supervisors, we understand the needs of what our employees really want.
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So I think we would be bringing back a lot more work from home jobs because
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even now, most of us want that at least two days a week.
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And that would be huge given, you know, the cost of gas is just everything so
22:08
expensive right now. So anything to do that would help with our budgets.
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I mean, that's one thing.
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Yeah, the cost of living definitely has been a bit of a crisis,
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a bit of a issue in the past few years, talking about everything going up,
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not just gas, but rent prices.
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Yeah. If you meet those needs and also have scenic, maybe lobby to implement
22:32
anything in the law that could also help not just employees,
22:36
but just things in general to keep rent from spiking more than 5% a year. Yeah.
22:43
I would definitely love and agree with the younger generation coming into management.
22:47
I think it's a great idea, but I think they are a little cautious of it.
22:51
I think they should be a little more pro-younger management.
22:55
I feel like another thing is because of the way the economy is,
22:59
the people who are getting ready to retire and wanting to retire,
23:02
it can still be hard for them to retire because of the way the economy has been
23:06
with rent prices and gas prices and everything constantly going up.
23:09
And that's one of the reasons they still are in this management positions.
23:12
And the millennials and Gen Z aren't necessarily ready to take over their management positions.
23:18
So they almost leave it to the generations who are getting ready to retire.
23:23
And they're still wanting to do it, which is why Gen Z and millennials are kind
23:27
of like, OK, we'll stay here until the economy has kind of gotten better and
23:31
you guys are ready to retire because I wouldn't want to retire in this economy.
23:35
Scenic taught me what a COLA was, though, so I'm really happy about that.
23:37
I know what that is at a young age.
23:39
There you go. I think that Exodus is really emphasizing why Scenic is still
23:45
very important and why people should continue to support Scenic.
23:50
Because these type of issues is exactly what Scenic is going to come in and try to address.
23:55
And I think it also plays into the fact as well, from the earlier points where
23:59
a lot of people are going to be leaving, And it would be beneficial if Scenic
24:03
found a way to get a lot of young people into these jobs so that not only are
24:09
they getting experience,
24:10
but this vacancy issue doesn't become too much worse.
24:13
And then obviously the overall thing from this is they, meaning the state,
24:18
they need to make these jobs, give more incentive back to working.
24:23
Working so i mean you know they'm getting all those benefits
24:26
and you know i don't know what the pay is like but i bet that
24:29
they could improve it especially with everything becoming more expensive in
24:32
just daily life so i mean if all these people leave
24:35
i think that ultimately that's what's going to come to that the state's going
24:38
to have to really give people an incentive on why they should work for the state
24:41
they can't just ignore them because that's what i feel like they've been doing
24:44
they've just been dripping some stuff here and there over the years oh here's
24:47
a little here's a little raise or you know here's this and i feel like that's
24:50
just not going to be able to stay in for the long term.
24:54
Kind of give more, make the job look more attractive to the people who are entering
24:58
the workforce rather than just saying they're going to make it look more attractive.
25:02
And I think Scenic's probably going to be spearheading that,
25:05
especially when this happens.
25:06
I mean, you know, you got to give these people something to keep them or they're going to leave.
25:10
It's a pretty constant 2.5 to 3 percent a year, which is something like I'm
25:16
not mad about it. It's something.
25:17
And I know Scenic is working on it. And they said the 10 percent.
25:20
And I'm like, oh, if only. But yeah, it's been pretty constant.
25:23
Two point five, three percent, maybe.
25:25
We'll see what next year brings. And I'm like, OK, well, we see these other
25:29
people in these big jobs and we're out here like as an officer.
25:33
Like I said, I worked in the prison before this and now I'm in the field with
25:36
probation. Like we're out in the field with weapons and everything.
25:40
Something can happen any day. I mean, look what happened in Charlotte a few months ago.
25:43
We're the ones out there on the front lines at risk. So why not give us a little
25:48
bit more incentive here?
25:50
And especially with, it's not like those raises aren't taxed.
25:53
They're also taxed, so it doesn't... We had a retention bonus and it got taxed,
25:58
which, again, love to see it.
26:01
I'm not gonna be mad about getting it, but we didn't see all of it, if you know what I mean.
