Opportunity to retrain? HR maybe?

[Peppaismyhomegirl]

Hello. I am being made redundant and there is an opportunity for me to retrain as where I live has funding for education if you are facing redundancy.
Pre children- I was a retail manager. Managed large teams of people. After children I dropped down to part time sales assistant. I still assist the manager as we get on well, I enjoy doing it and I can help, this is out of goodwill tho no payment or anything.
I want out of retail. I'm thinking of going into HR as I enjoy working with people and getting the best out of team members whilst being fair. I am considering doing a computer and admin course and then working towards my cipd? Does anyone have any advice or information? I will need major catching up on computers and see applications needing knowledge on sage and office systems which I will need to start with. But do you enjoy your job in HR? Is it easy to fit in around the children? (No weekend work being a major issue for me) I am pg with my last child and I'm using this redundancy to start the process of getting myself prepared for full time work in 3 years time. Something for me.

Anyone?

I love my job, but actually in HR you are dealing with unpleasant things a LOT of the time - telling people they haven't got the job, disciplinaries, sickness management, redundnacies.

If you like working with people, I'd stay in management.

Agree with Hermione. I love it, but it's certainly true that people hire me to do the jobs they don't want to do. It's a messy job, HR, and I didn't go into it to become the popular girl in the office. Which is lucky, really

Its rare that when the HR person enters the room, everyone else thinks - "wow, it's time to have FUN!"

Oh really. I always thought I could support the staff and make sure they are treated fairly?

The thing is, the companies will be paying your wages, not the staff. Certainly it would be your role to point out the legalities, or otherwise, of their HR strategies, and so at least ensure the staff are not shafted. But as the saying goes, "He who pays the piper calls the tune".

Yes it's a profession that will earn you few friends, and forget invites to the pub on a Friday night. But, if you want the opportunity to make a difference to workplace culture, potentially make someone's life/day/situation at work a little easier to bear by navigating through manager politics & bullshit, and want to add value to the bottom line via the most precious & important commodity available (people), then HR is a great choice.

Up to a point, but you can ensure that for your team when you're their leader

As HR you can work to make the workplace better, ultimately you can't control or man mark every manager

Don't forget that the company has HR and the employee has their union.

For me it's risk management also to a degree. It's treating staff fairly within the scope of the law, not necessarily morally! 'Fair' in a HR/legal context is not the same as most people's understanding of it!

I'd also suggest that experience is as important as CIPD qualifications, learning the theory & best practice isn't that useful independently of understanding how it's practically applied. I would suggest getting some admin experience initially and then moving into HR admin then applying to study CIPD with a view to moving your way up, if you still fancy it!

Agree 100% with experience over quals. I've just finished working with an extremely well qualified person who has all the letter after her name etc...but has never worked in a geuine HR environment. She was miles better qualified than me but had no idea of the realities of HR within a business - specifically a small business. As a result I think I was probably better at the job than her.

This is really helpful thank you. I have a lot to think about..

Have you had a look at the CIPD website? You won't be able to access everything if you're not a more but you can maybe sign up for a trial. You should spend some time on there, and you should get a good idea of broadness of HR and a good idea of what it entails!

Not a more should be not a member. Not sure how that happened!

Is there any way you could "shadow" someone already working in HR?

All of the above! It is HR's job to make sure that management are doing things in line with what is legal. So when they want to give someone the push, it is your job to make sure they do it in a way that means they aren't taken to an industrial tribunal (and other tasks of a similar ilk). You work for the company not the employees, however unfairly you think management are treating them.

IME the general consensus is that HR don't do a lot but they often seem to be the most stressed/overloaded.

Encouraging people while being fair sounds more like mentoring/teaching/some sort of therapy not a role within a commercial business!

Thank you everyone. You have given me a lot to think of. I really want to make a difference in the work place and have seen some people really unfairly treated, perhaps HR isn't for me as I'm looking to support people and help. I will look more into HR as I'm thinking it doesn't entail what I thought it did. I thought it was more protecting the employees

Have you considered organisational development (od) as an alternative to HR if you want to be the more (ahem) soft and fuzzy side of people management and advice? Most of the operational HR people I know have a bit of a badass streak (you have to- as a pp said, HR regularly are doing what the manAgers don't really want to do themselves) saying this it depends what organisation you work for. Perhaps maybe think about what sector/industry you want to work in and then think about how you would want to be a part of that. HR is really not one size fits all.

Protecting the employees?!

HR are the ones that the managers/employees go to when they are having problems. That includes complaints, disciplinaries, poor performance, writing policies, ensuring that the employer and the employees are meeting legal standards. It's not all interviewing. Yes, I've spent plenty of time with distressed employees and a box of tissues but there is a LOT more to the job than that!

Ds is a HR consultant working in Local Government. He began at 18 after A levels as an advisor in the CRB/DBS team. (his department supports schools so deals with everything recruitment/pay/contracts/ dbs) He then became senior advisor and then team leader and on day release completed his CIPD. He's 26 now and his responsibilities include managing the budget for shared services/ securing contracts with Academy schools who may have opted out of LA services, giving presentations to HTs/Governing bodies as well as the more typical HR tasks. Ds loves it, it wasn't what he planned to do he got his initial role whilst considering his options and because progress was fast he never left.

No I appreciate that and I used to be a troubleshooter manager and I have sacked a fair few of bad employees! I guess that's what has made me consider HR as I worked alongside them, but reading this I was getting rid of a lot of people and they were giving me advice and being very nice to me when I was manager. I assumed they would support the staff if they needed it against the organisation aswell, I little bit more neautral maybe?! I realise this sounds insane, reading it back maybe it's not what I think it is.
I am going to have a meeting in the job center and see what advice I can get. I'm told I excel in training and developing and I love that side of the job. I love getting the best out of people and making sure they are happy and fulfilled

Many large employers have roles within the HR umbrella that focus on training and development or recruitment. Would those be areas of interest?

Yes definatly. More of the training and development and recruitment side of HR. I would love that. Any advice of the best route to get into this.
I have hired and trained full teams through my previous positions, I have made my own training material and training programmes for the smaller companies that I worked for. Just no qualifications to back this up and I don't want to do it in a retail store level anymore.

There's a certificate in training practice you can do

There is a lot of problem-solving in the job, your original post made it sound as if you thought you'd be supporting the employees all the time against the employer - there are some bosses who need reining in but the majority of the work is the other way around in my experience.

Is there any way of getting hold of a copy of the training material that you have produced? I have been impressed when interviewing someone if they have brought a really good set of notes with them.

It would have to be a fairly large employer to have a training function, larger employers may also have a specific recruitment section - smaller companies you'll have to do it all. Have you thought about recruitment agency (working in one, rather than them looking for a job for you)? It would involved sales as well though.

I know you are not looking for an immediate role, but it may be worth looking at the larger employers in your area (Universities, production facilities, large call centres, NHS etc) to see what kind of training and recruitment they have/use to give you an idea of what is out there.