Breaking into HR from the restaurant/hospitality industry

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.

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.