26:05
Very understandable. They've got to do more for the workers.
26:08
That's just the bottom line. Definitely. Not doing enough. I think it will be
26:12
a really good opportunity to get more young to the organization.
26:17
And, you know, these days, people, they already get used to work from home.
26:22
So if we can bring, as Deanna said, like two days working from home,
26:26
it will be a really good perk for the job.
26:29
I feel like another thing with the younger generation and getting those hybrid
26:35
days is when COVID hit, all of us got so used to being stuck at home,
26:41
whether we were in college at the time or in high school.
26:43
We got so used to having that flexibility of working from home and doing school
26:48
from home and all of that stuff that whenever we had to transition back to, oh, this is hybrid,
26:54
we were like, okay, I like the hybrid because then I still get the socialization
26:57
and get to talk to other staff and coworkers and everything.
27:01
And then I still also get to save some money by not having to drive to work
27:06
every single day and use money for gas and use money for like going went out to lunch.
27:11
But then whenever everything became all in person again, people were like,
27:14
I don't know about this. Those hybrid jobs are nice.
27:17
Yeah. And one thing I want to address is some people might have the worry that
27:22
people may have less connection while they're working from home.
27:27
But my girlfriend, she's working
27:29
from home, and her company has a lot of intern events, social events.
27:34
So yesterday, they have intern social, so they gave a $25 Uber coupon.
27:40
So they are doing the Zoom course, and they are bringing lunch together on the video call.
27:47
So still finding ways to be social even at home. Yeah, exactly.
27:51
That's really cool. I never got to go.
27:54
All home, all hybrid. I was in the prison, like with the COVID people the whole
27:59
time. So really happy for y'all.
28:02
Before we leave today, I want to ask, what is one thing that you would like
28:06
to say to any younger members in scenic or any younger state employees that
28:11
are thinking about joining scenic?
28:13
And we're going to start with Jameson because he seems very excited over there.
28:16
Oh, so for young state employees who are not scenic members,
28:20
I would tell them like, obviously I work here.
28:23
So, you know, I'm probably going to sound biased. But I would ask them,
28:26
go look at the website, go look at what Scenic does and what it fights for.
28:31
Try to become involved. And to the people that are members that are young,
28:35
I would tell them to do the same thing. Look at what we offer.
28:38
And once you really understand what Scenic offers, whether it's benefits or
28:42
what we fight for, go out and tell people about it.
28:44
Because I really don't see any negative in what Scenic does.
28:48
I mean, all it does is fight for people, you know, tries to get state workers
28:52
benefits, try to get them raises, is try to make sure that the state is doing right by them.
28:56
And even though it's not everything that they do or their main focus,
29:01
Scenic does some things outside of just state employee stuff.
29:06
Like anything that Scenic feels is good for North Carolina, they're always on the forefront of it.
29:10
So if you're a member, learn about that stuff and try to tell other people because
29:14
obviously Scenic is important.
29:16
And the more people that are in Scenic, the stronger Scenic is.
29:20
And to the people that aren't members who are listening. If you're listening
29:24
to this, you're not a member, you need to join.
29:26
We got some people in Germany and other countries that listen. That's really cool.
29:30
Seven countries total. I would say to like new people in general is don't let
29:37
yourself get super discouraged and have a negative attitude because it's just not worth it in any job.
29:43
I mean, especially in my job. I'm like, you have to deal with people who they
29:48
don't want to be there and you have to make them be there.
29:51
So, hey, you have to have a smile on your face sometimes when you just don't
29:55
want to. too. But I try to have a very positive outlook on life.
29:58
To the people, getting them to join, we talk about the problems.
30:01
We talk about the real issues.
30:02
And we talk about, there's things that I learn all the time with Sini that I'm
30:05
like, wait, they touch on this.
30:07
They talk about this. They are involved.
30:10
I've learned so much stuff about insurance, about retirement,
30:13
because it's all going to come in the future and everything, retirement.
30:17
And with convention, too. And I've been talking to Lynn a little bit about it,
30:21
of bringing in breakout sessions for a little bit younger crowd of like,
30:25
I want to buy a house one day and I don't know the first thing about buying a house.
30:29
You know, why don't we do something about that? Or like, what about talking
30:32
about credit? We all have to deal with credit. Maybe we can get some tips about it or...
