Hello & any HR professionals here? (Long...)

T&A08 · March 2011

Hello! I am in a career predicament and would love some advice.

I am 27. I have been an urban planner for local gov. for the last 5 yrs since I graduated college. I've decided this is not the career for me. I have always been interested in a career in HR and I am considering going back to school (MBA w/HR focus or MS in HR). I tried approaching HR dept. where I work for some mentoring, but didn't get much. Here are some of my questions:

1) If you are in HR, do you love your job? What are the toughest challenges, what are the most rewarding parts of your job?

2)What kind of schooling do you have?

3)What advice would you give someone looking to start on this career path?

4)I am considering contacting the HR dept. at a local hospital (I'd like to work there) to see if I could possibly volunteer on my days off currently to get some exposure to the field before I jump back into school blindly. Do you think this would be appropriate?

TIA!

emu0013 · March 2011

T&A08:
Hello! I am in a career predicament and would love some advice.
I am 27. I have been an urban planner for local gov. for the last 5 yrs since I graduated college. I've decided this is not the career for me. I have always been interested in a career in HR and I am considering going back to school (MBA w/HR focus or MS in HR). I tried approaching HR dept. where I work for some mentoring, but didn't get much. Here are some of my questions:
1) If you are in HR, do you love your job? What are the toughest challenges, what are the most rewarding parts of your job? I love my job, I have been in HR for about 10 years or so. I specialize in recruiting. Some of the challenges are dealing with negativity; with terminations, or employee relations issues, etc; The most rewarding part of my job, is hiring someone and it being their dream job, as well as the relationship building. I have great relationships with hiring managers and candidates too.
2)What kind of schooling do you have? I have my BA in business Management with a concentration in HR; as well as my PHR.
3)What advice would you give someone looking to start on this career path? To get into the field I would suggest looking at recruiting assistant/ or HR generalist; or HR assistant type positions. I had worked in restaurant management though college; and ended up getting a position as a recruiter with a headhunting firm that specialized in hospitality management positions right out of school. Not sure what sort of compensation range you are at currently but may have to take a cut to go into a new field / more entry level position. I would also take some HR classes to see what interests you, most HR people really have a specialty, EE relations, or compensation or benefits, or recruiting, or training etc.
4)I am considering contacting the HR dept. at a local hospital (I'd like to work there) to see if I could possibly volunteer on my days off currently to get some exposure to the field before I jump back into school blindly. Do you think this would be appropriate? With the things that you work with in HR often being sensitive/confidential information so might be hard to get a position where you are volunteering. Maybe see about an internship? Hope that helps, and let me know if I can answer any other questions.
TIA!

quartz02 · March 2011

I see you're in Michigan. You should look into MSU, they have a great HR Program:

http://hrlr.msu.edu/

vxs0038 · March 2011

T&A08:

1) If you are in HR, do you love your job? What are the toughest challenges, what are the most rewarding parts of your job? Love it. Investigations are the toughest. You can't help but to build bonds with the people you work with on a daily basis and for you to have to investigate and possible terminate employment is hard. Most rewarding - helping people with their needs.

2)What kind of schooling do you have? BBA in HR. Working on PHR

3)What advice would you give someone looking to start on this career path? I started out late in HR. Even though I have an HR degree, I live in a big town/small city where getting a job is hard, especially where HR is just 1 person/co. I started out in non-profit making NOTHING. It was pathetic. I now work for a fortun 500 co. and am an HR Specialist

4)I am considering contacting the HR dept. at a local hospital (I'd like to work there) to see if I could possibly volunteer on my days off currently to get some exposure to the field before I jump back into school blindly. Do you think this would be appropriate? It's unlikely that they would let you volunteer. Lots of records and things that we do in HR are confidential.

TIA!

T&A08 · March 2011

Thank you for the replies! emu0013, when you say negativity...where is that coming from? Coworkers, other employees, outsiders...? I realize it is something you deal with no matter where you go...but certainly some careers are worse with negativity than others. I can deal with the difficult people, but constant negativity in-house & external is a big factor in why I'm trying to get out of my current career...

Is there a lot of ambiguity when helping people work with the policies, etc. for the company? For instance, my job now every single person in the office can and does interpret the same policy differently, therefore it leads to much frustration, confusion, and ultimately negativity in the office and with our customers. Is this a frustration you deal with or are things more straight forward & productive?

emu0013 · March 2011

T&A08:
Thank you for the replies! emu0013, when you say negativity...where is that coming from? Coworkers, other employees, outsiders...? I realize it is something you deal with no matter where you go...but certainly some careers are worse with negativity than others. I can deal with the difficult people, but constant negativity in-house & external is a big factor in why I'm trying to get out of my current career...
Is there a lot of ambiguity when helping people work with the policies, etc. for the company? For instance, my job now every single person in the office can and does interpret the same policy differently, therefore it leads to much frustration, confusion, and ultimately negativity in the office and with our customers. Is this a frustration you deal with or are things more straight forward & productive?

Sorry, I should have clarified better; I meant negative in the sense that it can be difficult when conducting investigations on someone that you recruited, hired, and built a bond with, then they have to be terminated. Or also putting someone on a PIP/write up; I just meant that its not all roses and sunshine, and that some of the things we do can be difficult; but you do them because its the job. I love my company, its very policy driven; it can also be hard being the "HR Gate keeper" and enforcing a policy that someone finds "silly" or feels its preventing them from doing their job etc; I still feel like I am rambling--the best way to say it; is you have to some times make tough decisions, that really impact someones life; because of mistakes they might have made--and that can be hard. I have seen people in HR that just can not do those things; and really struggle with making a termination. feel free to PM me if I can help more!

emu0013 · March 2011

vxs0038:
T&A08:

1) If you are in HR, do you love your job? What are the toughest challenges, what are the most rewarding parts of your job? Love it. Investigations are the toughest. You can't help but to build bonds with the people you work with on a daily basis and for you to have to investigate and possible terminate employment is hard. Most rewarding - helping people with their needs.

2)What kind of schooling do you have? BBA in HR. Working on PHR

3)What advice would you give someone looking to start on this career path? I started out late in HR. Even though I have an HR degree, I live in a big town/small city where getting a job is hard, especially where HR is just 1 person/co. I started out in non-profit making NOTHING. It was pathetic. I now work for a fortun 500 co. and am an HR Specialist

4)I am considering contacting the HR dept. at a local hospital (I'd like to work there) to see if I could possibly volunteer on my days off currently to get some exposure to the field before I jump back into school blindly. Do you think this would be appropriate? It's unlikely that they would let you volunteer. Lots of records and things that we do in HR are confidential.

TIA!

Yea, on working on your PHR; when do you sit for the exam? Good Luck!! I used the SHRM learning system to study

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