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Career Advice needed - how do I take a step back?

Jacqueline

Hi all

I'm hoping the collective wisdom of the forums can offer me some advice.  When I started in HR, I worked my way up from HR admin roles to HR Adviser.  I then took a sideways step to be a HR Analyst for 11 years - it was a great role full of variety, dealing with HR Systems, reward, benefits, pensions and some really interesting projects.  But after 11 years I felt I'd exhausted the possibilities of the role so last year I again went sideways into an IT role, supporting Payroll systems.  That role didn't turn out as I had hoped as the projects that I was brought in to do didn't happen, so I was left doing minor system configuration day in day out which was very dull.  So  after 17 months there, I rather hastily took a new role about two months ago, back in HR but completely focussed on Data Protection and Data Governance. 

Now I feel I have made a horrible mistake.  I thought I would be getting back closer to the business and employees by moving back into HR, but I feel further away than ever.  There is a huge amount of work to be done to get data governance up to the organisation's standards and all the work to be done to get the People Function GDPR fit but there's no support or resources internally to undertake the projects.  Work on these things should have started months ago but it's been left until I started - I think they think I'm some sort of magic wand they can wave to fix all these problems.  Unfortunately I don't share that view!  I'm stressed to the point of tears most days and paralysed by the feeling of being so overwhelmed with work I don't know where to start.  I have little contact with my boss who is too busy to offer any support and he is relying on me just to get on and deal with all this.  I've talked to him about how I feel but he's made it clear that there will be no extra resource.  He's a nice chap but he's busy to the point of abruptness and I don't get the impression that he'll manage to give the support I need.  I've certainly had no feedback on how he thinks I'm performing which means that I automatically assume I'm not doing well enough.

I'm realising that I thrive on variety - focussing on one particular thing day in , day out really isn't suiting me at all.  I think I've taken a wrong turn in my career with my last job and this one and I need to find a way back to more generalist HR roles that really add value and excite me.  So my question to you all (finally, after all my moaning!) is what sort of roles should I realistically look at?  I haven't been a generalist HR Adviser for over 12 years, but my HR Analyst role had a lot of generalist elements such as advising managers, hearing grievances, investigating potential disciplinary cases, managing projects, delivering change, supporting redundancy programmes, due diligence for TUPE transfers etc.  I've also done voluntary HR work as a school governor, hearing grievance cases, advising on job shares and restructures and looking at pay and performance. Is it realistic to aim for a HR Adviser role, or should I go back to an administrator level and work my way back up?  I'm know I'll have to take a salary cut  but it would be a struggle to drop to an administrator salary.  There's a small pool of opportunities where I live so I can't afford to be too choosy.  And a second question is that if you were recruiting a HR Adviser or HR Administrator, how would you view me?  Does it look really bad to have changed jobs under two years ago and then two months ago and now be applying again or is it ok for me to say that I've found that such specialist roles don't suit me and I want to get back to generalist HR as that's where I find my job satisfaction?

Many thanks for reading my long story.

Jackie

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  • Hi

    Are you sure this isn't just an induction crisis - perhaps you have reached the stage of "knowing how much you don't know" but need to move through this and past it to see that actually you can make a difference here? Especially if this is a reasonable sized company and after helping fix this you would have internal opportunities. Often in the first months we do feel over whelmed and swamped (is that mixing my metaphors?) but when we know more we realise we are doing better than we think.

    I would force the feedback issue with your manager if you can - get reassurance that you are doing OK and what he needs. This hopefully will boost your confidence.

    Your CV will be weakened by another move so quickly - if you had gone from the last job back into mainstream HR then its more easily explainable. But the narrative (which is what I tend to look at first) will be confused. Not irreparably damaged by the two quick moves and the jumping around tends to look either confused or desperate.

    As for moving back into HR - the "easiest" way may be on a contract as part of a HR IT systems team as part of implementation. Then trying to impress and move sideways.

    But given you great earlier experience if you keep applying and subject to enough roles around you will get back mainstream eventually - just don't be in too much of a rush to accept the first thing - a third mis step would be hard to explain. So stay put while you look, look at roles and culture carefully and also benefit from the great experience you are getting

    Best of luck
Reply
  • Hi

    Are you sure this isn't just an induction crisis - perhaps you have reached the stage of "knowing how much you don't know" but need to move through this and past it to see that actually you can make a difference here? Especially if this is a reasonable sized company and after helping fix this you would have internal opportunities. Often in the first months we do feel over whelmed and swamped (is that mixing my metaphors?) but when we know more we realise we are doing better than we think.

    I would force the feedback issue with your manager if you can - get reassurance that you are doing OK and what he needs. This hopefully will boost your confidence.

    Your CV will be weakened by another move so quickly - if you had gone from the last job back into mainstream HR then its more easily explainable. But the narrative (which is what I tend to look at first) will be confused. Not irreparably damaged by the two quick moves and the jumping around tends to look either confused or desperate.

    As for moving back into HR - the "easiest" way may be on a contract as part of a HR IT systems team as part of implementation. Then trying to impress and move sideways.

    But given you great earlier experience if you keep applying and subject to enough roles around you will get back mainstream eventually - just don't be in too much of a rush to accept the first thing - a third mis step would be hard to explain. So stay put while you look, look at roles and culture carefully and also benefit from the great experience you are getting

    Best of luck
Children
  • in reply to Keith
    Thank you for sharing your perspective, Keith. Your points are all excellent and very rational and I do agree with them. You might be right about it being an induction crisis and I think to some extent that it is. Unfortunately the deadlines and volume of work are real and unmoveable, so there's no breathing space for me to find my feet. And the concerns you express about me changing jobs are exactly what I've thought to myself - the narrative looks very odd and as a recruiter I would be thinking exactly the same.

    But I can't keep on going, feeling as I do about it right now. I can't bear the thought of going into the office every day - I feel sick and dizzy the whole time I'm at my desk and I can't focus on doing any work as I'm convinced everything I'm doing is wrong. Out of work I can't let go of the dread about work. Somehow I have to find a way through it for the sake of my mental health. But I'm not sure how at the moment. Gosh, reading this back I sound really sorry for myself! Anyone got any good suggestions for building resilience in this sort of situation?
  • in reply to Jacqueline
    Jackie, you're getting some good practical advice from colleagues here which I know you'll follow. I can't add to that but wanted to say that the symptoms you describe are of extreme stress - I recognise them because I was once in a very similar situation (at least as far as your feelings/emotions go). You may want to point out to your boss that you are experiencing severe stress and the implications if that continues.

    You may also find this website (owned by our illustrious head Prof Cary Cooper) useful - you'll see the LHS menu has an item on building resilience: www.robertsoncooper.com/gooddayatwork

    Good luck, I know you're a very capable lady and you'll move through this!
  • in reply to Anna
    Well done, Anna. I noticed the "sick and dizzy" comment but concentrated on the practical (or, in other words, easy) stuff.
    Jackie - I can only send you very best wishes. I hope you'll come back to the forum so we can at least provide moral support.