Working in HR? If you could start again, would you?

Hindsight is a wonderful gift!

I think that I best describe myself as "stumbling across HR' when a mature student (27) at university, and being made an offer that I couldn't refuse!

My first career wasn't a boyhood ambition - I didn't have any of those - and I left 6th form to join BP as a navigating cadet....an opportunity to travel the world, gain qualifications and to hold down a stimulating and challenging job. Six years later marriage loomed and the pre-nup agreement was quite straight forward - quit the sea within two years and settle down to land-based life.

I thought that the Probation Service might be a career path for me so enrolled at uni for a social work diploma which included social work placements....quickly disillusioning me that this was a lifetime career option for me BUT I wangled a two week placement in the personnel department of a local factory which sparked some interest. Anyway, I extended my uni stay for an extra 2 years to do an economic and politics degree (no £9,250 pa fees in those days!) and then used the uni recruitment "milk round" to explore options. An offer as a supervisor training officer lured me into HR.

It was a great way to get involved with many aspects of running businesses, although most of my corporate HR career was spent involved in retrenchment/redundancy projects during the '80s and early '90s, and that is not at all motivational, although I took pride in managing it well and supporting displaced staff in finding new jobs. A few years in a senior management development role rounded off my corporate career before I, too, fell on my sword and availed myself of "the golden wheel barrow" 18 years ago to set up my own HR-based business - now primarily focused on 360-degree feedback.

HR has been a core thread of most of my 55 years of working life and has been mostly stimulating, challenging and enjoyable. Running my own business has been fun - and the ubiquity of the Internet has enabled me to become a Digital Nomad, running the business from tropical beaches, cruise ships and even at MacDonalds around the world! I'm not too sure that too many other business disciplines would have given me that option.

Would I do the same again, knowing what I do now? You bet I would! There may be easier ways to earn my corn, but there's more to life than money. I shall miss the stimulus when I hand over the survey business to my daughter in three weeks time (my 73rd birthday) but I'll still keep some of the thrill of the chase as a director of our local miniature railway community interest company which was resurrected this summer......doing my HR bit - what else!

Hindsight is a wonderful gift!

I think that I best describe myself as "stumbling across HR' when a mature student (27) at university, and being made an offer that I couldn't refuse!

My first career wasn't a boyhood ambition - I didn't have any of those - and I left 6th form to join BP as a navigating cadet....an opportunity to travel the world, gain qualifications and to hold down a stimulating and challenging job. Six years later marriage loomed and the pre-nup agreement was quite straight forward - quit the sea within two years and settle down to land-based life.

I thought that the Probation Service might be a career path for me so enrolled at uni for a social work diploma which included social work placements....quickly disillusioning me that this was a lifetime career option for me BUT I wangled a two week placement in the personnel department of a local factory which sparked some interest. Anyway, I extended my uni stay for an extra 2 years to do an economic and politics degree (no £9,250 pa fees in those days!) and then used the uni recruitment "milk round" to explore options. An offer as a supervisor training officer lured me into HR.

It was a great way to get involved with many aspects of running businesses, although most of my corporate HR career was spent involved in retrenchment/redundancy projects during the '80s and early '90s, and that is not at all motivational, although I took pride in managing it well and supporting displaced staff in finding new jobs. A few years in a senior management development role rounded off my corporate career before I, too, fell on my sword and availed myself of "the golden wheel barrow" 18 years ago to set up my own HR-based business - now primarily focused on 360-degree feedback.

HR has been a core thread of most of my 55 years of working life and has been mostly stimulating, challenging and enjoyable. Running my own business has been fun - and the ubiquity of the Internet has enabled me to become a Digital Nomad, running the business from tropical beaches, cruise ships and even at MacDonalds around the world! I'm not too sure that too many other business disciplines would have given me that option.

Would I do the same again, knowing what I do now? You bet I would! There may be easier ways to earn my corn, but there's more to life than money. I shall miss the stimulus when I hand over the survey business to my daughter in three weeks time (my 73rd birthday) but I'll still keep some of the thrill of the chase as a director of our local miniature railway community interest company which was resurrected this summer......doing my HR bit - what else!