30:36
It's great even for us to look at some of the retirement stuff so we can plan for our future.
30:41
I mean, for me, that's 25 years away if I only do 30 years. So,
30:45
I mean, it's all stuff that we're going to go through in the future anyway.
30:48
And this is just giving us a chance to learn about it. Kind of like a financial
30:51
training session and retirement training.
30:54
And it's a great network opportunity to be here.
30:58
Honestly, I've met so many people from different districts and seeing one of
31:02
my sorority sisters and getting connected that way. It's fantastic.
31:07
For those who don't know, the way me and Allie met was at convention and I knew
31:13
I recognized her, but I didn't know what from.
31:16
Yeah, we were just staring at each other for a good five minutes.
31:19
Like, how do I know this person's face?
31:20
By the third day, she was wearing a sorority shirt with our sorority letters on it.
31:25
And I immediately realized that we had went to the same college,
31:28
not at the same time, but went to the same college.
31:30
And I had seen her at a sorority event before convention. and we just clicked.
31:37
Alpha Gamma Delta, shout out. This is a three-day thing?
31:41
There's like a whole arc to this. Yes, we were essentially staring at each other
31:45
for three days straight before she wore that Alpha Gamma shirt.
31:48
It started the New Delhi orientation.
31:51
It sounds like something out the Bible, like on the third day, they finally...
31:55
On the third day, we finally talked to each other.
31:58
This shirt is what did it. Like, oh, that's where I recognize you.
32:04
From? Were you at Western last April? Maybe.
32:08
Alright. Hunter, Tiana, either of you. I can go next. So I'm going to say what
32:13
Nike kept telling us, just do it.
32:18
So people when they're looking for a job, they are most likely to be attracted
32:22
by those jobs who offer a crazy amount of salaries.
32:25
But I want to remind us that a sense of pride of what you're doing is also very
32:30
important. So while I'm working for Cineb,
32:33
I know I'm helping other people. We keep talking about Cine can provide like
32:39
purchasing plan for those people who need those financial plan and they provide
32:44
like affordable insurance to people in need.
32:47
So when I'm working, I get a sense of proud that I'm actually helping other people.
32:51
And that's not something you can, I mean, money can buy like a Mercedes,
32:57
but it cannot buy me this sense of proud.
33:00
Out so and also i get a chance to
33:03
work with really kind people like you guys like we laugh we talk about a lot
33:08
of things doing work yeah so that's why i love scenic so yeah i would totally
33:13
recommend people to join scenic we love it when we hear that people are proud
33:17
of what they do i agree with that be proud of what you do and what you are and
33:21
what you want to do i'm proud of myself.
33:24
I'm proud that you're proud of yourself i appreciate it so much pride in this
33:28
room I would tell young members and just younger people in general that,
33:34
not to sound corny or anything, but I'm going to sound a bit corny,
33:37
but we are the next in line and, you know, be the change that you want to see happen.
33:42
Happen and also when it comes
33:45
to and this will tie into scenic as well take more
33:49
seriously your benefits and your future and your
33:52
retirement and what you have and what you don't have and look into scenic and
33:56
everything that we offer and hopefully maybe things you never thought about
34:01
having before you can see what we offer and really invest into yourself and
34:07
take advantage of what we offer to you. I think that's definitely good advice.
34:10
I guess I'll throw my own advice in there since I've asked everyone.
34:14
Sammy, what do you think is the best advice?
34:16
When it comes to Scenic and joining Scenic, I think you should definitely come
34:19
in with an open mind because everyone here truly is one big family.
34:23
You get to know everyone so quickly. It's not only great for networking and
34:28
getting to know other people in the different parts of the state and different agencies.
34:32
But everyone has such different mindsets that you really get to see the world
34:37
from other people's perspectives.
34:38
And everyone just cares so much about each other.
34:41
You show up on BOG days and everyone's hugging each other saying,
34:44
how are you? It's been so long.
34:45
You show up to convention and it's one big happy family of everyone getting
34:50
excited about what they do and being able to make changes that will affect them
34:55
and make things better for them later on down the road.
