Every day I meet HR & Talent candidates of all levels and I am fascinated to hear how and why they started a career in HR, what drew them to the profession and what the reality of this career path is. For candidates at the start of their career journey thinking of getting into HR, here are my top tips.
The World Is Your Oyster
You’ll find HR roles across all sectors and types of business, whether you want to work for a super cool tech start up or a large global media business, HR is always needed in some way shape or form!
A Range Of Paths To Follow
Whether you want to work as a generalist or steer towards being a specialist (or even in and out of both) HR is a great career path to take. HR can involve recruitment, training, organisational development and employee relations. Many people love the variety of working in a generalist role which incorporates all of these disciplines developing from HR Admin through to HR Management and director levels. Others realise their passion is more specific and choose to specialise in one of the above.
Making An Impact
HR is so much more than employment contracts and managing absence! Our clients look for HR professionals who will truly partner the business. They seek individuals who are progressive, creative and who will help them drive forward their businesses. In competitive industries such as digital and tech, the HR role will be instrumental in ensuring they attract and keep the top talent on the market.
Be A Trend Setter
HR plays a key role in ensuring companies keep ahead of the curve when it comes to attracting and engaging their workforce, in particular across the super competitive creative industries we work with here at Handle. HR is not just keeping things legal and box ticking, it’s an opportunity to do things differently, get under the skin of a business and bring an amazing culture to life! And for any techies in a HR role, the emphasis on using data and systems is huge – we’ve even worked with companies looking for a HR person who can code!
Never boring!
When you’re dealing in the world of people, no 2 days are the same. You’ll always be faced with new and unique challenges and, as well as working to support a business, your role will affect the people within the organisation. It’s hugely satisfying to see people progress and develop, or even find ways to support people through more negative scenarios in the most positive way.