Confero Winter 2013: Issue 1 | Page 8

9 1/2 A Conversation with Cindy Rubino, HR/Benefits Manager at Contractors Register QUESTIONS By Thomas Zamiara Confero Magazine: What has attracted you to work in human resources? Cindy Rubino: Well, actually what attracted me was working on our 401(k); it’s what drove me to go the HR route. I really enjoy working with employee benefits and working on the 401(k) was my first real exposure to employee benefits. I just really enjoyed working with the plan, the administration of the plan, and plan design—I just really enjoyed all that. CM: What has your career path looked like up to this point? 6 | January-March 2012 CR: I went to school, undergrad for accounting, and I started working in a big six accounting firm and discovered very quickly that public accounting was not for me. I went into the private sector and I worked in various accounting roles: I worked at an investment firm, I worked in a private accounting firm, I worked for IBM, Readers Digest and then I landed here [Contractors Register] as a supervisor; it was my first supervisory role in accounting. During the course of that , I did get a masters degree in Internet Business Systems. Unfortunately, I graduated right around the time when the bubble burst so I never was able to use the degree for much, until I came here. That degree helped me when I was looking for HIS and I was able to be a part of that team when we were looking for an HR system. I always was trying to get out of accounting, so when I came here and I had the exposure with 401(k), I thought that employee benefits and HR would be a good transition. Plus, with my accounting background it helps with budgeting; I can look at benefits from a financial perspective as well. CM: I envision the human resource department with two doors: the hiring door and the firing door.