I want to help people do what they do best and enjoy the work they do

About me:

Hello, I’m Trent Longest, a psychology major at UMBC with a passion for human resources and organizational culture. Currently, I’m a People Operations intern at CRISP Shared Services, where I help build connection and culture, support internship programs, and engage in recruiting and onboarding. I’m fascinated by how psychology and HR intersect to create positive, productive workplaces where employees can truly thrive.

In addition to my academic and professional work, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Ireland, an experience that broadened my perspective on adaptability and resilience. I’m also committed to continuous personal growth and strive to apply this mindset to my career, focusing on strategies that foster inclusivity and well-being in the workplace.

My goal is to start my career as an HR Generalist, where I can apply both my academic knowledge and real-world experience to help organizations support their people in meaningful ways. Outside of work, I enjoy strength training and musical theatre, and I’m always looking for ways to balance my productivity with wellness.

Experience and Skills

  • Beyond my four-year degree, see EDUCATION below, I have received my Associate Professional in Human Resources Certification (aPHR) and I am soon sitting for my SHRM-CP Certification, both of which as a testament to my knowledge of all things HR. In addition, take a look at some my key projects below as proof of my experience in various functions across HR.

  • I have always had a particular affinity for numbers and extracting information from data. I have experience in both Excel and PowerBI and have created dozens of dashboard and spreadsheets alike to serve both personal and business needs. Many of these skills were self taught through online courses and projects were self-led from conception to completion

  • I will receive my BA in Psychology and certificate in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Maryland: Baltimore County in December, 2024. Beyond required coursework I took several courses in music, philosophy, and information systems. Additionally, I aided in neuropsychological research with one of my professors for a couple of semesters.

  • I received my Eagle Scout award in 2019. I have been a lifelong believer in the principles of the Boy Scouts of America and attempt to build on these principles and continue to exemplify them through all my actions. I also received a departmental award in Psychology from UMBC in the Summer of 2024, as well as graduating Summa Cum Laude.

Portfolio

  • Retriever Activity Center Data Analysis

    This was a project I designed from scratch. This was not at all required for me, but I knew with my budding skills in data analysis and dashboard design that I could rise above my station and assist my managers decision making by providing integral data concerning our busiest times which was used to increase funding in future academic years.

  • Psychological Safety

    This was my flagship project at Franklin Templeton, I was assigned this project with some direction but lots of freedom, I researched hundreds of pages of articles and industry resources, and provided a professional slide deck that was used by managers many levels above myself.

  • Recruiting and Onboarding

    I was not expecting to enjoy recruiting and onboarding as much as I did at CRISP Shared Services, however I enjoyed meeting and onboarding new talent, understanding their history, and seeing how excited they were to work with our teams. I have handled a very high load of tasks related to access and interviewing, and even conducted a few interviews of my own!

  • HR Data Analytics

    My two favorite passions came together in putting together multiple dashboards and spreadsheets. I was able to determine key KPIs for our team at CSS that we did not have access to before such as Time to Hire, Performance Reviews by Staffing strategy, and so many more factors. I look forward to developing this area further and providing these key details to those in a position to make decisions based on this highly important data.

Quarterly Blog PostS

November 1, 2024

Thank you for getting this far on my website! I have never done anything like this before, but I hope you have learned by now that I will never hesitate to try something new. Many of the things I have put in this website have not come true yet: I am still in my final semester at UMBC, with many projects and papers left to complete, and I am still studying for my SHRM-CP Exam. I hope that by writing it out here, I am sort of manifesting it into the world.I plan to continue my networking attempts between now and then as it seems every professional I reach out to reassures me that you can never network too much at any age, and certainly not at mine. I do not believe I previously mentioned that I am a member of the Howard County SHRM Chapter who I was introduced to by CRISP Shared Services. This chapter seems to be very beneficial in terms of resources, especially for emerging professionals. In one of the group mentor meetings (I signed up for their mentorship program and it has provided me a wealth of information after just one or two meetings) we were led in a networking workshop and the presenter mentioned the 25-50 people whose radar you want to stay on to advance your career- those who will help move the needle when it comes to your knowledge, skills, abilities, etc. I am trying to reach out to one person a week to schedule meetings with them to catch up, and beyond the professional aspect, it is quite refreshing to see familiar faces who are as happy to see me as I am happy to see them. Things are very busy right now, but I am learning more and more about myself and the world around me every day. Regardless, I am excited about all the change that is still to come by the time I write this next article which I assume will be sometime in early February of 2025. Best of luck to you, and I look forward to our future conversations.

-T

P.S. This was a presentation I was giving at our Columbia Office near the end of the summer portion of my internship at CRISP Shared Services.

