A note from a recent graduate and unemployed Human Resources chick.
I am a recent graduate with a Bachelors in Management – Human Resources. I have been job hunting, just like a million other people. Needless to say, I have been unsuccessful. I consider myself quite confident and smart. I had a decent GPA of 3.6 and have retained a good amount from what I have learn in classes. I worked a few internships alongside my degree.
Now, from reading your blog and talking to various other HR professionals, I have surrendered to the fact that my studies will only take me so far. As far as HR is related, real life experiences teach you much much more! BUT how do I get this experience is now the question.
I have been on several interviews, phone and in person, I like to think I have presented myself and my qualifications fairly well but no one will hire me! I need some advice, and feel free to open this up to your readers as well:
1. What is the 1 most important advice you can offer to a new grad? (Going back to school is not an option.)
2. What excites recruiters? What is the one thing that turns them off?
3. Recruiters tell me that no where in this economy or otherwise will a grad get more than 30k/year? Is this true? How can one person live off of 30k/year?
I am staying positive no matter what, but I want to know what you (and your readers) have to say about the above. Maybe I am not doing something right?!
Here’s my take:
- The economy sucks.
- No one is hiring.
- Your prospects aren’t great.
Unfortunately, you are competing against administrative assistants, secretaries, and receptionists for entry-level HR jobs in your area. Those jobs afford working-class women, without degrees, to leverage their strong administrative skills and enter into a more professional career path.
I don’t mean to bum you out. You should definitely cover the basics, though.
- Network like hell to find a job.
- Ask your alumni department, your professors, and your former supervisors to help you find a job.
- Get yourself on LinkedIn, Twitter, and put your resume on the job boards.
In the meantime, take a job to pay your bills. Don’t go into debt. Learn something new that you can add to your resume — even if it’s not through a formal education program. Keep current on technology. Be humble. Volunteer during your free time. Eat some ice cream.
Is there anyone in HR who is more optimistic than me? Anyone?
{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m wondering where that notion that no one could live off of 30K a year came from. Plenty of people do, and it’s the norm for for entry-level work in nontechnical fields. How much were you expecting to make to start?
Are you turning down job offers because the salary is not what you expected? Or are you not getting any job offers?
I wouldn’t worry too much about a starting salary – the key here is that it is a salary. In this economy you should take what you can get and learn from every experience. Any entry level HR job is a spring board that will take to you the level, but you need to earn your dues.
All I can say is be energetic and convey your excitment about HR. Also, join your local SHRM chapter…great for networking!
For a recent grad, another way to get your foot in the door to an HR career is to work for a recruitment firm. I started my career at a similar time when entry level jobs in HR were few and far between. I didn’t enjoy the sales aspect of the outside recruiter position, but it did give me enough exposure to corporate america and started building my resume to make me marketable as an HR professional when the economy improved. By the way, I made less than $30,000 back then and survived.
I agree with the first comment for no experience in a non-technical field $30,000 is not unrealistic. I think that is encouraging and positive that she has been on some interviews. If possible, she might try to follow up why she was eliminated. Was it just from inexperience or did she somehow express an attitude that she was unwilling to just start anywhere and do whatever to begin as a Human Resources professional? Another thought how wide has she cast her net? There may be more opportunity in small cities than larger.
My advice – take a job for 25k that is in HR (even if it is admin asst). Live at home with parents for a year and bank that cash (if parents are amenable) or pay off student loans. Prove your worth through your performance. Get more experience by volunteering for projects.
A friend and I who started our careers at the same time (about 13 years ago) had a bet as to who would make it to the $100k salary mark first. I had a BA, he did not even have an AA. He started as a Help Desk Rep; I started as an HR Assistant (both living off of salaries of 20k/yr). He won. Not because of his education, because he is a good employee.
