Career Progression Advice

Hi Fiona

There is I think no general rule. And each of us follow our own unique path, what works for me may not work for you. But my own personal opinions...

I personally have always enjoyed changing sectors rather than risking repeating things in another business in the same sector. It just appealed to me. So I have worked in food retail, hospitality, banking, NHS, outsourcing, utilities, private healthcare and technology. Whilst not always easy to swap sectors (its as much about persuading the interviewer as anything else) I think HR is one of best careers to do this in as after all we are all people.

There are people who make very successful and rewarding careers in one sector and even one company. That great - but there is a danger of struggling to find a move if you did eventually decide to move. It can also be a challenge to switch from parts of the public sector to parts of the private sector and personally I would advise people intent on doing that to do it earlier rather than later.

In terms of length of time...how longs a piece of string? But I think there are two key measures. The first is around legacy (Its one of my favourite topics at interviews) - you need to stay somewhere long enough (and particularly higher up in your career) to see the business through a cycle or two and deliver some lasting difference in being there. The second is linked to this and is around not having lots of short jobs on your CV (unless you were in consulting) whilst this sometimes happens (particularly with redundancies) I would personally try and avoid more than 1 or maximum two roles of less than 2 years. I think (based on no science whatsoever) that 2/3-4 years for most businesses looks around the right time length as an average with room both below and above that to push boundaries a little. Clearly some people have multiple roles in same businesses and that is another way of showing you are growing and progressing.

I would simply focus on getting L5 then consolidating your experience for a year or two before thinking of L7. I think too many people rush through the qualifications as a form of stamp collecting without consolidating the knowledge. L7 is pitched at higher end roles but by no means exclusively HRDs. A "proper" HRBP rather than a rebadged HRM would probably find real benefit in a L7 at the right stage.

I have never had a mentor but do mentor a few people. They say its useful but perhaps are being polite! On a serious note I would highly recommend it and think HR can be a place where you need an external sounding board, agony uncle and guide sometimes. The CIPD offers a mentoring network but think its often over subscribed. Alternative is just to approach someone who you feel could offer you the right level of challenge, thoughts and support.