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Sep 01 2017

Emily Kuiper

The Corporate Educator
Emily is a Western Michigan University and University of Michigan-Flint alumna. She graduated from Western Michigan University with a bachelor’s of Arts in organizational communication and public relations in 2007. In 2015, she got her Master’s degree in Educational and instructional technology from the University of Michigan-Flint. Emily is also a Certified Instructional Technologist through the Maher Consortium (facilitated by Meijer). Since she graduated in 2015, Emily has been working for Meijer where she began as a Curriculum Designer in the corporate HR department. In her own words, she describes her current role as supporting the functional/technical training development for supply chain, manufacturing, and distribution at Meijer. This includes everything from job aids, eLearning courses, onboarding support, and instructor led training. Emily and her team develop functional and technical training materials for 229 retail stores, 20 distribution and manufacturing facilities, and over 70,000 Meijer employees.

Multiple Hats

  Before working for Meijer Corporate office, Emily worked different positions in various companies. She worked for Northwood University as an admissions recruiter, attending recruiting events and conducting interviews throughout Michigan and Indiana. She also worked for PNC Bank in Sales where she was involved in training programs. At the International Food Protection Training Institute, she worked as an instructional designer specialist developing food safety training and regulatory eLearning for FDA approved companies. All these positions helped her develop new skills and sharpen those already acquired.

Small Team, Big Objectives

  Emily works in a team of six dedicated people whose job is to analyze issues brought to them, and determine if solving them will necessarily require developing training content materials. If it does, they then work with the unit in need (business owner, business unit, department, etc.) in developing the adequate training solution for the end users. They creatively develop training materials such as eLearning courses, appropriate documentations, classroom format courses, etc.
She has lead exciting projects to fruition. Among the ones that she happily remembers and shares (even though challenging) are:
  • Developing customer service training for a new store. With a smile, she describes working with life-size cardboard paper dolls to train employees on how to interact and exchange with their future customers.
  • Creating a series of courses to teach performance management and hate management for a new discipline system that was going to be implemented. They were in charge of developing those training courses for the 70,000 employees of Meijer.

Career Passionate

  One thing you notice with Emily is that she loves her job. No question about it. She describes the work of an instructional designer as dynamic and ever-changing, where one can be involved in projects that are as challenging as they are exciting and captivating.
When asked about what she loves about her job? Emily gladly answered that she “really, really loves designing activities.” She is always interested in finding what businesses need and what people want to learn, narrowing it into training skills, and then finding creative ways to develop the fitting training or learning activities.

The Continuous Learner

Emily is an avid learner herself. She stays sharp by taking self-paced courses often facilitated by her manager. She also passed the required certifications such as BBJA/CRI and IMD, all that have help her becoming an accomplished designer. She also attends monthly workshops offered by the Association of Talent Development in West Michigan. The Association offers hour long workshops on a wide range of topics. Emily does not just develop training and learning materials for Meijer employees, she also learns a great deal through those projects.
Written by: Ulrich Nguema

Written by iie

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