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

Hi Rachel

Being in a standalone position can be quite challenging - if you need anyone to compare notes with at anytime please feel free to contact me. Let me know if you want my contact details.

Interestingly I'm in exactly that position.

I sort of fumbled my way in to HR after deciding that I didn't like what I was currently doing and having experienced some 'people' issues of my own. I took a conscious decision to self-learn and found my way at the bottom of the ladder with someone who took pity on me and my enthusiasm who gave me a job.

I left the industry 2 years ago, and started my own business in an entirely different world to HR. I always had an idea I'd come back to it when the kids were of an age where 2 parents working wouldn't impact them too much. And then I got the proverbial offer I couldn't refuse and ended up back here many years before I intended. So yes, I have and would do it all over again. Would I do it differently? Absolutely. But then....I might not have been offered the role I'm in now if I had!

Like some other people on here I fell in HR and Finance and Health and Safety I never set out to do any of them. I was one of those people who was very good in the classroom but hated exams. I took the decision to leave school without taking any of my exams. All I wanted to do was work and that is exactly what I have done since. I started my career as a data entry clerk, moved to a computer operator and whilst doing that role my new boss, a chartered accountant decided that I had a flare for accounts as he had watched me helping the accounts staff when they had a problem. He offered me an Accounts Payable Supervisor role and then trained me in how to do accounts. The company closed and I moved to into other finance roles deciding that I actually really liked finance despite being useless at mental arithmetic.
Whilst working part time in one company they merged with another company and were looking for someone to do the HR role. I put myself forward for it and got it suddenly being responsible for 100 people, involved in the TUPE process and then later redundancies due to the closure of the business. I decided that although I had done practically everything involved in HR no one would hire me as I didn't have any qualifications and went back to finance. HR kept finding me though as every role I took asked me to be involved with HR.
So here I am 37 years later as a Director of Finance and Business Admin which encompasses just about everything you could think of except maybe sales and marketing. I am desperately trying to complete Level 5 Diploma but struggling to make myself as I hate studying but know that if I want to carry on in HR elsewhere I need to complete it.
I know I love finance and probably should have studied for my accountancy qualification but my CEO suggested I do the HR qualification so I went for it. The dilemma is that I also like HR but don't really know if either are what I would really like to do. If I had my time again I might have looked at a possible career path for myself but I don't think I can have any regrets as I have progressed through the ranks pretty well.

Thanks Caroline contact details would be great.

Linda, I totally understand your dilemma. I have fallen into EVERYTHING education- and employment-wise. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was young... well ok, I wanted to be an Apache Helicopter pilot but I have dyscalculia so I was tested by the RAF and found to be capable enough to carry the apache helicopter mechanic's toolbox. I though I'd quite like to be a Top Gear presenter so did journalism at college, as only local news or fashion mag jobs were available within Scotland, I became a security guard while I thought about what I wanted to do. My brother's girlfriend was doing marine biology at Uni... I LOVE sharks... off I went to get my BSc in Applied Marine Biology - in plankton and seaweeds. All the while doing various jobs such as: bike technician, waitress, car-goffer for distribution (see the lorries with the cars on them? I went and others and got one of those cars to put on the lorry), and being a call centre operative for a national utility provider. I moved to England to be with long-distance boyfriend of 5 years and fell into taxing those cars from earlier, then took my bosses job, got made redundant and followed my boss to her new job. Did a great stint as a medical secretary, my degree was finally useful. Then I discovered the very weird and wonderful world of patents where my education and interests are definitely useful. ~7 years later with 2 years of lending a hand with basic HR personnel duties I've found that I really like that sort of thing. I have just started my CIPD course. Here's hoping my many-feathered cap is as useful to an employer as I think it is - along with the big head it sits upon.

So far, I'm 3 days (p/t online) into the course and it's enthralling!
Linda, how about taking a cheap entry level Bookkeeping course? If it doesn't float your boat, you have at least a new thing to put on your cv, alongside an understanding of the trials and tribulations of the finance dept?