Especially in this economy, you need to suck it up and take work that is in your area of expertise below market value. As Laurie mentioned, you’re competing against people who may have 5-7 years as an Admin in HR, but are good employees. You may need to take less money or even Part Time work to break into the field and give an employer a reason to take a chance on an “unproven” commodity.
Hmm. Well, for starters, $30k is, like, a whole lot more than zero. And along with that $30k or less comes some experience with which you might earn your next, hopefully higher paying gig. And yes, unless you live in a very expensive part of the country, you should be able to scrape by on $30k. Many people do.
I started my HR career working as a placement specialist for a temp agency. Talk about a crash course in recruiting! It’s a good way to get started.
As far as following up on interviews, I don’t think people are likely to be very honest about why they didn’t hire you. (I hate to get calls like that, and I usually wimp out with something sanitized like “we had many candidates and we hired the one who was the best fit”. ) If skills are equal, though, I’m going to be more impressed by candidates who are pleasant, articulate, who listen to interview questions and answer thoughtfully, and who have taken the time to learn something about the company. Also, don’t overlook face to face interview basics: Dress better than you think you should, (and keep it conservative) don’t wear perfumes, be on time but not too early, and make eye contact.
There is something that real life experience can teach you that the text book can’t!!! (tell me how you would handle a dispute between to highly disgruntled employees that is about to explode on a production floor???) so when hiring someone in my HR department, I’d much prefer to hire someone with experience over someone fresh out of college with a degree who thinks they know it all and is wet behind the ears….Actually, if you have both the education and the experience then even better. So my advise to you is to get as much experience under your belt. Start out in any of the following entry point positions: Receptionist or Admin Assistant in an HR department, recruiter office, volunteer during your free time in any organization that will help you gain HR type skills, find work in any area that is related to HR such as benefits, attorneys office, recruitment, insurance broker, event planning etc. You have to remain positive and understand that its a tough world out there right now and those who perserver will do very well when the economy picks up again…which will be the perfect time to move to the next level of your career….girlfriend, you just have to pay your dues right now and take what you can get….even if its less then $30K.
Recent graduate with a masters degree in HR unemployed.
Here’s my take:
* The economy sucks.
* No one is hiring.
* My prospects aren’t great.
In my experience, the non-AA HR jobs that pay real money require either a master’s degree or several years of work experience. If you want a decent salary now (which any b-school grad should), consider working a general management or consulting job and look for ways to take on HR functions as you go, then transition into a high-impact HR job later.
I’m with everyone else. A starting salary of $30K /yr is more than acceptable–in *any* economy.
In *this* economy, there are folks with 20 years experience applying–competing–for $30K /yr jobs.
And seriously, where does this young person live that he/she can’t live on that?
“How can one person live off of 30k/year?”
Simple. Don’t buy stuff you don’t need. As in, nothing but soap and groceries — beans, not steak. You don’t need a new computer. You don’t need a TV. You don’t need books (free at the library.) You don’t need an iPhone. You don’t need cable. You don’t need liquor.
Do your own cooking and take a peanut-butter sandwich to work for lunch. Buy your clothes at consignment shops. Don’t buy a brand-new car, get a used one. Get an efficiency apt (this worked in Houston and was affordable), get roommates or live in a group house. Suck it up like the rest of us did.
I earned $20K my first job. I paid off my student loans (only $13,000, but still) in three years (7 years early, I think), had a paid-for car, and saved enough money to pay for grad school five years later. $30K is nothing to sneeze at.
Getting your foot in the door with the right employer would be key. Research who you want to work for. Be able to verbalize why working for that company is important to you. What can you do for them? Be willing to look at adminstrative positions if it gets your foot in the door. Once hired – exceed all expections. Do your best. Cream rises to to the top in no time.
One more comment on this issue; If money is a major driver for you, HR is not a great career choice. On average, an individual starting a career in HR will make less than in almost any other profession that requires or prefers a college degree (Accounting, IT, Finance, Engineering…etc). Are you comparing your compensation options with friends outside the HR arena?
