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Not sure what my role is now or what to do next?

Hi everyone!

I'm hoping for some advice - following a restructure, my post of Exec Assistant was made redundant, and as I'm now qualified (level 5) I got moved to the post of Corporate Governance & HR Officer. I was told there wouldn't be much HR to do, "just admin". Unsurprisingly, this has turned out to not be the case! On top of the Exec Assistant duties which I still do, I've also been trying to cover HR for the org (a small charity of 50 people). This covers everything from more basic admin like recruitment activity, to leading a Task Group reviewing/updating all our processes and policies/leading a Wellbeing Group, to supporting the Chief Exec with the l&d objective on the overarching Business Plan (although really I am leading on this too). I provide advice to managers on anything to do with employee relations/employment legislation as well as support with any issues/interviews/general support. I suppose my first question is, what exactly is my role? Am I HR Officer, HR Advisor, HRBP?

Related to that is my second question. While I'm enjoying the new aspects of my role, I am going to have to move to another part of the UK this year. Bearing in mind I don't really know how to classify my current role, I have no idea what I should look for next. I would like to drop the Exec Assistant side and move to a pure HR role, but of what level/title or indeed specialism I have no idea. Does anyone have any pointers on this? (I had applied for a mentor but there are non available until October, which is too late for me unfortunately.)  If it helps, I like the employee relations stuff and love leading the Task Group stuff...I am much less keen on anything to do with calculating annual leave etc as maths has never been my strong point and we have an especially complicated system here. Or would a Generalist be better from a career point of view, so I get a good grounding in everything?

Any advice appreciated! Thanks in advance

Michaela

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  • Hi Michaela,

    Nice to hear from someone else who's an EA but does HR as well! I thought we were a rare breed!!

    I'm really new to HR so I'm sure someone with more experience can guide you on what your role 'is' within HR but have you looked at any job adverts to see what you think fits you best? I've found this has been my best way of trying to explain to our MD why my role really isn't an EA role by showing him job descriptions of EA roles compared to HR roles!

    I guess roles-wise will also depend on what size company you want to work for. A generalist role in a small company will probably involve absolutely everything but in a larger company may only cover some areas.... Lots for you to think about!

    Good Luck with the move - hope it all goes well!

    Laura
  • Good luck in your next move.

    My 2p worth is your ideal next role is likely to be a generalist in a larger HR team so you are exposed to more areas and wider thinking.
  • Hi Michaela, I was an EA and am now a HR Officer. I felt that EA gave me loads of experience and knowledge in strategic HR and business plans, but I really had no idea about day to day HR things. I would advise you to look for a role that would give you experience in this. A generalist low-medium level HR role is probably appropriate, i.e Officer/Advisor. Once you have that I'm sure you will be able to progress quickly into a more senior role given the understanding you have in the EA role.