• Replies 80 replies
  • Subscribers 23 subscribers
  • Views 13920 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related

Impossible with a capital 'i' to advance in the HR profession?

Andre

You have the CIPD 7, Associate Membership of the body, an MSc in International HRM, are considering a PhD in HR / Occupational Psychology and have four years experience working as an HR Administrator.

However, despite of all of that, you basically still can’t get above HR Administrator level to the next level or get an HR Advisor’s level role.

Part of the issue is that they don’t take on Trainee / Junior HR Advisor’s (or indeed Trainee / Junior HRBP’s) and you can’t get the necessary experience in an HR Administrator’s role to get the HR Advisor’s job.

You volunteer outside hours as an HR Advisor and as a CIPD Mentor, and attend all the events in your branch, but it still does not count or is officially recognised as a formal paid 9-5 role to make the cut.

It’s also one of those scenarios that it just does not ever happen for / to you how many applications you ever make, so are any of the following viable options to take instead:

(1) Come to terms with it and make a life long career as an HR Administrator instead, or as a Senior HR Administrator, aiming to be the very best that you can be at that;

(2) Pull completely out of the HR profession as a whole and change career sectors, professions and pathways, starting out again  from zero;

(3) Emigrate and see if you can get the role instead in another country in or outside the EU;

(4) Look at going self employed as an HR Consultant on the Peninsula model?

How would you personally deal with it if you faced a total brick wall blockage that despite your very best efforts, you just could not vertically progress, get on or up in the HR profession as a whole past HR Administrator?

Parents
  • Andre

    I would suggest at least the possibility of an Option 0 before yours above (and clearly all I know is whats above)

    But you have some great admin experience, you have some solid experience (and for what its worth I wouldn't see the potential PhD as having much if any relevance to you getting on at this stage - apart from in a very few roles or academia )

    Option 0 for me would be really looking long and hard at the whole way you approach the application process from first approach to final interview. Examine what goes well and where you normally fall down. Is it you are simply not getting interviews - in which case your CV and application needs works or is it at interview? Often HR bods are the worst at critically examining ourselves and seeing us as recruiters see us. If its interviews then get a number of people to put you through lots of practice interviews and give you brutal but constructive feedback. In my experience candidates who are good at this end of the process get on , no matter what other bits they do or dont have.

    .In terms of your options - there is nothing at all wrong with a career build entirely around HR administration. Its a vital area and not just one that everyone should simply pass through. But it rather depends if you get the satisfaction and energy from this.

    In terms of moving on you wouldn't be starting from zero. But I think you need to be sure first that what ever is holding you back in progressing in HR wouldnt be present in what ever career you choose. There are no career paths (well very few) that are both very rewarding and easy to progress in. So switching careers may not be a route to the higher levels of an organisation if thats what you desire. But of you have a real passion to do something else then follow your passion - good interviewers can tell if you are passionate or faking it.

    Ditto with moving abroad. It may work but I am not sure, HR tends to be more territorial than many professions (as laws , culture etc are very different) . You would also have the issues of developing a network in another country.

    Sorry to be negative but I think given your level of experience then going down the consultancy route is a very bad idea. You simply don't have the depth of experience to really make it work and whilst no doubt you could get some clients I wonder if it will take even longer to get to do the type of Hr work you want to do via this route.

    So where does that leave us? Personally I would look at what was really stopping me progressing, get some of your CIPD branch colleagues to give you a real critique. Then I would look at what I was really passionate about and try and follow that - be that the higher levels of HR, an HR Admin career or doing something totally different..

    But there is no right answer and you are on your own individual journey (and I am sure there is someone on this forum who has followed each of the options you have outlined above very successfully) . I hope you work it out and good luck.
Reply
  • Andre

    I would suggest at least the possibility of an Option 0 before yours above (and clearly all I know is whats above)

    But you have some great admin experience, you have some solid experience (and for what its worth I wouldn't see the potential PhD as having much if any relevance to you getting on at this stage - apart from in a very few roles or academia )

    Option 0 for me would be really looking long and hard at the whole way you approach the application process from first approach to final interview. Examine what goes well and where you normally fall down. Is it you are simply not getting interviews - in which case your CV and application needs works or is it at interview? Often HR bods are the worst at critically examining ourselves and seeing us as recruiters see us. If its interviews then get a number of people to put you through lots of practice interviews and give you brutal but constructive feedback. In my experience candidates who are good at this end of the process get on , no matter what other bits they do or dont have.

    .In terms of your options - there is nothing at all wrong with a career build entirely around HR administration. Its a vital area and not just one that everyone should simply pass through. But it rather depends if you get the satisfaction and energy from this.

    In terms of moving on you wouldn't be starting from zero. But I think you need to be sure first that what ever is holding you back in progressing in HR wouldnt be present in what ever career you choose. There are no career paths (well very few) that are both very rewarding and easy to progress in. So switching careers may not be a route to the higher levels of an organisation if thats what you desire. But of you have a real passion to do something else then follow your passion - good interviewers can tell if you are passionate or faking it.

    Ditto with moving abroad. It may work but I am not sure, HR tends to be more territorial than many professions (as laws , culture etc are very different) . You would also have the issues of developing a network in another country.

    Sorry to be negative but I think given your level of experience then going down the consultancy route is a very bad idea. You simply don't have the depth of experience to really make it work and whilst no doubt you could get some clients I wonder if it will take even longer to get to do the type of Hr work you want to do via this route.

    So where does that leave us? Personally I would look at what was really stopping me progressing, get some of your CIPD branch colleagues to give you a real critique. Then I would look at what I was really passionate about and try and follow that - be that the higher levels of HR, an HR Admin career or doing something totally different..

    But there is no right answer and you are on your own individual journey (and I am sure there is someone on this forum who has followed each of the options you have outlined above very successfully) . I hope you work it out and good luck.
Children
  • in reply to Keith
    Many thanks for your feedback. I also wanted to mention something else here. I have mild Autism and find it difficult talking to people who I don’t know, and building relationships with people who I don’t know, especially in the workplace. Could this be a possible common denominator, namely neurodiversity that maybe appears on the applications and during the interviews in a people management profession?