With a passion for people, culture, and learning, Cara Hoover partners with company leadership, personnel, and the community to ensure that ShowClix is attracting the best candidates and helping them realize their potential to drive business performance. Today, we are excited to introduce Cara Hoover, our Human Resources (HR) Coordinator.
Cara graduated from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing. During college, Cara worked several jobs including bartending at a local bar and as sales associate at American Eagle. She also volunteered for Cold Hands Warm Heart – a 5k run where all proceeds went to Indiana’s local Center for Cardiac and Vascular Care.
Cara came on-board with ShowClix in July 2015 as our Administrative Assistant, and was quickly promoted to Human Resources Coordinator later that year. Today, Cara is in charge of assisting with the entire scope of producing and managing employer-to-employee relationships and enhancing team collaboration. She also is responsible for developing and publishing our “Meet the Team” blog series!
As the Human Resources Coordinator, you are responsible for providing support for employees and assisting in recruitment. What aspects of HR do you enjoy the most?
I enjoy working in HR mostly because I have a positive impact on people each day. Along with that, the work we do in HR goes a long way in the professional development of our employees. With tools like company surveys, performance reviews, and exit interviews, we are able to collect valuable information and use it to guide performance improvement plans. This gives me the opportunity to not just improve the organization as a whole, but also the individual employees I work alongside.
We know that you consider your manager, Lauren Lippello, your mentor. Can you tell us a little about your relationship with Lauren?
Lauren became Director of HR around the same time that I transitioned into my new HR role. She set a plan for to us develop the culture and our HR strategy. Lauren and I worked closely setting goals and developing action plans to meet those goals. She is an excellent collaborator and is consistently giving me valuable insight. She has been working for ShowClix for almost 8 years in different areas of the company, so it is very inspiring to observe the expertise and passion she has for making our company a great place to work. I feel I have improved in my professional career due to having an accomplished mentor like Lauren.
You have been a part of countless company event planning and team morale projects. Â What project do you feel has made a strong impact at ShowClix?
Every 2 weeks, we have a company-wide meeting in our lobby followed by a lunch. One week, HR played a game called “Fact or Fiction”, where we asked a few employees to list 4 facts about themselves that most people wouldn’t know. We then added a random fact to the list. Previously selected employees came to the front of the room, while everyone else had to guess which out of the 5 statements was fiction. It was really interesting to learn things about co-workers we didn’t know, like one of our co-workers met their spouse in an AOL chatroom!
You were part of the Event Operations team that went to New York Comic Con (NYCC) last October. What did you like most about the event?
This experience was one like no other. Because I work in HR, I haven’t had much time to become familiar with our products that we use on-site. It was really incredible to see how ShowClix has built a product that is capable of moving thousands of fans into and out of a venue (that stretches across six city blocks) in a timely and organized fashion. Even though days were long, the best part for me was working together with our team to make this iconic event a seamless success. It was extremely rewarding to witness the excitement of the fans attending NYCC and knowing you contributed to making their experience a great one. I can’t wait until next year!
It’s easy to tell you have a passion for live events. What are the top 3 you would like to check out?
Hmm.. that’s a tough question! I would say my first pick would be the Bruno Mars concert, who is coming to Pittsburgh in October. I think he is very talented and it would be an amazing show. Second, I really want to check out The Pittsburgh Pierogi Festival hosted at Kennywood Park in September. I love perogies and always wanted to get a picture with Oliver Onion haha. Last but not least, I would love to go to Wine Festival Sunday at Seven Springs in August. This festival showcases wineries from all over Pittsburgh along with a variety of crafts and live music entertainment – sounds like a perfect Sunday to me!