December 21, 2024

Last Thursday I graduated from UMBC with my B.A. in Psychology, Summa Cum Laude, with a certificate in Industrial Organizational Psychology. This was the culmination of many years of hard work that I don’t think I can fully reflect on so soon after the fact; this just feels like a normal winter break besides the actual ceremony. In addition, I received confirmation that I passed my SHRM-CP exam. I am glad to have that certification to represent my budding knowledge in HR. In recent weeks I have put a pause on networking for the holidays, to be picked up again a few weeks into the new year. I am also extremely excited to be starting a new position at CRISP Shared Services as their Jr People Analytics Associate. I am happy to continue to learn and grow in an organization that supports me and whose mission and values I support as well. I am continuously exposed to my blind spots and while that may be eye-opening, pun intended, learning to accept them is difficult. I plan to pick up some more of my creative hobbies now that my weeks will be a little more regular. I recently purchased an intermediate classical piano book, which I hope will satisfy my desire for music. I also have checked out my first library book in likely ten years as I have long since purchased my own books which I also donated a large majority of recently. Philosophy isn’t light reading by any means, but I feel compelled to continue to develop in that area of my life, though it often leaves me with more questions than answers. I think the next professional development area I want to look into is more HR and Business Law. While I learned some of it throughout my undergrad, I would like to understand more of the details of all of these employment acts. That will certainly have to wait a couple of months while I take a break from academia. I will likely check in again at the end of March, and while I only have some ideas of what I hope to accomplish by then, I am excited for the controlled unknown that lies ahead. I wish you the best, and I look forward to our future conversations,

-T

P.S. Here’s a graduation picture with my father and mother.

MAY 18, 2025

Hello again, it’s been a little bit of time since I last wrote one of these so I figure it’s time to write one again. This past quarter I’ve been settling into my new role as Junior People Analytics Associate at CRISP Shared Services and working on some high-intensity L&D and HRIS Migration projects.

I am glad to be working full time again, it makes me feel really part of the team and the work we are doing for our people. I think a lot of my development in the near future, besides rounding out my data analysis and visualization skills, is understanding more of the every-day work our people do and how exactly that contributes to the big picture of what we provide to hospitals and our patients. I continue to learn how important attention to detail is and sometimes become increasingly frustrated with how hard it is to consciously be aware of how many details there are to pay attention to. That is, of course, increasingly important as my autonomy grows, and, especially when it comes to data, if I want my results to be taken at face value as truth I not only need to understand the statistical techniques, but also all the places that errors may pop up.

Concerning the HRIS migration, it has been a big load for our finance and people operations team, and everyone is contributing so much time and effort towards it, and I am proud in all the strengths that our team shows and how we are able to complement each other in our weaknesses as well. There is so much that goes into it. I couldn’t even possibly list all of the things that have happened and still yet need to happen. One piece I am intrigued by, and I know my director has a lot of experience in, is the change management aspect of this, and I think what one of my team members said really sums it up “it may be an easier system, it may be less complex, but it is something new and therefore it will always be harder than what they’re used to”. Change management really gets to the heart of why I got into HR, the people. I want to help people through this process because I know it would be hard for me and they are doing so much hard work that we want this to help them and shorten the learning curve.

We’ve also been focused on developing our future leadership and that has been an almost as complex process as the system migration above. With so many people involved and so much to cover in such a complex and nuanced topic as leadership development, as well as understanding the unique challenges and opportunities our leaders are presented within our industry, even down to the specific members of their team, makes it all the more important to recognize this is not a one-size-fits-all development program. I have been very lucky to learn from our OD consultant, as well as my director as they make decisions that I would not have made which presents such an opportunity for me to learn how these things are done and how professionals do them. Even from just one session, our participants seem excited to be involved in this program, and I am equally excited to see their growth through this process.

On a bit of a sidenote, tomorrow I start my first lesson as an ESL tutor. I am working with the Carroll County literacy group as a 1:1 tutor. I speak a bit of Spanish, but even less than my student speaks English. However, I am hopeful that we will make progress over our time working together, and it is amazing what people go through as they try to learn a new language and all the unique experiences they bring with them. I hope I can be of use to her and help her towards her goals. And I have no doubt that I will learn from her more about myself, the world, and what it means to be involved with your community.

I also recently completed the AIHR people analytics course. This is one of two courses I planned to take in the near future to facilitate my immediate development in providing value in my role. I’ve already begun applying when I have learned and it’s crazy that just when you think you finally mastered such a simple subject, at least simple relative to other topics, there is still so much to learn, so much so that revisiting topics is a necessity. I have always been part of a learning culture from being in school for probably 75% of my life at this point so being outside of a structured learning environment is quite a shift for me, and I don’t know whether it is my reluctance to acknowledge that that structure is gone, or the growth mindset that has been instilled in me over all that time, but I plan to continue learning for the foreseeable future anything that could be of use to me through formal and informal means.

-T

P.S. I decided I wanted to shave my head

Get in touch.

I am always looking for new opportunities to learn more so if you have any job openings or resources you think I’d find interesting, I’d be glad to hear them and return the favor with some resources of my own!