If you are convinced that HR is where your professional passions lie, don’t think about initial compensation and focus on getting your foot in the door. To succeed in HR, you have to start by putting your ego aside and focus on how you can best support an organization.
If you are successful at building a career in HR, the money should come later.
I love that I had the same reaction as everyone else who responded!
I will share my story. I graduated school in 2004 with an HR degree, job searched for 2 years (while going through knee surgeries) did substitute teaching and lived at home. In 2006 I got a job as a Staffing Specialist for an employment company, making exactly 30,000. With this salaray I was able to buy a town house drive a used but reliable car and have cable as well as pay my student loan, and cell phone bill. It can be done.
The staffing companies usually have openings due to some burn out/turnover but you get great experience!
First of all, I graduated 4 years ago, have worked in the HR field for almost a year, been with the company for over 3, and this will be my first year making at least $30k. You can’t except to start out making a six figure salary without any experience.
Second, I think a major problem with recent graduates in my generation is that they graduate expecting to be handed a job in their field at a salary where they can buy boats and houses and take vacations to Tahiti. It’s a major problem – you have to earn your dues in any company, you can’t expect to start at the top. Going to school doesn’t count. Even expecting a job in your field is pushing it these days.
While this graduate doesn’t seem to have the attitude that I run into a lot with younger people these days, it does seem like she has some unrealistic expectations. A job is a job, especially in this economy, and you should take what you can get and supplement your resume with volunteer work in the meantime.
My advice is to find a company that you love and respect and start whereever you can. Make it known what department you want to be in and do everything you can to get there (training, networking with the right people in the company, etc.). When that opportunity becomes available, they will think of you first, and know that you have been working towards this position since you started. That’s what I did, I told them in my interview where I wanted to go in the company, and now I have the job I’ve always wanted, and with a company that I love working for. It’s much harder to find a company you love than a position you love, so start there and work your way up. Don’t be afraid of a little hard work!
I spent 10 (2 recruiting, 8 selling and managing operations) years in that business and started over as an HR generalist when I realized that I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in outside sales. Thus, the one caveat to the suggestion that you try to become a recruiter or staffing specialist is that you have a plan for how you want to pursue the future HR job and how much time you believe it will take for you to build a marketable resume (unless, of course, you love the business — which could happen!!!). You CAN get pigeon-holed into that business and it can be difficult to make changes that may decrease your earnings once you’ve accumulated a certain level of income and assume commensurate financial commitments.
One suggestion I did not see — don’t limit yourself to working for a temp service placing temps. Think about working for a temp service AS a temp. I know when we start hiring again we’re going to be much more interested in contractors and temps than we are full time employees. That’s usually the case when recessions end for most employers — they want to date before they get married and hiring temps is one way to do that. Learn about companies that interest you by working for them. Don’t turn down a job as a receptionist or a file clerk. Hiring managers can get pretty jaded about temps & contractors. When you show up on time, look professional, and demonstrate that you’re capable of more than what you were hired to do you’ll be a lot more interesting to employers. Think of it this way — if you were hiring (or thinking of hiring) a generalist or coordinator in your department, would you be more interested in a paper or digital representation of a person who may or may not be a good employee to fill the role, or would you be more inclined to hire someone you’d seen work and who had rave reviews from the operations arm of your company? One of the HR Reps on my team was brought in for a two week assignment to clean up some files. That turned into a one-month assignment help us process a massive influx of hirings that we made after securing a large piece of business. While working on that assignment she mentioned to one of the HR reps on my team that she had a degree in HR and was looking for a job in her field. This bit of new business meant we had to add a team member. Guess who we hired? She’s going year three of that original two week temp assignment and has since been promoted twice.
Don’t get discouraged. You WILL eventually find a job that you want.
Also – get involved in your local SHRM chapter. Most of them offer student or provisional memberships at a reduced rate. I find SHRM to be a mixed bag, but they do allow you to create a network fairly quickly if you don’t have one.
