Employee Spotlight - Holly McQuarrie

A small town girl that moved to the big city, who has had numerous jobs/careers; from a CNC lathe/mill operator in a car parts factory to a hairstylist/makeup artist, who then found her passion a bit later in life. I’ve never been so happy to find a career that I love and that challenges me on a daily basis. Returning to school as a mature student to study HR was the best decision I could have made. Now 6 years into my career I’ve found a home within Cyclica and couldn’t be more hopeful about my future. With my past experiences, I’ve been a part of many companies, so I have a lot to compare to, and Cyclica is hand down the best company I have ever worked for.

What do you like about working at Cyclica?

The people are what I like about working at Cyclica. From the first day I started, everyone is so helpful, kind, caring, collaborative and passionate about what they do.

How do you describe what you do for a living to family and friends?

I explain that I oversee the employee life cycle; hiring, onboarding, compensation, benefits, performance, compliance, etc. and look out for the best interests of the company and employee. Then I add some humour and tell them I’m the unofficial psychologist, lawyer, event planner, teacher, peacemaker, detective, career planner and miracle worker.

What was your first job?

My first job was a cashier in a grocery store when I was 14 years old and worked there until I was about 18. Within those 4 years I ended up working in every department, so I knew everything there was to know about the grocery store. And to this day I can still remember some of the produce/fruit codes that you enter into the cash register, lol.

How do you define success?

For me, success means accomplishing something that you set out to do. I’ve had a lot of successes in life, as well as a lot of failures, and I’ve learned a lot from both. Career wise, I set out to go back to school and graduate with honours; my ambitions took me to work in a few different industries to be versatile in my HR career and which I consider a success.

If you had to eat one meal every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I’m a sucker for potatoes….so I would have to say poutine. I can always eat poutine!

Do you have a pet? What’s he/she like?

I have 2 shih-tzu’s: Geraldine and Winnie. Winnie is a big suck who likes to be tended to. She is very quiet but will let you know when she needs something, by sitting near you and letting out little whines.

Gerrie (Geraldine) is my anxious pup who always seems nervous and awkward. She likes to bark at people walking by the house and sometimes just the air, lol.

You can connect with Holly on LinkedIn.