Late career change to HR

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

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.

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.

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

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.

It might be worth saying where you are based/looking. I imagine this group has a pretty wide network and might know of opportunities or a good temp agency contact.

I do agree that temp work is probably your best bet, or an HR role in an industry you have experience in already. Both may mean you start by doing work below your ability level but it sounds like you are prepared for that. Good luck

Hi Alasdair, I'm doing a very similar thing. I have spent most of my working life in Marketing and have switched to HR. I'm now starting my CIPD level 5.
I put it off for so long as I couldn't afford too much of a pay cut in taking a much less senior role in an industry I am new to. I eventually took a job as an Office Manager, for the moment I have to accept that I do lots that isn't HR (facilities, admin, H&S) but I'd say around 50% of my role is HR and that's the part I enjoy. Luckily my company are supportive in developing the HR part of my role and hence I'm doing my CIPD with their backing. Wishing you lots of luck in getting a break soon, don't give up. How are you finding your studies?

Hello Martin, apologies for the late reply. I have been getting in touch with my networks though they are primarily more on the recruitment side and I am hoping to be more general as this seems too narrow for my experience. However, it is leading to some interesting conversations. Thank you very much for your input, the list of recommendations for how to use the network is particularly interesting.
Alasdair

Hello Kelly, it is great to meet someone in the same boat! I'm pleased you are getting some of that hard to find HR experience. I'm really enjoying the studies, though I find studying part-time a bit frustrating as I feel I can't do the material justice all the time - it's just down to how much free time I have that week... Often not a lot! At the moment I need to do some rapid catch-up on the module I'm doing :) How are you finding it? I really like the topics, it's such a mixture of interesting stuff from different areas. I'm very fortunate at the moment, as I am starting day 1 of a new role as HR Officer (temp) - was really not expecting to be able to do this, but it took the lucky break of someone seeing something in the CV and having a bit of faith. It may not be for very long, but getting it on the CV is a really important step. It's quite a slog getting into a new area - all the comments from people saying it's going to be tough don't really prepare you for the knock-backs and just how all-consuming the job hunt is. And then there really can be a bit of luck - this break came as a result of a combination of some advice on this thread (apply for everything!), and taking a punt on a recommendation from an agency even though it looked like a long shot - they know their contacts/roles, so I think it's worth going with their wisdom even if it seems a bit of a long shot. Anyway, all the best, I really hope it works out well for you.
Alasdair

Incidentally, if anyone is looking in on the thread and enjoying the advice, there's an additional tip I think it definitely worth considering. Use of agencies is potentially really important, and working hard on building up the relationship with them, showing enthusiasm/energy, frequent contact, asking for feedback on CVs and then following up by visibly using their feedback and so on. All this helps to make them advocates for you, and they often have long-standing relationships with organisations who trust them. So this can be invaluable - my hit rate for interviews applying "cold" to job ads has not been great, but with a well respected local agency who acted as advocates I was short-listed and managed to secure a really important step along the path. So I would suggest signing up with as many agencies as possible and really taking the time over the relationships.