Hi Judy
I would be happy to have a look at your CV and give you advice.
Please upload your CV here www.cullenscholefield.com/.../
I will then be able to give you feedback.
I believe that people with good operational backgrounds are great at moving to HR!
Kind regards
Maureen

In reply to Maureen Scholefield:

Thanks Maureen, I've just uploaded my CV, hope you can help!

In reply to Maureen Scholefield:

Hello Maureem
I am in the same situation, but I am studying Level 3. And I am Psychologist as well. Could you please have a look my CV? I would be important for me.
Kindest Regards,
Eva

I am in a similar position.
I have 9 years working for the NHS as a specialist Neuro Therapy assistant and I am due to complete my Level 3 in November. I have applied to so many roles, I have lost count but I don't hear back from any of them.
I am making the career change to finally find my career path and can honestly say I have loved my studies and found the field I am looking for.

My last job hunting experience was 9 years ago, a lot has changed and feel I am out of touch with how the recruitment world works!

I feel i have plenty of transferable skills to transition into HR, however struggle to showcase these.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi Judy,
I got into HR after a career designing and manufacturing clothing. I had quite a bit of management experience which included HR skills such as recruitment, training and appraisals. If you concentrate on the people skills you had to use as a manager that might help get you interviews. I went straight in as an HR Manager after completing my studies. Perhaps you are aiming too low.

In reply to Rosemary Mathews:

Hi Rosemary,
I have included the HR skills you've mentioned in my CV, it seems it's still not enough to secure a reply or interview. I've been applying for jobs daily, its really disheartening.
I feel even if I was to apply for HR Manager roles, I wouldnt even secure a reply let alone an interview.

This is one of those topics that crops up on a regular basis, and I am routinely approached through the LinkedIn careers advice service by people in a similar situation so - as there are a few people on this thread with the same sort of question - I'm going to provide a general answer. Some of what I've got to say will be unhelpful to those who are already engaged in the process, but I'll say it anyway for the benefit of all.

1. Qualifications

Entry-level HR roles don't require any qualifications beyond the ability to read and write and operate a PC. These are admin/data entry/paper-shuffling positions. An aspiration to begin an HR qualification is the most you need. If you have a Level 3 qualification you are already as professionally qualified for the role as you need to be. If you have a Level 5, you are over-qualified. If you have a Level 7 or MA in HRM, you are ludicrously over-qualified.

Now, smart recruiters won't be scared of over-qualified candidates. But they will be worried by them. No one gets an MA in HRM because they want to spend 3 years filing personnel records. If you go into the process of looking for an entry-level role in HR with a Level 5+ qualification, the assumption of recruiters will be that you'll stay only long enough to springboard you up to the next professional level as an Advisor or Junior Busness Partner. Unless they expect to have vacancies in this area, therefore, you become a liability, not an asset and that's why you're not getting call backs.

I don't recommend lying on a CV, but you might like to consider *not* mentioning your qualification. However, if you intent *is* to hang around only long enough to glean the experience to jump to the next level, the other thing to do is to not look for permanent roles.

If you don't already have an HR qualification, then getting one is not a reliable pathway into employment at the entry level. What's reliable is having relevant, appropriate experience.

2. Getting a foot in the door

So, whether or not a person has an HR qualification, but particularly if they do, how do you go about getting that vital first professional break?

There are six well-trodden pathways into HR:

a. Internal move. By far the most common and most popular is to begin in a related role, such as finance admin, receptionist, PA or other entry-level admin role and to move sideways into HR. You are a known quantity to your employers, with your administrative and personal competence already established, so your lack of HR experience is off-set by your other skills and you will learn the details as you go.

b. Temp role. Second most common is to spend a period doing temp roles of various sorts - filing, data entry, receptionist etc - until a temp HR role comes up, then milk it for everything it's worth. Hurl yourself in to every opportunity to learn more, observe meetings, take notes and chat with more established professionals in the field. Either they'll like you enough to make you temp-to-perm or you'll extract sufficient value to be able to speak with more confidence and expertise at your interview for a permanent HR role (and you'll have HR in your CV at last!).

c. Volunteering. A tricky one, this. HR information is necessarily sensitive and rarely trusted to volunteers at the best of times. Also, there are legal questions about the use of volunteers in roles that ought to be paid - questions that HR teams are more sensitive to, because they know about them! However, I know that people have obtained first experiences in HR by volunteering with small, local charities that need help with minute-taking, investigations or just inductions and recruitment.

d. The sideways promotion. Not unlike the internal move, but higher up. Build a career in management in a discipline related to HR, such as operations or finance, *then* do an MA in HRM and step straight across into an HRD role. Accept that subordinate managers with vastly more experience of the HR function will hate you forever.

e. The "I'll do anything". If your heart is set on a career in HR to the point that you'll do whatever it takes, finding the job is easy. Unrooting your life, shutting down your social circle, learning a new language and taking a significant cut in pay may not seem worth it, but... No, it's probably not worth it. An option really only for graduates, school leavers and those going through mid-life upheaval anyway.

f. Sheer, blind luck. You apply for a job on the off-chance. You're either the only candidate, all the others are clearly incompetent, or you've just saved the recruiter's life. Usually the result of having a brilliantly-spun CV, a badly-planned interview or a superpower.

Hi Judy

I moved from hospitality (I was a pub and restaurant manager for 6 years) into HR through a series of sideways moves.

I got a temp job with a recruitment agency for a couple of months as a general administrator to sort out their database, then I got a temp job with the Co-Op as a Training Records Administrator and this then led to me getting a permanent role as an HR and Database Administrator with a paper manufacturing company.

I didn't start any HR qualifications until I got my first HR job and in fact I nearly didn't get that job as the manager was concerned that I was too ambitious and wouldn't stay long (he was right as it happens, I stayed for one year, did my CPP and then left to join my current company!)

Have you tried targeting jobs within the hospitality industry specifically? It's worth considering any job that has some HR iduties even if that's not the job title.

Good luck in your search.

In reply to Emma:

Thanks for sharing, Emma... and a very interesting thread from the perspective of the varied 'routes' into the profession.

In reply to Judy Pei Ki:

Hi Judy and Rosemary - I am experiencing the same issue Judy. I was a manager in hotels as well and trying to break into HR and not being considered for any entry level HR roles. I think I have the skills for a HR manager but it's just nobody seems to be keen on my cv and what I bring to the table - since it's been a month gone, how have you gotten along?

Rosemary - any advice as to how you handled the job hunt from your work experience into a HRM role?