Justin Hasty, Administrative Specialist for the Denver Service Center Planning and Transportation Division

Justin Hasty, Administrative Specialist for the Denver Service Center Planning and Transportation Division.

What is your name and job title? Justin Hasty, Administrative Specialist

What experience and education do you have? I previously worked for the National Park Service (NPS) in the Workforce and Inclusion Directorate for 13 years and worked for Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for four months before coming back to NPS to work with the Denver Service Center (DSC). I also have a degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in management.

What is a typical day like? Best word that describes my day is...unpredictable! I've been in the administration business for a long time and you just never know how the day will pan out. I can plan to work on only recruitment packages and then out of nowhere an employee will have an issue with their pay and I will then need to shift gears to address the new issue and make sure that my customer is taken care of. No matter what projects I am working on or plan to work on, my customers always come first and it's important to be able to shift gear on the fly.

What career advice would you give to someone who wants to follow a similar path? Work hard, be flexible, follow up and have a positive attitude. Working hard is important because the work needs to get done and because it builds trust with your customer. In my field, sometimes questions can literally come out of left field and you have to do some research. If your customer knows you always work hard, they are more likely to be patient and give you time to track down an accurate answer to their question. Flexibility is a big key to success because it is very common for your whole day to go very differently than what you had planned. Priorities shift and there's always a fire or two to put out. Customers appreciate it when you follow up. You might have multiple things you are working on at once and it always shows your customers that you value them and care when you are able to follow up. Finally, it's important to be positive! More often than not, customer's come to us with a great a deal of frustration and it's important to work with them and make them feel comfortable coming to you. Building solid relationships is crucial for customer service and begins with being positive.

What is one of the bigger projects you are working on and what about that project might surprise people? My biggest project is working on recruitment packages and onboarding new employees. I'm trying to utilize my HR (Human Resources) background and contacts to help our organization bring some great talent to help propel DSC to even greater heights as a whole. I'm also working with my administrative team on standardizing our practices to better help our customers. We want our customers to feel confident and comfortable when they come to us that they will be given the proper support to help them accomplish their missions.

What are you the most excited about in your new role? I am most excited about ingraining myself in the DSC culture. This is an organization that is on the cutting edge and has a great reputation. I feel very lucky to join it and I want to do my part to help DSC in any way that I can.