Hi Tom

I have to say, after reading dozens of posts by people asking how to get into HR on the Community, yours is the first I've ever seen heading in the opposite direction! :)

On a practical level and while you're waiting for responses from colleagues more knowledgeable on this than I, it may be an idea to break down what you've been doing over the past 7 years to identify the areas you enjoyed the most or felt most comfortable handling, and also the things that have made you want to walk away from HR altogether.

In the end, you may find that leaving HR is not necessarily the answer but perhaps trying to move into a less generalist area and specialising in the things you do enjoy or find challenging might be the way to go.

When I was being made redundant 2 years ago, it really made me stop and think about whether working in HR was what I wanted to do with my life (having been thrown into it in the first instance!) and I was glad that I took that opportunity to take stock of where I was and what I was doing.

Hope things work out for you.

Ishbel

Hi Tom

Some years ago, I worked for a very large business which asked me to move from HR into Sales and discovered there was a cross-over between my old and new roles in the area of interpersonal skills and the kinds of question techniques that we in HR learn for recruitment interviewing. What also helped was that the product range I sold was very technical and we were expected to nurture long-term relationships with our customers and function almost as consultants, not high-pressure or one-off transactions.

Hi Tom, welcome to the communities. Have you considered an IT or systems-based role where you can put your HR experience to good use? I have enjoyed some HR systems project roles where I have combined my HR experience and knowledge with my IT and training delivery skills. You may also want to consider posting this same question on the discussion forums for HR Zone and Personnel Today for some other comments. :-)