To ask what HR actually is?

[SummerDays95]

So I'm looking for a complete career change from teaching, been doing it for 7 years since I left uni. I've been looking at jobs in companies that I like the sound of as a starting point, as I have absolutely no clue! HR admin assistant has come up quite a lot, and I like the sound of it and I think it would suit my skillset. I don't know much about it and don't think I'm in a position to apply just yet, but would like to learn. Day to day, what does it involve, and what sort of qualifications would I need? I've never worked in admin before!

I will let the actual HR people tell you about HR - but just wanted to say that if you have been in teaching have you considered a learning and development role? They quite often sit within a HR function and are responsible for general training and development of staff, running workshops, coaching etc. With your background you could be a good fit.

HR function manages staff.

So its everything from recruiting new staff, onboarding them, it can cover organising training, performance management and appraisals, rewards/benefits/payroll.

You need:

• good people skills. HR are often involved when people are in a vulnerable position and need sensitive attention - managing redundancy, poor performance, maternity leaves, sickness absence especially long term
• be super organised and good at responding promptly to emails
• it's good to be fairly literate - HR need to be able to spot & amend details in employment contracts, sometimes will be drafting absence policies and job ads etc.

Obviously like anything at a junior level it will be more basic and generic

Have you considered retraining as a careers adviser? It can be closely linked to HR ( people development etc) and there is a HUGE skills shortage at the moment. Your experience as a teacher would be perfect. There are jobs in schools, colleges and universities and nowhere near enough qualified people to do them.

Worth bearing in mind that for a lot of HR roles you will be expected to have (or at very least be working towards) a CIPD qualification.

It's a huge misconception that HR are there to look after staff, they are not. They are there to protect the business.

HR are a shield to protect the company from any monetary claims while pretending to care for the staff. IME. Hence self employed for many years. I'd try elsewhere if you value your integrity as a human being.

I predict that it's likely you'll be very bored doing HR admin if you've been a teacher; lots of time spent setting up new staff, managing leavers etc. What exactly is it that draws you to the role descriptions? Are you desperate to escape schools, children or training? What are you good at and want to do more of, as it's hard to give ideas without that?

You could go in at a higher level and look to do the CIPD training to progress. You could also use your existing skills and some fancy chat to move to:

• Learning and Development lead, as suggested above
• Technical trainer, massive shortage of people who can/ want to learn a product, write materials and run training.

Thanks for all the replies. I want to get away from schools in general. I'm at a particularly bad one and just dread standing in front of a class, and don't seem to be able to tick all the boxes in lesson observations. I don't feel like I'm doing a good job, and have completely lost all enthusiasm for it. I've just been looking on the gov website at jobs that would suit me, and the ones that stand out are all admin/receptionist/secretary/personal assistant type jobs. So I guess I need to look at Business Administration qualifications? I like working with people, I like the admin that comes with being a teacher so I'm hoping that transfers to office admin, and I did like working with customers before becoming a teacher. So I'm looking for something that fits that mould I guess! I'm an English teacher so definitely have the writing skills as well.

I'm just scared of trying something new and taking a pay hit and finding out I don't like it. I'd love part time but it doesn't seem to suit any of the jobs I've seen.

HR is there to manage the people who work for the business to the business's benefit, yes. A switched-on and well-skilled HR function will want to retain good people and treat them fairly, legally and ethically, because this is more profitable longer term than not doing so. A HR department with a short term focus, poor skills or a toxic culture may well treat people poorly for perceived business benefit. Like all professions, there are good people and bad people. But no, they are not there to be a nice fluffy bunch of counsellors who always take the employee's side, because employees can be dead wrong.

HR is very wide. There are many generalist roles which involve knowing a little about all areas of HR - employment law, pay and benefits, performance management, learning etc. HR admin could mean anything from answering people's emails on "how do I know how much is in my pension", "I didn't get paid this month" to organising rooms for onboarding sessions or processing new starter paperwork. There are also specialist roles in employee relations, inclusion and diversity, reward, learning, etc. I'm technically "HR" but I'm a specialist in a sub-area where I apply technical skills.

