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Any tips on breaking into HR?

I am currently looking for a new role in HR. I have a vast amount of experience of dealing with ER cases, recruitment, talent management, project roll outs and delivering workshops whilst working with key stakeholders to ensure the business needs are met. I have worked in the hospitality industry for 17 years where people and culture have been at the forefront of my role. In the last 10 years, I have been in an Operations Manager role, where most my time has been spent talent planning, recruiting, advising on employment law, dealing with disciplinary and grievance issues and providing leadership and driving operational excellence, whilst having full P&L responsibility and driving the key business objectives.

To further my career, i have put myself through the CIPD level 5 qualification in hope of making the move into a HR generalist / business partner / manager role. I have been applying for jobs through various agencies and online systems over the last few months, but have not even been asked to an interview. Any suggestions on how to get to speak to human beings as opposed to online applications and rejections would be appreciated? I thought my wealth of people management experience would be transferable into a role and would make up for the lack of the letters 'HR' in my job title, but this doesn't seem to be the case.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

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  • Hi Carly,

    Online applications are likely to go through an ATS in which case, it is a game of key-word matching. If you don't have enough, it will reject without a second thought.

    If you want to speak to a human in an online application, you need to get through an ATS - so amend your CV so that it makes more of the skills found in an HR Generalist advert (literally copy & paste) and add an example of when you have demonstrated the skill, and make your previous career summary section smaller. If your CV focuses too much on 'Operations Manager' it won't work for HR Generalist.

    Alternatively - find one of the agencies who specialise in HR recruitment and sign up with them, getting them to review your CV and amending it to fit requirements for hiring companies looking for Generalist.

    HRBP and HRM roles are notoriously difficult to get a look in for if you've not been in the HR department because they want the years' experience 'in HR' (not saying its right, but its the way it is) - you might have more luck by writing a really strong cover letter and approaching companies directly to make a speculative inquiry for these roles.

    Hope that helps

    Kind regards,
    Laura