Hi Ana,

Welcome to the forum.

I found this a couple of days ago and found it to be very useful:

www.cipd.co.uk/new-hr-learning-development

You might also find it helpful.

Thank you.

In reply to Sajda:

Thank you Sajda

Hi Ana,

I am in the same situation. I am currently half way through CIPD Level 5  course and would love to move to  HR . I am working in sales and decided to go ahead with CIPD course back in October .  I am not going to lie, it is quite intense course but is so good, I am very happy with my decision. It brought totally different perspective of my thinking about HR.  You don't have to go for level 5, you can start with Level 2 or 3 and make your way up as you go along.  I am working in sales and looking after the team, so I have some skills and experience which can be transferred to HR.

The first thing I have done is that I invested in CV. I found professional CV writing company. I would avoid cheaper options, which give you an option to upload your CV only. The person who will do your CV needs to be in touch with you and need to first understand what exactly is it you want to do and get all information so your would succeed with your CV.  Because you are changing your career you need someone who's is experienced enough to emphasise your skills and apply it so its suitable for HR role. You also think which area of HR or which position would you like to move into. I also spoke to our internal HR department and asked if I can help with some projects. I for example helping with PDP's and Interview process.  I know it will be difficult to get the job in HR but at least I am making steps towards that and I am really excited about it .

I hope this helps. :) happy to provide more info about the course I went for .

Good luck !

Zeni

Hi Ana,

I am in the same situation. I am currently half way through CIPD Level 5 course and would love to move to HR . I am working in sales and decided to go ahead with CIPD course back in October . I am not going to lie, it is quite intense course but is so good, I am very happy with my decision. It brought totally different perspective of my thinking about HR. You don't have to go for level 5, you can start with Level 2 or 3 and make your way up as you go along. I am working in sales and looking after the team, so I have some skills and experience which can be transferred to HR.

The first thing I have done is that I invested in CV. I found professional CV writing company. I would avoid cheaper options, which give you an option to upload your CV only. The person who will do your CV needs to be in touch with you and need to first understand what exactly is it you want to do and get all information so your would succeed with your CV. Because you are changing your career you need someone who's is experienced enough to emphasise your skills and apply it so its suitable for HR role. You also think which area of HR or which position would you like to move into. I also spoke to our internal HR department and asked if I can help with some projects. I for example helping with PDP's and Interview process. I know it will be difficult to get the job in HR but at least I am making steps towards that and I am really excited about it .

I hope this helps. :) happy to provide more info about the course I went for .

Good luck !

Zeni

In reply to Ana:

You're welcome, Ana. :)

Personally I wouldn't (at this stage ) be spending my money on professional CV writers. Its likely for the vast majority of people to be money wasted.

You will find the transition very difficult. There are lots of threads on this site of people asking similar questions and you might do well to look at those.

It will be about trying to (a) either get some experience doing voluntary work (b) taking a huge step downwards in terms of salary of (c) getting a job in education HR somewhere.

You are unlikely to get very far without doing a professional qualification (as you wouldn't in teaching if you were swapping from HR to teaching) but you may well get an entry level job (option b). Its hard knowing which order to do these things in.

In reply to Keith:

Hi Keith,

The more I read the more I appreciate how fortunate I have been with my recent job offer!

Thank you. :)

Hi Ana,

I was a teacher before going into HR (secondary history) and moved 4 years ago. I was lucky enough to be offered a HR Assistant role straight from teaching and then did my Level 7 CIPD and moved into my current role as a HR Officer following completion. I think emphasising all the transferable skills and going in at entry level worked well for me - if you want to drop me an email, it's katherine . jennings @ teachfirst.org. uk - always happy to help a fellow teaching survivor :)


Katie

You will need to focus on your transferable skills. We are running a webinar (this is free to members) on CVs which may be helpful to you, it will help to identify your transferable skills and enable you to produce the best CV to showcase these to potential HR employers. If you email careersupport@cipd.co.uk we can send you further information about the webinar.