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Transitioning to HR from a GM role

Hello everyone,

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and I would appreciate anyone's opinion.

After 27 years in the Automotive industry in customer service and business management I decided to change my career direction towards something that I really enjoyed...HR.

I have recently achieved CIPD Level 5 Diploma in HRM and alongside my 4 years experience of managing the HR for around 50 people as a GM, confidently entered the job market. 

At the beginning of the week I registered my CV with a handful of HR Recruitment company's, one called me yesterday to tell me she would not be able to help me, she said "You have never had a job role with the word HR in the title" for which I argued I had transferable skills from my time as a GM, which she felt meant nothing, and then said "Yes you have a qualification but that doesn't really count for anything".

Apart from the fact there was really no need to call me with such negativity, my concern is her comments on the value of a CIPD qualification.

I would be grateful to hear opinion and whether she has a point? Is this qualification not as important as I felt it was? 

Thank you everyone.

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  • Hi Jo

    This is probably one of the most frequent questions that comes up so if you do a search there is a massive amount of help and advice.

    Undoubtedly you will find it harder than many expect to transition into a HR role. Whilst you have gained huge amounts of valuable line management experience the role of HR is not line management but to design the architecture for people management and to advise others on how to proceed with delivering it (simplistically). Added to that will be your age (it shouldn't be but it will) and a CV that may well confuse many recruiters.

    The dilemma is you may well have to take quite a step backwards in terms of level and salary but this in itself will confuse some recruiters and also scare some HR managers.

    In terms of the feedback whilst stark actually I think you can se it as helpful. Its far better they took the time to give you their honest opinion that you can then use to reflect on and adapt your job search rather than either ignoring you or giving you the bland "we will hold on file until something comes up" (aka bin it)

    A qualification isn't a magic bullet but often needs to be backed up with experience. At the moment recruiters can have people with both experience and a qualification so it can be a bit of a buyers market. Its better to have it than not, but....

    So look at the past threads - people do make the successful transition from line management to HR, its not easy and they ned persistence , networking and a little luck but it can be done.

    Good luck.
  • In reply to Keith:

    Thank you Keith for your honest opinion.

    Funny thing is I have applied for administrator roles as money is not a consideration for me and have been told I am too qualified and then on the flip side under qualified for advisor level.

    I will have research the topic on the community and keep up the job search!

    Thanks again
  • In reply to Jo:

    Yes thats exactly what I mean by confusing recruiters - a confused recruiter is not a happy recruiter so they tend to move on.

    Your profile is not typical. If they take you on for a low level position they will be afraid you are too set in your ways or are likely to move on too quickly to a higher level role. But they don't risk taking you on for a higher level role because of your lack of direct experience.

    Its a bit of a Catch - 22 for you. There are no easy answers just persistence, reworking CV to carefully highlight relevant experience and a bit of luck
  • Hi Jo, wish you the very best in your job search. Strikes me it makes no difference if the candidates are 16 or 60, always the same stumbling blocks. And forgive me but I would echo Keith's comments about the feedback from the recruiter, not something they usually do. I've tended to get a lot of flannel but no substance so as hard as the feedback was there is some good information. You may also like to look at the Careers section of this website for some more guidance and signposting, link as follows: https://www.cipd.co.uk/careers