Ironically, I made $30K at my first job after I graduated from college (albeit after months of looking, and with minimal benefits) and I was thrilled at the time. Compared to what I had been making in retail and student jobs at school, it seemed like a king’s ransom. Lots of entry-level jobs don’t pay that, and didn’t even when the market was a lot better. Heck, I’ve made less than that in some of the subsequent jobs I’ve held.
Of course, in this student’s defense, she may live in a city with a high COL, and $30K certainly doesn’t buy what it used to wherever you live. Plus, contrary to what her recruiter told her, there *are* still companies who will pay more than that (possibly much more) to recent grads, but those jobs are extremely competitive to get, to say the least.
So, I can kind of see where she is coming from, but she does need to adjust her expectations a little bit.
Sell.
Get into sales, there are plenty of jobs out there and you can earn mad scratch. Plus if you really want to be an effective HR leader, you need to know how to sell ideas and negotiate, and here’s where you can learn it in the trenches. Plus, if you start in sales, you’re in the door and will have a better chance of moving to HR internally.
We need to give this girl the benefit of the doubt. I don’t even recognize a universe where someone graduated with only $13K in student loan debt. So, I did a little research. Ok – not research, Google.
From http://www.amsa.com/policy/resources/stats.cfm:
** In each year between 2000 – 01 and 2006 – 07, an estimated 60% of bachelor’s degree recipients borrowed to fund their education. Average debt per borrower rose 18%, from $19,300 to $22,700 in 2007 dollars over this time period. Average debt per bachelor’s degree recipient increased from $10,600 to $12,400.
Source: The College Board (Trends in Student Aid – 2008)**
Averages are averages and can be skewed in any direction people want, so I’ll skew them my way. The average debt per degree recipient includes the 40% who had scholarships or whose parents paid it all, so $10-12K for a degree is not really an average at all.
My parents could not afford college. None of it. I left with a B.A. in 1997 and had over $40K in loans. And I lived at home. Private college/live at home was cheaper than public college/pay room & board.
Add 12 years to that and it is possible that this graduate is at the high end of the spectrum and “eat beans” just doesn’t cut it in the grand budgeting scheme.
Reality check needed, true. But let’s not be overly critical.
As an aside, my first HR job paid $9/hr in 2000 and I was 10 credits away from a master’s degree. Ouch.
Hm. Just one quick thought: I feel like people are making a lot of assumptions. This may not be some some self-entitled 22 year old with no sense of the real world–this could just as easily be a young woman (or man) with a family who lives in NYC. In which case, trying to get by, even with a bare bones lifestyle, at $30K /yr won’t be easy.
Which is why I ask about location.
No matter what the situation, though, I’d say move someplace with a low cost of living and remain there until he/she has the experience to command a higher salary. I mean, Des Moines isn’t nearly as much fun as NYC or San Francisco, but you can buy a nice little loft there for $70K. Pay your dues, learn a few things, become established, make tracks.
Thank you everyone for your comments and inputs. I understand exactly what a lot of you mean when you say most recent grads expect to get a high paying 6 figure salary job handed to them.
I am happy to report, I am not one of those grads. I beleive in hard work and dedication and am prepared to start at the bottom and work my way up.
I guess this is exactly the input I was looking for, so thank you all for the reality check. It sometimes is easy to get jaded in this economy, and I guess I was just frustrated that all my job search was not getting me anywhere. I am/will be the sole bread winner for my family once I get a job. Unfortunately my famly circumstances were not the best, so I left Arkansas, came to NY, got my Bachelors and want to now be able to support my mom. Hence the frustration at what the recruiter told me (30k starting salary).
But I do agree, it’s better, much better than zero and being unemployed. I will have you all know that I have not turned down any offers, be it 25k or 30 k or more. The issue is I have not received any offers.