As PP say, your teaching experience would give you an advantage in learning and development roles - you could deliver learning sessions in person or virtually, or set up and manage online learning programmes. More and more workplace learning is digital and/or self-serve.

admin assistant

Admin in any role will have quite a limited domain, is that the sort of role you are looking for?

With your training as a teacher, I would think that you could be successful in lots of different, more challenging roles such as project management, project office management or event management.

There are ever fewer admin roles these days because so much of what assistants used to do is now done away by the increasing use of computers.

What kind of role are you really looking for?

Honestly, @FinallyHere, I'm looking for something I can leave behind at the end of the day. Everyone I know has that, and I want to be stress free after work. I don't think I want challenge anymore, I just want headspace for my family when I'm not at work. I don't want to be defined by my job anymore, I don't want it to matter so much to me when I'm not there. I feel a bit stuck 😐

You'd be a good fit for a communications role with your English background.

I don't think you need any kind of Business Administration qualifications to do basic admin roles, they are usually no-degree options. Is it definitely a permanent thing, that you don't want to take any work thoughts home with you, or might it be that you don't like your current thoughts but would be bored rigid with a simple role?

Look for Organisational Development roles. Will be much more your skillset with teaching.

Are you competent with Microsoft Office particularly Excel and Outlook?
Eg managing calendars, mail merge etc in outlook.

Formulas, basic macros etc in Excel?

Probably also worth having a bit of experience with the Google suite of equivalents - sheets and Gmail.

That's what you need more than any business qualification for an admin job.

Communications is a good call, but some roles can veer towards PR. You might also like Content Manager and Technical Writer roles.

To be in HR:

• have 0 people skills and no likability but on the other hand be very thoroughly convinced you're a "people person"
• escalate workplace grievances
• cover sexual misconduct with NDAs
• protect the company (rather than the employees) at all costs
• gossip for 80% of your work day
• force sick people out of a job
• confidently state an employment position with no knowledge of the law.

Spot on.

Also what D0lphine said plus total lack of discretion.

I left teaching for HR after 10 years and have been working in HR for almost as long now.

I would never go back! You might find you naturally fall into something like talent development in HR.

I worked as an HR administrator - first point of contact, preparing contract paperwork, Data entry, and maintaining accurate data on the systems. From there I went into talent management, training and development, looking after apprentices (very pastoral, almost like tutor groups, so was familiar!).
I’m now working in the public sector doing a bit of everything from HR advice, training, recruitment, admin and data analysis.

There are quite a few former teachers in HR - the skills are so transferable. I completed a CIPD level 3 over distance learning in my last year of teaching - I would recommend doing this as it’s competitive breaking into HR, and then again making the move from administrator to advisor so I once you have the level 3 you should consider doing CIPD level 5 once you are in an administrator role. No regrets, other than sticking out teaching so long in the hopes it would get better.

@D0lphine Sounds like you’ve had a bad time!

While I don’t doubt there is poor practice, not all HR is like this, and definitely not anywhere I have worked. Yes, our role is to protect the company from risk - but you can’t do that without looking after employees.

HR is also responsible for improving employee engagement and ensuring company policies are applied in line with employment legislation.

Reminds me of the time an HR colleague was busy in the pub telling me about various secret flings, when another colleague rushed to ask about my flatmate who had been taken to hospital. HR knew we were flatmates, knew she had gone to hospital, flatmate not fully conscious and nobody had contact details for her family nor lead doctor to pass over when she was admitted. Both of which I had, because she was my flatmate. But oh yeah, fine to chat about who is shagging who.

@MRex but they're a people person don't forget that!

This. I don't recognise much in the first description of HR, in a small company perhaps.

I work for a large global company and HR are simply mainly there to advise Managers on legal process and ensure the companies arse is covered at all times and provide the various paperwork for hiring/firing/performance etc.

this is right

At my current place it involves making up rules on the spot, barking at people in corridors, ignoring bad behaviour from long standing employees but disciplining other staff when they behave the same way.