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Transitioning from Agency Recruitment to HR

Busayo

Hi all, 

I'm currently studying my CIPD Level 3 coming from a sales and Recruitment agency background and looking to secure my first role within HR. A lot of the specialist agencies tend to disregard me even for HR Assistant and Administrator roles due to lack out of outright experience in HR and applications on job boards are ignored or rejected despite feeling I have a lot of transferable skills 

I haven't had the best luck with jobs since finishing university 4 years ago having 5 within that time (3 i left voluntarily and 2 being let go from) so the course is helping me shape where I want to be and how I need to get there and develop professionally. 

I've altered my CV to be more HR focused however all of my achievements are sales focused. Due to my job history I've also looked at temp roles and unpaid work experience but no luck. 

I plan to attend the CIPD conference in London that's coming up on March 23rd 2019 to network as well.

if anyone knows where I can be looking directly for said opportunities it would be greatly appreciated

Thank you 

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  • Hi Busayo,

    My background is agency recruitment (I was a divisional manager after years of consulting). I transitioned in to HR through a office manager position where I undertook my CIPD and helped alot with internal recruitment, on boarding and built rapports with colleagues so that they felt they could confide in me. On my CV I pushed my knowledge of employment law, compliance and the day to day dealing with workers. I am now in a HR Advisor role with views to transition to manager before the end of this year.

    I would suggest that you do not jump in to the next role but rather make sure it is the right role/ company for you to ensure that you can somewhat stabilize yourself (being dismissed is beyond your control) but in a generation of job hoppers for whatever reason, really tends to go against you with more traditional companies.

    Best of luck!
  • in reply to Claire
    Hi Claire,
    Sounds like you transitioned into HR later within your career as you were previously a manager. Seems a lot easier to do so at the higher level as opposed to someone in my situation who's at the entry-level.

    I'm leveraging my recruitment experience (sourcing for candidates and identifying their specific skillsets) to possibly land a role within an internal recruitment function, targeting those medium-to-larger sized organisations as there is more of a need for support staff as well as greater opportunity to progress. Longevity and stability is key for me right now and the right role/company culture I'm sure will bring that, just need to demonstrate I'm willing to stick it out!

    Been on the market now for nearly 3 months but have a few things in the pipeline & feel I'm doing the right things so I'm sure the right opportunity will come soon enough.


    Thanks for your advice!
Reply
  • in reply to Claire
    Hi Claire,
    Sounds like you transitioned into HR later within your career as you were previously a manager. Seems a lot easier to do so at the higher level as opposed to someone in my situation who's at the entry-level.

    I'm leveraging my recruitment experience (sourcing for candidates and identifying their specific skillsets) to possibly land a role within an internal recruitment function, targeting those medium-to-larger sized organisations as there is more of a need for support staff as well as greater opportunity to progress. Longevity and stability is key for me right now and the right role/company culture I'm sure will bring that, just need to demonstrate I'm willing to stick it out!

    Been on the market now for nearly 3 months but have a few things in the pipeline & feel I'm doing the right things so I'm sure the right opportunity will come soon enough.


    Thanks for your advice!
Children
  • in reply to Busayo
    Hi Busayo, Unfortunately it doesn't get any easier whatever your level as the higher you are in an agency the more you are deemed as a sales demon. Agencies do get bad rep and now I am the otherside I don't touch them often. Anyone can be a recruiter, to me it seems that the industry has changed and now it is just a race for the commission rather than the traditional approach of making a great match between employer and employee. I am inundated on a daily basis with script reading consultants with bad attitudes it has just changed so much over the years.

    I think volunteering would be a great start or I have seen lots of ads for HR people to help on a contract basis for the common wealth games, maybe something like that will give you a kick start. Alternatively, with the new HS2 happening and I read an article in a rail magazine (my org is in the rail industry) of the HR manager who is building her teams and is crying out for people.

    Persevere, make sure your CV is at its best and hopefully soon you will be able to get fixed in to a place.
  • in reply to Claire
    For volunteering ops Google around, you can find a lot, for example found this:
    www.charityjob.co.uk/.../human-resources
    it's a start, you're on the ground getting skills, meet people, move up, hope this helps
  • in reply to Claire
    I fully understand from being on both sides of the fence why it gets a bad rep, I was only at the lower level in an agency for 6 months, a lot of my skills are transferrable to an internal function also though I worked in call centre jobs beforehand as those were the only positions I could secure.

    Do you know the name of article or where I could possibly find this? I’ll be at the CIPD student conference this weekend so that should give me an opportunity to network also
  • in reply to Busayo
    www.hs2.org.uk/.../

    Type in HR and it will give you all levels from apprentice to Management :) Good Luck!