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Late career change to HR

Alasdair

| 0 Posts

29 Jun, 2022 08:20

Hello all,

This is my first post on a CIPD forum, so hello world of HR!

I will keep it brief(ish). I am 49 years old, in transition from a completely different area to HR, and in the middle of CIPD level 5. I have many years of team-side implementation of HR policies, a lot of recruitment/interviewing behind me, project management, team leadership etc. I believe skills mean more than job titles, and all the skills required to be an HR professional are in place, but I lack the job titles on the CV.

I am well and truly stuck in the "you'll be bored"/"need more experience" trap with respect to getting started.

So in your experience, how do people in my position kick things off? I feels like aiming for a vanishingly small sweet-spot at the moment, which is frustrating, knowing how much I have to offer. I'm an unconventional candidate, and it looks like people don't know how to handle me!

Thanks very much all, I really look forward to hearing your thoughts, and I know it takes time to post, so thank you so much in advance for your time.

Alasdair

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  • Sarah

    | 0 Posts

    29 Jun, 2022 15:43

    I am not certain it's that interviewers don't know how to handle you - it's not that uncommon to receive CVs from people who are changing careers, and it's usually fairly straightforward to interpret those CVs. It may be more that interviewers think you could "possibly" do the job but don't have conventional evidence, and they are comparing you against a shortlist of people who've already got that history to prove they could also do the job.

    The usual ways to get some HR roles onto your CV are temping, volunteering or internships. Do you have the time or capacity to volunteer in an HR role with a charity? Temping can be good to get a foot in the door, and to try out how different HR can be in different organisational cultures. It could help you to get a reference willing to comment on your HR capability.
  • Alasdair

    | 0 Posts

    30 Jun, 2022 09:33

    In reply to Sarah:

    Hello Sarah, yes I was being a bit flippant, but I am looking for someone who can see additional value from experience rather than seeing it as unconventional and therefore a risk. That's the vanishingly small sweet-spot...

    Unfortunately it's the temping jobs that are ruling me likely to be bored/not enough experience. So I am still pursuing them, but increasingly having to take non-HR temp roles just to keep earning, so I'm very concerned my transition to HR is stalling. I also cannot afford to volunteer.

    So internships are interesting - I haven't seen these openly advertised on job boards, LinkedIn, through agencies. I associate these with students, so I guess this is more direct contact with companies or otherwise companies would more commonly be in touch with academic institutions? I think that would be ideal actually, it's a great idea. Any thoughts about the best route to finding these would be a great help, I may be missing the pipeline for that completely at the moment.

    Thanks very much :)
  • Steve Bridger

    | 0 Posts

    Community Manager

    30 Jun, 2022 09:53

    Welcome to the Community, Alasdair.

    There are some very good related discussions, which I will try to fish out for you.
  • Alasdair

    | 0 Posts

    30 Jun, 2022 09:55

    In reply to Steve Bridger:

    Thanks very much Steve, that would be a great help - I thought I saw a few rather similar things, but thought they were a bit oblique to what I was trying to say. I don't want to weigh the community down with too many parallel similar conversations...
    Alasdair
  • Graham

    | 0 Posts

    30 Jun, 2022 10:15

    Hi Alasdair,

    Your skills and experience sound very similar to mine and I have just gone through the troubles you are describing.

    How did I kick things off? I applied for every single HR role in a commutable (and sometimes not so commutable) distance.
    You will get knocked back with the excuses that you have already faced, you will feel worthless, you will despair and you will think that you have made a huge error in undertaking your level 5 and seeking a career change.

    You haven't of course, you just haven't found the right fit yet. But you will.
    Keep applying, keep positive and don't give up. I am now 10 months in and have all but forgotten the rejections as I am well on my way to a very promising HR career.
  • Alasdair

    | 0 Posts

    30 Jun, 2022 10:23

    In reply to Graham:

    Thanks Graham, I am accelerating the applications at the moment for permanent roles, and as you say the fit is out there. But I'm looking for the tiding over jobs to give some experience - that's a tough one. So chasing internships as well I guess thanks to some feedback here. Thanks for the supportive words, much needed at the moment :)
  • Robey

    | 0 Posts

    30 Jun, 2022 11:50

    The answer is "temp work".

    Employers are much more willing to take a risk on someone for six months than they are for a permanent role. Temp HR work is often created in response to a crisis - restructure, excess casework, culture shifts etc - so it's also a great way to garner lots of different kinds of experience in different kinds of organization in a short time, which will then serve you well in pursuing a permanent role later.

