How to find my first job in HR?

Dear Svitlana,

I agree with both Steven’s and Robey’s comments. I wonder whether, given the rather challenging job market we are experiencing, it might be wiser to play to your strengths by remaining in your current field for now, while continuing to keep an eye on your goal of transitioning into a career in HR.

Since you have already explored the usual avenues to gain initial HR administrative experience of volunteering work, as well as attending conferences and workshops, undertaking a temporary position in an HR administrative role could be very beneficial. However, the difficulty with this approach is that without prior experience, such roles can be hard to secure.

Having said that if you are able to demonstrate in your CV, and during interviews, that in addition to your transferable skills from hospitality, you are a proficient user of Office 365 (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint), Adobe PDF, and similar tools, and have confidence in your ability to produce documents and make amendments to existing letters, reports, spreadsheets, and presentations, that should improve your chances.

HR administrative and HR coordinator roles are no longer found only through HR specialist recruitment agencies, secretarial and PA agencies now advertise them as well. Therefore it may be worth exploring those too.

I truly wish I had more encouraging news, but the reality is that the recruitment landscape is extremely difficult at the moment, with far more applicants than opportunities. That said, I genuinely wish you all the very best in your job search.

I understand that the following can be extremely difficult to keep in mind, especially when you have been searching for work for a long time without any clear breakthrough. However, circumstances never remain the same indefinitely; things do change. It is important to stay prepared, because when that change does arrive, you will want to be ready to make the most of it.

Kind regards,

Paula

Thank you very much for your thoughtful and honest response. I found it truly encouraging — especially your words that "circumstances never remain the same indefinitely; things do change." They gave me a renewed sense of hope and motivation to keep moving forward.

You are very welcome, Svitlana. It is important to remember that circumstances never stay the same forever; they do eventually change. The most important thing is to stay ready, so that when the right opportunity comes along, you are in the best position to make the most of it.

You are very welcome, Svitlana. It is important to remember that circumstances never stay the same forever; they do eventually change. The most important thing is to stay ready, so that when the right opportunity comes along, you are in the best position to make the most of it.