34:58
Now, here's the fun thing. every week if
35:01
anyone listens to the podcast is in this room i hope you do considering three
35:04
of you work here and one of you is a member we do
35:07
a wacky weird question of the week which is something that we like to do just
35:12
kind of a fun thing to wrap up our episodes and have a little laugh before we
35:16
head out sunny's wacky weird question of the week so my question this week for you guys is what was
35:25
your dream profession when you were growing up and why?
35:28
Because I know everyone got one, whether you wanted to be a firefighter or princess
35:31
or a mermaid. Everyone has a dream job that they had when they were little. So I actually have two.
35:36
My first one is I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was a really little
35:41
kid because I was always reading books about sharks and I loved that.
35:44
And then I found out that part of being a biologist is you might end up swimming
35:49
with them. And I was like, oh, no, I'm not doing that. So let me change.
35:52
So then Then my next one was I wanted to be a voice actor because I was really
35:55
good at creating characters and mimicking. That's always fun.
35:59
I could hear that. I could hear you being a voice actor.
36:02
Jamison? I wanted to be a football player when I was a little kid.
36:08
Mom wanted to play in the NFL. I wanted to be a running back. Somehow I ended up in IT.
36:13
But, you know, if you get me those scenic football jerseys, I may be able to
36:17
live out my life. Are we going to make a scenic football team?
36:20
We can. I mean, we need more people.
36:23
So when I was a kid, I dreamed to be a secret agent because I watched too many Hollywood movies.
36:29
So actually I picked my name Hunter from like
36:32
Mission Impossible like Tom Cruise his character was
36:35
Ethan Hunt so when I was a kid I wanted to
36:38
be like Ethan Hunt like save the world from the nuclear missiles so yeah but
36:44
when I'm growing old I realized it's impossible right if you get shot you're
36:49
getting traveled Mission Impossible is in fact impossible yeah exactly it's
36:55
impossible you got a code name though code name.
36:59
So when I was younger and I'd watched like the crime shows and everything,
37:02
I thought it'd be really cool to work in the field for a little while and then
37:07
get more of like a desk job.
37:09
And I've kind of done all of that already with being corrections officer and then a case manager.
37:14
I was more at a desk. I was still certified. And now I'm probation.
37:17
I go in the field and do all this stuff. And then I also dress up and go to
37:21
court. So like I'm doing that.
37:23
So it's pretty cool. For me, I also had two, kind of like Tiana.
37:27
Whenever I was really, really little, I wanted to be a vet technician because I loved animals.
37:33
And then my mother informed me that that meant that I would have to put down
37:38
dogs and cats every now and then. And I said, I'm not doing that.
37:42
I would cry at work every single day.
37:45
And then I fell in love with YouTube and said, I want to do something with social media one day.
37:51
And now here I am getting to work with social media and digital media on a daily basis.
37:55
So I feel like we're all, or at least me and Allie got to live out our dream jobs.
38:00
We still have opportunities for you guys to live out your dream jobs.
38:02
Yeah, football player. Football player.
38:05
You can still become a secret agent. No, I am. I'm just pretending to be an
38:09
IT guy. But when I go home, I save the world.
38:12
You are succeeding at your dream job. did serious fun fact i've been a vet tech
38:17
did you have to put down about bees and kitties oh that's why i decided the
38:22
fun part the fun part was kind of surgery honestly.
38:25
I can see that and just petting dogs and getting loved out by dogs does anyone
38:30
have anything else to say before we sign off i have an idea okay i thought of
38:35
a new idea okay it's the mic i think we should do scenic asmr that's basically
38:40
what last week's episode was because it was pouring down rain and you could hear it.
38:54
To events? Yeah. Yes. Okay. I'll do that.
38:57
What about if you guys get like a podcast room and you actually put people on
39:02
cam? Do they monetize podcasts?
39:05
Sometimes. You can. Yes. Can we do that? Put this podcast out there and let's
39:09
get like 2000 followers and we will monetize our content so that Zanit can earn
39:15
more money to make you guys this awesome merch that we have been talking about this whole episode.
39:19
With flames. I need the flames. With flames.
39:22
All right. Great. Thank you guys so much for listening. And thank you to Allie,
39:27
Hunter, Jameson, and Tiana for joining me today. You're welcome.
39:32
Thanks for having me. Thank you for having me.
39:35
Music.