    Initially, set your sights relatively low at administrative or junior advisor posts and then ratchet up your expectations as you get experience under your belt.

    Being an effective, reliable temp also puts you at the front of the queue for any emerging permanent jobs in the same employer.
  • Allan Munro

    | 0 Posts

    30 Jun, 2022 14:55

    Hi Alistair, I 'transitioned' into HR at 39, a bit younger than yourself but still applicable. My experience is that some, not all, HR professionals can be quite dismissive of experience gained outside of HR. My advice would be try to find a large employer with a good sized HR team and not to get too hung up on role, there is sufficient breadth in HR to fill a career many times over. So far I have been an HR Project Officer, Job Analyst, HR Officer and Workforce Planning Lead. oh, and college lecturer.
  • Muhammad Usman

    | 0 Posts

    30 Jun, 2022 16:48

    Interesting. Welcome to the club
  • Alasdair

    | 0 Posts

    1 Jul, 2022 09:18

    In reply to Robey:

    Thanks for that. Yes, I'm pursuing temping and the roles I have had to date have been great experience. I am going to pursue internships following a suggestion on this discussion as well. I totally understand the starting low point about roles - I had gathered this, and have only been thinking of that kind of level. I think it's now a numbers game of getting a large number of applications out. Thanks very much for the thoughts.
  • Alasdair

    | 0 Posts

    1 Jul, 2022 09:24

    In reply to Allan Munro:

    Hello Allan, yes I agree and this has been the most discouraging aspect of this career move. I have more than 15 years of recruitment, on-boarding, development assessment/planning, workforce planning, I have been liaison for HR, had many "difficult conversations" and negotiations etc.... But all on the team side, not HR roles. I strongly believe skills trump job titles, but entering the HR world it is clear that job titles trump skills. This is really a bit depressing - I thought my experience would give me a boost, but I'm now getting advice to do admin roles when I have been responsible for People Practice activity, effectively, that is way more responsible than this for many years... So I feel your pain, and honestly it has pushed me to applying for my old line of work again, however little appetite I actually have for it - better paid, and my skills are appreciated. Anyway, off the soap box - having second thoughts to say the least and agree wholeheartedly with your comment.
    Alasdair
  • Nina Waters

    | 0 Posts

    4 Jul, 2022 12:58

    What is your previous industry sector Alasdair? I ask because I think it could be a way to give yourself an advantage at interviews, if you target those roles and bring the sector knowledge and experience that other applicants may lack. Understanding the business is so key to doing a good job in HR, so it may help you mitigate the risks!

    Good luck.
  • Alasdair

    | 0 Posts

    4 Jul, 2022 13:54

    In reply to Nina Waters:

    Hello Nina, my sector was/is oil and gas/energy. I think much of the experience transfers to any other complex engineering setting, international negotiations/staffing, scientific settings for example. However, the sector is heavily in retreat at the moment which means HR roles directly in oil and gas are hard to come by, which would be the best transfer of my experience which is why I am forced to look at my experience in rather a generic sense. This is interesting advice that I have also considered with a recruiter who had some suggestions that I will be following up. All a bit oblique to HR/People Practice but it would still have relevance. Thanks very much for your thoughts, I will continue to think about other ways to take this approach.
  • Martin

    | 0 Posts

    6 Jul, 2022 16:31

    Hi Alasdair,

    Weirdly (to me) nobody is mentioning networking and being mentored.
    The way you describe your prior roles/experience, in an industry I know well, leads me to expect you will have had plenty of up close and personal interactions with people already in HR both in your prior organisation and in others such as recruitment consultancies.

    I would recommend you working this network for :
    1) feedback on how they see you - which may help how you present yourself to others
    2) areas they think they could see you working
    3) contacts from their networks that they might introduce you to
    4) spotting the "unadvertised" vacancies that frequently crop up (both short and longer term)
    5) someone you trust to mentor you or provide some coaching

    If in so doing you are lucky enough to find a champion who can also open some doors (introduction/recommendation), perhaps on the basis of some shared experience, you may be surprised at how rapidly things can change.

    Everyone I have come across (including me) that has successfully changed path has done so whilst doing all the above either by their own volition or because someone in their network has caused them to do so.

    Good luck
  • Charmaine Reid

    | 0 Posts

    8 Jul, 2022 09:26

    Great to see this post Alasdair. I'm in a similar situation, looking to pivot into a more people focused career. I'm just getting started to reading the responses with interest. I do agree with Martin - a mentor and networking is a great way to get the discussion going and give you some perspective.