Somehow I never thought of volunteering, but will definitely look into that.
I continue to bang out those applications, will not lose hope. I appreciate the honest feedback and thank you all for sharing your real life experiences of your first job.
Here’s to hoping my new job is around the corner! Rock on everyone!
I appreciate some of you giving me the benefit of the doubt! You HR folk really ROCK!
Sense of entitlement? What does even mean? I grew up in an environment where we had to fight for everything we wanted. Be it school books, pencils or even a piece of bread (well, not quite that melodramatic, but you get the drift!). I would never assume that I deserved somethng, without having to work for it. One never really enjoys things just handed on a silver platter, well except for gift cards for a free massage!
Thanks Laurie for opening this up to your fab readers.
When I hired an HR Assistant a couple years ago, none of the candidates with HR-related degrees or internships made it through to the second interview. I ended up hiring someone who’d been working as a receptionist/admin asst in the outpatient psych ward at the hospital! No joke. But what I needed in an HR Assistant was someone who could do heavy administrative work with mad skilz in Excel (I live on Excel, as do most HR folks I know) and who had the personality to deal with high maintenance employees. Unfortunately, we had to lay her off last year, so now all the admin work is back on me.
But I didn’t start my career in HR. I got here by accident, really. But I proved myself worthy in other areas, and the path led me to HR eventually. You really will be competing with awesome admin assistants because awesome admin assistants are SO hard to come by, smart companies often promote them to other, higher-level administrative/operations positions. If I were able to have an HR Assistant again (and my former HR Assistant didn’t want the job), I’d try to poach an Admin Assistant from one of the departments in my company as my first step.
I think it’s very hard to get your foot in the door as an entry level HR. But when the economy picks up, companies will be hiring recruiters again, so that’s the path I’d take if I were you. And definitely join your local SHRM association. I’m not the biggest SHRM fan, but it’s the best networking option there is. Get involved with the association any way you can so that those HR folks will want to hire you.
And, as others have said, don’t ever expect HR to be a high-paying job, even if you get 10 years in the field. It just doesn’t happen. Especially in an industry like mine where the professional talent is billable. You just have to get used to seeing professionally licensed employees much younger than you making a whole lot more!
@MaryEllen My first exempt HR job paid $35K — and that was 1997. It makes me sad that wages have been so flat, that we were promised good health care in lieu of merit increases, and how the employee/employer covenant is so fucked up.
@Randi Good point on the local SHRM chapter!
@Lisa It’s tough to live on less than $30K in a major metropolitan environment unless you live like a pauper. I’m with you — it can be done. I just ask, “For a job in HR?” Thanks but no thanks.
@SandyH I think the number of entry-level HR jobs are drying up. Most of that work is being outsourced or filled with contractors. I like temp agencies, actually. I filled two HR admin jobs with temp-to-perm roles and found the best HR assistants ever.
@HRPuter I totally want to advise her to take that education and go into marketing. Does that make me a bad representative for my career field?
@Susanne I agree with you. Honest feedback is tough to get. Who wants to get into that much detail with a candidate you’re not going to hire? Very few people, unfortunately.
@Sam Go into social media for HR. There’s money there.
@JD Excellent advice.
@Elise Well I’m hesitant to jump all over someone for dismissing $30K/year even though SOME MONEY is better than NO MONEY. It does seem like a low salary for a four-year degree, which is why I advise people NOT TO STUDY HR IN COLLEGE. Study something else. There’s very little ROI.
@Class Now c’mon, did you walk uphill both ways to school? I agree that the statement is ridiculous, but if you think about stagnant middle-class wages and the inflated wages of CEOs, it could be an interesting discussion.
@Sue Awesome. Thank yoU!
@Lisa(2) Very good insight. Thank you for that statement.
@Nick Great advice re: staffing agencies. My first job was a staffing specialist and I learned a ton.
