Hi, hope you’re all well. I’m writing because I have a question I hope you can help me with. I used to work as an area restaurant manager and then as an office manager (many of my duties were basically HR duties). I’ve just got my CIPD level 3 and I’m starting to look for a job in HR. My question is: what kind of position should I look for? Admin, assistant or officer? I know it all depends in the job description but any valuable comment will be appreciated. Thanks!
Admin probably - but the challenge will be getting your foot in the door rather as its very competitive. If you use the search function you will find heaps of advice of people making similar transitions.
I would look very closely at your previous experience - often what people think are HR duties they have done often arent.
Unfortunately, none of those job titles has a clear definition. Generally, "officer" would imply a broader operational remit, whilst administrator would imply a predominantly admin-focused roles, with assistant lying between the two. But I've known "HR Officers" who were essentially their organisation's HR director in all but name, and administrators who were running disciplinary investigations.
Rather than looking at the job title, look at the job description and person specification (if there is one) as that will give you a more realistic understanding of the skills and experience they are looking for.
I worked in HR Administrator roles which were paperwork, filing, updating HR systems, then other HR Administrator roles where I did the first stage disciplinary hearings and dealt with redundancies.
I agree with Robey, you need to look at the job description more than the title.
