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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?

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  • In addition to Keith's "Option 0", I would add an "Option 5":

    Keep doing what you're doing and don't underestimate the influence of luck and good timing in success.

    To some extent some would say "if you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you always got", which is true to an extent. But the world of employment is an ever-shifting one in terms of what the market is looking for and there is a strong argument that, if you're applying for jobs appropriate to your qualifications and experience, it's just a numbers game: the more you apply for, the better your odds of securing something.

    However - and this seems to be a repeating theme on this kind of thread - I do have to ask: if you are currently only ("only") working as an HR Administrator, why do you have a Level 7 CIPD qualification and an MSc in International HR? These are qualifications appropriate to an HRD or senior HRM.

    My suspicion - as a recruiter - when I see these qualifications is one of two things: either this candidate has substituted education for experience and is only interested in having a job for as long as it takes to get the next foot up the ladder, or this candidate isn't really interested in HR practice and would rather be in academia.

    So don't dismiss Option 6: Pursue an academic career in HR education.

    As for your other options, my question to you is the same one I ask whenever I'm career counselling: what do you want?

    In a recent chat, I was told "I want to earn at least £60,000 per year", but when I posited options that would help him move towards that, it turned out that - over the earning of money - what he really valued was stability for his family. He wanted to stay in his home and keep his children in their schools far more than he wanted to earn more money. But his most important priority was his own mental health - which had taken a few knocks over the years. By consciously prioritizing money, he was defining himself as "unsuccessful" when, in fact, by the measure of things that were *truly* important to him, he was already a roaring success!

    You, too, may need to re-define your assumed definitions of success. We are used to looking at CEOs and leaders and high earners as "successful". But success should be considered "achieving the things in life that are most important to us". If the most important thing to you is your children's education, or the happiness of your marriage, or your ability to contribute to your community, then achieving those things is success, regardless of the state of your bank balance.

    From your opening lines alone it seems clear to me that what's important to you isn't professional development, but academic development. If that's really what matters to you, why not continue down the road where you are already successful instead of trying to divert down a road where success is not only elusive but, in truth, less valuable to you.
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  • In addition to Keith's "Option 0", I would add an "Option 5":

    Keep doing what you're doing and don't underestimate the influence of luck and good timing in success.

    To some extent some would say "if you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you always got", which is true to an extent. But the world of employment is an ever-shifting one in terms of what the market is looking for and there is a strong argument that, if you're applying for jobs appropriate to your qualifications and experience, it's just a numbers game: the more you apply for, the better your odds of securing something.

    However - and this seems to be a repeating theme on this kind of thread - I do have to ask: if you are currently only ("only") working as an HR Administrator, why do you have a Level 7 CIPD qualification and an MSc in International HR? These are qualifications appropriate to an HRD or senior HRM.

    My suspicion - as a recruiter - when I see these qualifications is one of two things: either this candidate has substituted education for experience and is only interested in having a job for as long as it takes to get the next foot up the ladder, or this candidate isn't really interested in HR practice and would rather be in academia.

    So don't dismiss Option 6: Pursue an academic career in HR education.

    As for your other options, my question to you is the same one I ask whenever I'm career counselling: what do you want?

    In a recent chat, I was told "I want to earn at least £60,000 per year", but when I posited options that would help him move towards that, it turned out that - over the earning of money - what he really valued was stability for his family. He wanted to stay in his home and keep his children in their schools far more than he wanted to earn more money. But his most important priority was his own mental health - which had taken a few knocks over the years. By consciously prioritizing money, he was defining himself as "unsuccessful" when, in fact, by the measure of things that were *truly* important to him, he was already a roaring success!

    You, too, may need to re-define your assumed definitions of success. We are used to looking at CEOs and leaders and high earners as "successful". But success should be considered "achieving the things in life that are most important to us". If the most important thing to you is your children's education, or the happiness of your marriage, or your ability to contribute to your community, then achieving those things is success, regardless of the state of your bank balance.

    From your opening lines alone it seems clear to me that what's important to you isn't professional development, but academic development. If that's really what matters to you, why not continue down the road where you are already successful instead of trying to divert down a road where success is not only elusive but, in truth, less valuable to you.
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