@Ashley I can’t disagree about setting expectations, but I wonder why HR — which claims to be such an important and critical part of a company — always has such low wages. This is a blog post in the making because we don’t pay entry-level auditors and accountants $30K/year. We don’t pay BSChemE employees $30K/year. Why HR?
@Tim Loved the measured tone of your response. Thx!
@Puf I would say, “Go into pharma sales.” If you can do that job, you can do anything in HR.
@HR Instinct Whoa, awesome response. Thank you. Very good stuff and OUCH is right.
@Elise I’ve been to Des Moines. You can buy a farm and a house and some animals for $70K.
@HAria So many good points in your comment about HR, the nature of our work, and our expectations on salary. Begs the question, “Why work in HR?” Is that a blog post? Yes. I think it will be.
I’m in a similar situation. I just graduated and took HR in school, was top of my class (I even won an award), did some extra internships outside of school in HR to gain experience, have great references from those internships and have a great portfolio. But none of this seems to matter because I don’t even get interviews for the jobs I apply for. I know my resume is good and I put time into all my cover letters.
The economy sucks. What can you do? I was unemployed for 2 months after school and I still don’t have the job that I want and that I was told to expect (entry level, modest salary, great learning experience).
Like someone said above I would suggest temping. That’s what I’m doing. You never know, they may have something related to HR that will help you meet people in the field. Right now I am working as a filing clerk in the hr department of a big company through the temp agency. It’s only for a few months but I am going to get a lot of admin experience I wouldn’t otherwise have. Plus it gets me in the right environment. I’m not doing what I thought I would be but I’m still going to keep positive. You never know what skills gained from a seemingly non-HR job will get you in the door when you are looking for your dream job.
@ recent graduate and unemploed HR chick
I’ll tell you my story, hopefully it will give you some hope. 4 years ago I got my first exempt HR job in the SF Bay Area (very high cost of living, as you can imagine.) I was two years out of college and it paid $31,200/year (which was more than I had been making). Four years later, several promotions and one employer later I am making over 40K more than I started at. It took a lot of hard work, networking and a willingness to take on greater responsibilities and continuously prove my worth (something I still do everyday.) My story isn’t the norm, but hopefully it gives you some hope.
As far as breaking into HR, it is my belief that it’s easier to get on at small companies that assign their Office Manager some HR functions. My first HR job had a huge Office Management component – I took it upon myself to expand the HR function by taking on projects that they didn’t even know needed taking on and as the company grew I made a decision (with my employer) to focus on HR and off load the Office Management duties. Have you expanded your search to Office Management/HR-type positions?
did you walk uphill both ways to school
Laurie, no hills in Houston so that wasn’t an issue.
But the humidity — that, I had to cut with a knife. I suffered, I tell you. I suffered.
Follow-up, Follow-up, Follow-up!!! Most people (99.99% of them)who have interviewed for a position NEVER call back on the position 1-3 months after the position has been filled, thinking the HM didn’t like them and have a grudge towards the company etc. Puh-lease!!!— any number of reasons could have been why you weren’t picked. Keep calling back the HM or HR (every interview you go on) two weeks, to three months (sometimes even longer– depending on how badly you want to work there) and see if the person they hired is working out. I’ve gotten MANY a freelance gig using this technique— works like a charm, my friend.
sidebar: @Laurie you don’t think I look like Brad Pitt??
At the risk of having scorn thrown at me from every direction, I would say don’t even think of working in pure HR until you’ve been on the other side of the fence. You can’t appreciate what the HR needs of business are until you have worked in business. Get any sort of job you can for a year or three, make your background and career intentions known, network with your HR people and put your hand up for any people related work or projects however menial. Eventually you will get a chance you want and the real experience you had will be invaluable. The best HR people I have worked with over the years had broad line management experience across different industries in addition to their HR expertise. You can’t buy that or learn it from a book. Sucks I know but that’s reality.