In answer to the original question, I would love to reboot from 2nd year at secondary school, but only if I get to keep my husband.

Interesting question Steve and funnily enough one that cropped up in conversation the other day between me and my HR colleague.

I guess for me I followed the family line as my Dad had been HR Director for a number of years. I distinctly remember some informal 'take your daughter to work' occasions and being fascinated at the conversations I would hear (well one side of it at least).

In an ultimate commitment to the profession for my Year 7 project I said that I wanted to be a Personnel Manager when I grew up. This even included me sticking my dad's old IPD card in as an example of professional development. So could I say that I wanted to join HR even as a youngster? Quite possibly so.

Eventually after an English degree I headed to my dad's office as an unpaid intern, with the intention of working across all departments. However, having started with HR I ended up really relishing it, applied for a 6 month role at another company and the rest as they say is history.

Who knows whether I would have always chosen HR (despite Emma in 1997 thinking this would be the case)? However, the knowledge you can gain, the advice that you can offer and genuinely seeing lives change for the positive makes it all worthwhile for me. Undoubtedly there are tough days and tough years (especially with redundancy), but I still remain proud of my profession and excited for what changes are yet to come.

If I could 'love' as opposed to 'like' this message Peter, I would. Thank you for all your contributions too, it makes the world of HR that little bit easier.

Fantastic post, Emma... and good to have you back contributing to the forums.

Your story is perhaps the first I've heard of someone truly saying 'they want to work in HR' when they grow up.

I can think of no adequate reply Emma, except a very sincere: "Thank you".

This is a great thread! I've loved reading all of your stories.
I never knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. I went to 6th form and left with a secretarial qualification (in the days when typing lessons still existed on a type writer). I worked in a bank as a clerk for a while, then when I was made redundant from that job, I trained to be a croupier and worked on the ships. When I returned I dabbled in other admin/PA jobs and met my husband and started a family. I then trained to be a homeopath - but this never really took off as I went on to have a third child, which meant I couldn't really work from home any more. I then went back to work part time as a PA and then fell into HR when I landed an Office Manager role. I started by doing the admin for the lawyers there, then decided that if I'm going to be working in HR, I'd better qualify, so went and did my level 3, then level 5. I left that role after 3 years because as an outsource company, I never got a sense of the company culture that I was advising, so I went for an internal HR role as an assistant.
Unfortunately, as soon as I took on that job (fixed term contract), I was diagnosed with cancer! I tried to work in between surgeries (didn't have to have chemo), but as you can imagine, I wasn't my best self. The HR Manager there decided to "restructure" the HR department, and I had the chance to either apply for an adviser role, or part company - I took the latter. I was in no place for the challenge of being an adviser at that time (and I knew deep down it was her way of getting rid of me and yes, it still leaves me with a bitter taste). The whole experience knocked my confidence, so I took a local admin job in an estate agents - I was bored stiff!!!! After a year of that, I finally gained confidence in my body again to not let me down again and decided that I would try to pursue my HR career once more, so went for an assistant role in my current company. I quickly climbed to adviser, then my lovely manager retired and the company promoted me as manager! All this within a year of joining!
I'm like one of the previous posters on this thread, I suffer with imposter syndrome on a daily basis - I really lack confidence and never feel as if I am good enough for the role. But I fight it each day and just try to do my best - after all, I have to do something for a living!
I'm not sure if I will be doing this for the rest of my working life (probably another 20 years left), but until I think of something else to do in its place, or when I finally get found out as an imposter - I will carry on.
I'm standalone now and would very much like to work in a team as it can be quite isolating sometimes - I feel sometimes as if I can't form tight friendships at work because one day I might need to make that person redundant or something like that.
I find that you need to be quite poker faced some times and I find that difficult.
I'll stop now! Otherwise I'll end up writing a book!!!