A few years ago, I was made redundant from the civil service, and after looking at my career history and aptitude decided on a career in HR. I gained a Certificate in Personnel Practice, but despite holding temporary positions as an HR assistant, have applied for hundreds of jobs without success, with only 10 interviews in four years. Lack of experience has been the main reason for being rejected, though I have been led to believe it may be because I am male. Other reasons have included not being “vibrant enough” or people not believing I would fit in. I’ve had my CV professionally rewritten and my applications checked by my peers. I don’t know where to go from here.
The market for HR professionals is still a challenge – the profession may have ridden the recession better than some, but it’s still employers who hold the cards. That might not offer you much consolation, but it does emphasise an important truth: to break through, you’re going to have to demonstrate why you’re different to everyone else.
For starters, you’re a man in a profession still dominated by women. I was surprised you feel you might have suffered discrimination, and I asked fellow HR professionals for their views: they believe most HR leaders actively want to see more men in their teams, so this ought to be working in your favour.
You don’t mention your age, but it can be tough for older employees to find entry level roles and this is an area where businesses seriously need to buck their ideas up. Careers are going to start lasting a lot longer, and people may change sector or profession multiple times. Your experience, both in past jobs and in life, should be a key selling point.
Having the public sector on your CV can be a mixed blessing. As a former civil servant, I know how challenging such roles can be, and how nonsensical it is for anyone to suggest you can’t adapt to life in a commercial organisation, yet the stereotype persists and it means you need to emphasise just how you’ve delivered financially in past roles.
The rest of it comes down to some jobhunting common sense. The fact you’ve applied for hundreds of roles troubles me, and suggests you’re focusing on quantity over quality. There aren’t hundreds of potential employers that are right for you, so each week concentrate on the few that really speak to you and spend your time researching the organisations and the people behind them. This will give you a crucial advantage: most candidates only start doing it once they’ve got an interview.
While you’re at it, think beyond the professional CV. You need to tailor your resume, and your cover letter, as recruiters are quick to spot one-size-fits-all approaches. Demonstrate the research you’ve done and the insight you can bring. Show you understand the business and have thought about the role. In your email, you say you’ve joined agencies, but find out whether they really ‘get’ what’s different about you. Build your offline contacts – many jobs still come down to who you know, so join a CIPD branch or another HR network.
You clearly have a passion for HR and I hope you find the role you are looking for, but I know that as time marches on things can feel increasingly desperate. If you’re still not getting anywhere in time, do take some professional careers advice to explore other options.
Can I stand up to hypocritical bosses?
I work for a public sector organisation which has been through several rounds of redundancies, with groups of staff TUPE’d out only to face further redundancies weeks later. The survivors are facing more cuts, but meanwhile a senior manager has been transferred out of HR to a new role without any recruitment process. Is there a way to speak out without putting myself at risk? Others who’ve challenged such behaviour have suffered in the past.
TUPE, particularly in the public sector, can be the cause of so much misery. It sounds like what’s happened is wrong morally and potentially legally, but it’s certainly not without precedent: HR professionals often come under pressure to remove certain individuals from the TUPE pool, and though it’s very easy to say it should never happen, that ignores the difficult realities of such situations.
Somebody, I’m afraid, is going to have to stick their head above the parapet. Almost all public sector organisations have mechanisms for whistleblowing, and you need to find and use them. Unions can also be persuasive in such matters, and I’ve known cases where staff have written to their MP asking them to investigate.
Of course, you need to be very certain the actions you describe are happening for the wrong reasons. Get your facts straight before you make the call – but do make it.