@Vanessa Here’s what I think: there is no dream job, but along the way, you might fall into something that is fun and interesting. You might meet a new person in your life who changes your world view. You might fall in love. Jobs are just excuses to have adventures, in my opinion. If you can’t earn $100K being loved and adored by employees, have an adventure.
@Real Anonymous That is optimistic. Thanks for sharing.
@Class PTL, you are a survivor.
@mattymat I did a video on your kind of approach. It’s called stalking. You can’t see video at work, though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiie_Op5oOM Also, I have no idea if you look like Brad Pitt. The beauty of the internet is that you can tell me you look like Brad Pitt and I’ll never know otherwise. It’s awesome.
@NZ I think you’re exactly right. Nothing will be thrown at you. Not around here. Not on my watch.
THANK YOU H Aria for your HR Assistant/Admin Assistant plug! Like you, I landed in HR by accident. I had no intentions of being in the HR field but after 6+ years as an admin assistant, I was laid off from a Michigan automotive company. I searched for a “decent” job for almost a year and worked as a temp until I was called to fill-in as a secretary in the HR department of a bank. I was over-joyed to be working again, but skeptical about working in HR and for a financial company when my background was automotive. Five years later I’m still working in HR for the same bank and have since been promoted to HR Assistant. I’m not sure how much further I want to advance my career in the HR field, but it’s been a great learning experience (not 100% great – I have to deal with a boss who has been crowned “ice princess” by her co-workers) and I really worked by butt off to get where I am. Hang in there Unemployed HR Chick – something will come along.
I found my way into HR through a customer service roll in a Fortune 500, making $22,500 (in 1998, still much less than I had expected). Companies usually look internally first, so if you are able to find an entry-level position in a larger org, make it known that you are interested in HR. Volunteer for HR-type stuff. Of course, make sure that your linkedin profile has all of the HR buzz words and your email address so that recruiters can contact you. Definitely join your local SHRM chapter, and make sure that you volunteer for a committee that will help you meet people. Maybe hospitality – I ALWAYS volunteer to work the registration desk at a networking event- or programming or recruiting – to meet recruiters. You can probably get a discounted student rate.
Get out and meet people. One person can change everything!
If you think that approach is “stalking”, than every good salesman on this planet should be either be arrested, or at least have a restraining order put on them!! In sales– you’re trained to be a professional stalker—
ok– I look like Brad Pitt.
This post and the responses may fall into the category of be careful what you ask for!
All good feedback from both sides of the HR coin. I’m from the F@#$ school and don’t feel a degree in HR means much of anything and I would’t hire someone who had a degree over someone that did not. However, that horse is out of the barn for you and unfortuantely you are finding that experience trumps school in the world of HR.
So what can you do about it? Temp. Work for a temp agency as a placement counselor – best entry level recruiting work you will find – fast paced and challenging. Look for an admin position – any – as our HR Admin has her degree in HR and was working as an Executive Admin and when we had an opening she moved into HR. She is now learning the ropes of which she has said she did not learn in school.
I feel for ya. It’s frustrating but look at the response you got from doing some networking? Keep it up. Local SHRM chapters are a good place to start if you work it right (besides, who can resist the luncheon chicken and dessert!).
If you really want to make it in HR you will find a way and the rest will take care of itself – really it will. Keep us posted as to your progress!
There is more than one side to HR. I have a B.Comm.HR and what I found was that the Advisor level jobs I wanted into had a very large number of people who had been union reps first. Most of the job postings I was looking at at had “union experience preferred.” I had Admin experience (former legal admin) so what I did is I got a job working as an Admin for a union. That gave me exposure to culture, dynamics and the mechanics of HR and then I used that experience to get into a Business Agent position and these days my fancy title is “Labour Relations Consultant” for a city. Take a look at the position you want to get to and talk to people in those positions about how they got there. Simply having a degree won’t cut it. You might want to look at tech level entry positions to get the experience you can use to back up that degree.