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HR Assistant to Office Administrator

Hi everyone!

Please can I have opinions on changing career from a HR Assistant to an Office Administrator/Manager? 

I have worked as a HR Assistant for over 5 years with a CIPD Level 3 CPP, I am 23 years old and I am now currently on a FTC as a HR Administrator, but an internal role has become available for an Office Administrator/Manager. 

I am interested in this new role, but I wouldn't want to throw away those years of HR even though I have not significantly grown or developed hugely in this time.... is it worth trying a new role? 

I'd love to hear your thoughts :) 

Thank you

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  • Always worth trying out new things if you are excited by them

    But...it maywell be hard to transition back into HR and you should be prepared to work hard and expect to take time to do this
  • In reply to Keith:

    Thank you for your advice
  • Morning Georgia

    For me it would depend on how much I wanted to pursue a HR career and if I could still be involved in personnel issues (as some office manager roles do) as a bit of an insurance policy for the future, as those aspects can be highlighted on a CV if you did want to get back in to a full HR role at some point.

    That being said, if its an internal role, would there possibly be an opportunity in the future to move back into HR there? Is your company/manager the sort you can have a bit of a frank discussion about your desire to do something new but you don't necessarily want to waste your HR experience?

    I made a move from HR Coordinator to Office Manager in a different company knowing it wouldn't involve my HR skills and I thought I was ok with it, but after 4 weeks I was devastated and knew I'd made a huge mistake BUT that role had no involvement in HR issues whatsoever.

    I take it your HR team is pretty small so limited opportunities to move up?

    If its not an Office Manager but an Office Administrator would that not be a step down anyway?
  • Stand-alone HR roles in smaller companies often include the office management part. You could therefore combine both careers.
  • In reply to Samantha:

    Thank you for your feedback, I have never really known exactly what it is I want to do, a new role may help me determine that, I just don't want to give up a comfortable role to hate the new one! Yes small HR team, currently just myself and the HR manager and we work really well together, but I am still limited on my experience and knowledge to really help her above the general HR Admin tasks. Its a very busy working environment to at the moment there isn't much in a way of upskilling as BAU still needs my attention, and I am only contracted to Aug in this role with no clear future....
  • In reply to Georgia Presland:

    Hi Samantha

    If you are that uncertain perhaps query whether they will let you trial it on a Secondment?