Getting into HR

shiney85

I wonder if any of you lovely forumites can offer me some career advise? I want to get into HR, I've spent my whole working life (12yrs) in Admin roles, various fields such as local government and finance, and many of my workplaces and roles have involved a caring/advice aspect, so I love to help people, and feel particularly passionate about helping others in their career.

I have a couple of A Levels, and I've just finished year 1 of 4 of a Psychology degree with the OU. Other than that I don't have many qualifications, other than an NVQ2 in Business Admin. I have almost no experience of HR roles except for ensuring staff training is up to date, booking training, and managing CRB applications.

I want to try and get an entry level HR Admin role but all of them say they want experience or CIPD qualifications. I have looked into these and they are £2k plus!! :eek: I've had one interview in a year of applying, and whilst they said I would be an asset to their business, someone with experience got the role. Humph.

Is there anything I can do to help my chances? Any other, equally respected but MUCH cheaper courses/qualifications I can take? I have told my current employer of my aspirations but the chances of something coming up are slim at present as it's a slow growing business.

Any advice would be much appreciated! Thank you

Mrs_Soup

Can you not find an admin role within an HR environemnt. eg I work in a university which has a large HR department but they are not all HR professionals - they have lower level admin roles which a gnerlist administrator could do - and which might perhaps lead on to some training later.

BrassicWoman

coaching is a job for caring people

HR is a job for disciplining sacking and arguing over nil pay rises.

shadow before jumping onto that horse....

KiKi

BrassicWoman wrote: »

HR is a job for disciplining sacking and arguing over nil pay rises.

That's one aspect of HR if you're in a standalone / generalist / ER role.

Otherwise HR includes areas of recruitment, assessing and development talent, succession planning, org design, OD, L&D, employee engagement, reward, performance management, HR business partnering etc.

There is often a perception that HR is a very negative 'keep the company out of court' role. In a small organisation that may well be true. But in larger organisations, especially in a corporate environment, HR encompasses a much wider range of people-related roles.

OP, if you want to *learn* aspects of HR, then by all means, do find courses other than CIPD ones. However, CIPD courses (and membership) are what employers want, even at entry level.

Your best bet at the moment is to get an entry level role in a specialism such as recruitment (recruitment in a company, not in a recruitment agency) or learning and development (eg, admin support for training and development programmes). They tend to be less fussy about previous experience or a qualification because you haven't got the requirement to understand employment law or policy and procedure which most employers want in a generalist HR role.

I would start by looking at People Management online (HR jobs) and look at admin roles in specialist areas, not generalist. So to start, avoid ones which say "HR" admin. Search under the specialist tabs on that site such as L&D, talent, recruitment etc. That's a much better way in in the current market.

HTH
KiKi

tomtontom

KiKi wrote: »

That's one aspect of HR if you're in a standalone / generalist / ER role.

Otherwise HR includes areas of recruitment, assessing and development talent, succession planning, org design, OD, L&D, employee engagement, reward, performance management, HR business partnering etc.

There is often a perception that HR is a very negative 'keep the company out of court' role. In a small organisation that may well be true. But in larger organisations, especially in a corporate environment, HR encompasses a much wider range of people-related roles.

All of which have the interests of the employer at heart.

KiKi

tomtontom wrote: »

All of which have the interests of the employer at heart.

Yes. (I think most jobs are about doing the best for the employer). My point is that HR isn't just about sacking people and arguing over payrises, that's all.

ohreally

Op, don't do it. The culture will seep into your bones and change who you are.

DomRavioli

Have you thought about volunteering - you get experience (and can do it alongside working), and a good reference.

ableandy

HR can be a very rewarding career and whilst it may be seen as being on the side of the business there is a lot of satisfaction in helping someone in need.

Depending on where you live you could attend a free weekend course in Coaching or NLP, these are only introductions but will at least show a prospective employer that you are keen to learn.

Hemsley Fraser offer very good courses but these still cost nearly £1,000:
http://www.hemsleyfraser.co.uk/OpenCourses/The+HR+Administrator's+Role

I have been in HR for over 30 years and love my role.

Good luck.

Sanne

You could also look at smaller businesses where they sometimes look for administrators/hr assistants - in both, my precious and current roles the office administrators started performing hr duties like helping with the recruitment process, administrating starter and leaver processed etc.

cazziebo

KiKi wrote: »

That's one aspect of HR if you're in a standalone / generalist / ER role.

Otherwise HR includes areas of recruitment, assessing and development talent, succession planning, org design, OD, L&D, employee engagement, reward, performance management, HR business partnering etc.

There is often a perception that HR is a very negative 'keep the company out of court' role. In a small organisation that may well be true. But in larger organisations, especially in a corporate environment, HR encompasses a much wider range of people-related roles.

OP, if you want to *learn* aspects of HR, then by all means, do find courses other than CIPD ones. However, CIPD courses (and membership) are what employers want, even at entry level.

Your best bet at the moment is to get an entry level role in a specialism such as recruitment (recruitment in a company, not in a recruitment agency) or learning and development (eg, admin support for training and development programmes). They tend to be less fussy about previous experience or a qualification because you haven't got the requirement to understand employment law or policy and procedure which most employers want in a generalist HR role.

I would start by looking at People Management online (HR jobs) and look at admin roles in specialist areas, not generalist. So to start, avoid ones which say "HR" admin. Search under the specialist tabs on that site such as L&D, talent, recruitment etc. That's a much better way in in the current market.

HTH
KiKi

I think this is all very good advice, Kiki. I do think the OP is harbouring the myth that HR is about helping people. In my early days we called it the "tea and tampax trap" - expected to be the firm's agony aunt. I don't believe "helping people' has been a function of any HR dept I've ever worked in or with. I take the point about coaching but that's more usually a line management responsibility than an HR one.

It is one area where the professional body does have a stranglehold. A lot of HR roles will specify CIPD qualifications, and they are expensive to achieve. If the OP follows the above advice and gets in via an admin position then she might strike it lucky and get the qualifications sponsored by the employer.

It is a tough field to work in. HR are often the scapegoat for poor management decisions (as evidenced often on these boards!) and are often expected to work to quite unrealistic targets and deadlines with less resource than ever.