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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?

Parents
  • Another suggestion to add to the mix is to work for a relatively small organisation/not for profit/charity as an HR Administrator. I've certainly taken on several administrators that way who have had far greater opportunities to work at all levels of the HR team, simply because there is more flexibility. It wouldn't change the job title perhaps (or maybe in time because that kind of organisation will often try to recognise someone who goes above and beyond), but it could give valuable experience that you could draw on in future interviews and applications to take the next step up.
  • in reply to Nina Waters
    Many thanks for all your replies, but the key issue here is that when people say try working for XYZ, (1) do they currently have any vacancies that they are presently recruiting for and (2) and most importantly, would they actually take me?

    I can’t get into the private sector and / or break into a private company, and they just all send me rejection emails in return. They say that other candidate’s experience better meets our needs and fits the requirements of the role.

    Strategic networking could be the way forward, but what are all your views on the following tactic to use in an attempt to beat the competition: offer to work for less money and longer hours to break in.

    Thus, if an HR Advisor role is being advertised for £30k for a 35 hour week, tell the employer that I will do it for £20k and for 40 hour’s a week.

    Undercut in a fine nutshell.
  • in reply to Andre
    IMO that offer will be taken up by sharks but not by any reputable organisation.

    It "may" get your foot through the door showing keenness but I certainly wouldn't work for anyone who took me up on the actual offer
  • in reply to Andre
    In addition, would it be easier to get a job in the North West where there is less competition and salaries are lower as they don’t attract the London Weighting Allowance?
  • in reply to Keith
    Given that I am 45 next month and work as an HR Administrator, could my age be an issue here, as I only broke into HR at 40 as a mid career changer?
  • in reply to Andre
    That is a complete misconception that there is less competition in the North West. You'll actually find there's just as much competition because although there are less people applying for the roles, there are also far less roles available in the first place. Lower salaries doesn't necessarily mean less competition and employers are not just motivated by salary.
  • in reply to Andre
    Hi Andre

    Your first 2 points apply to everyone in virtually every field. There is no alternative to getting out there and marketing yourself. You have some suggestions in this thread of avenues to explore. The likelihood is that you will need to keep on plugging away at a combination of them before you get an offer. There's nothing any of us can suggest that will guarantee an instant result.

    Regarding your undercutting idea, I wouldn't have anyone in my team unless I believed they would do a great job and be a good ambassador for my department. If I didn't think that I wouldn't have them at any price. I cannot say, however, that there isn't anyone who would take you up on this offer. If you try it, I hope you come back and tell us how it works us.

    One other suggestion that I don't remember being made yet: have you tried getting onto the books of an agency that specialises in HR roles? That could be a source of helpful feedback and a way to get yourself in front of an interviewer.
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  • in reply to Andre
    Hi Andre

    Your first 2 points apply to everyone in virtually every field. There is no alternative to getting out there and marketing yourself. You have some suggestions in this thread of avenues to explore. The likelihood is that you will need to keep on plugging away at a combination of them before you get an offer. There's nothing any of us can suggest that will guarantee an instant result.

    Regarding your undercutting idea, I wouldn't have anyone in my team unless I believed they would do a great job and be a good ambassador for my department. If I didn't think that I wouldn't have them at any price. I cannot say, however, that there isn't anyone who would take you up on this offer. If you try it, I hope you come back and tell us how it works us.

    One other suggestion that I don't remember being made yet: have you tried getting onto the books of an agency that specialises in HR roles? That could be a source of helpful feedback and a way to get yourself in front of an interviewer.
Children
  • in reply to Elizabeth Divver
    I have the ability to get ‘a job’ per se but don’t have the ability to make vertical moves in an organisation. I either don’t know how to do it, or have the ways in me to facilitate it to happen in practice. I can change jobs to the same level, but despite having the CIPD 7, can’t bridge the gap or the disconnect between one level of HR to the other one.

    It primarily comes down to being able to show and demonstrate that experience in a full time paid 9-5 which I can’t.

    In my role, there is also no scope for ‘acting up’ having rigid job descriptions, professional boundaries and scope of authority.

    Given that I will be 45 in a fortnight’s time, let’s do a bit of devil las advocate here and presume that I have missed the boat being a later entrant into HR at the age of 40 and for one reason or not, it’s just not going to happen, ie it’s impossible to get an HR Advisor’s role from that of an HR Administrator , would the following things be likely to assist with a lateral move or forging a new career pathway:

    (1) Try to requalify as a Psychologist, specialising in Occupational Psychology;

    (2) Take a CIPD 7 in Learning and Development;

    (3) Try to requalify as a Solicitor, specialising in Employment Law;

    (4) Learn more languages;

    (5) Go self employed and overtime use the experience of advising smaller clients on more low level HR matters to become defacto an HR Advisor by default in its own right;

    (6) Take the CIM professional exams and try to get into marketing as an alternative to HR.

    Any thoughts?
  • in reply to Andre
    Hi Andre,

    I'm not sure being an employment law solicitor or being in marketing is any less competitive. I was initially planning to be a solicitor before I went into HR and studied for a law degree. It's a lot more studying and a lot more competitive than HR.
    I think a sideways move into a different HR Administrator role that has more scope for development would be more beneficial than getting more qualifications or moving careers completely.
  • in reply to Lizzie
    I echo this. I did my graduate diploma in law about 12 years ago, as I was thinking of a move into employment law. I decided during that time that I would prefer to actually see my family sometimes and stayed in HR, but I had no illusions that a break into the law would have been anything other than incredibly hard. On the other hand, it's definitely added value to my HR career - so if you're interested in law as a subject, I certainly gained a lot from the process.