A question from a future HR guru.
Hi, I am a recent college grad trying to break into the human resources field. I have a BA in psychology. I have always known I wanted to do something psychology related and make a difference, I just didn’t know what area I wanted to pursue until now. Since graduating I decided to get licensed in property and casualty. After studying for a couple months and passing exam I started working for an insurance company. I know in my heart that this is not the right fit for me and I still want to pursue psychology. I believe human resources is a good fit for me as I enjoy working with people and I am good at figuring situations out and finding the best solution to the problem. I fixed my resume up and started applying to a bunch of different places. I was wondering if I should get my MBA-HR? Would that help me reach my goals? I am a little lost right now and any advice you could give me about how I could better get into the field with limited experience would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time!
My advice? Learn more about HR before you apply for jobs and pursue a graduate degree in this field. HR is not a thriving career, it’s more than working well with people, and you may wind up competing for a job in Human Resources that pays $15/hr rather than using your psychology degree in a more thoughtful way.
Psychology is not HR, but psychology is life. So look inward and think about your personal motivations. I know it feels depressing to work in a job that has no passion, but a job is a job. I hope you can appreciate your paycheck and use your free time — after work — to volunteer, learn more about the world, and pursue your dreams. Start to think about your job at the insurance company as a vehicle to something greater, whether that’s moving into your own home or buying a car or paying off your student loans.
Think twice before entering HR. Seriously.
{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
I enjoy working with people and I am good at figuring situations out and finding the best solution to the problem
There are a lot of areas that where you can do this. Marketing. Operations. Sales. Claims investigations. Research librarian. Web design. It’s a pretty broad description, which is great, because it means you have room to explore yet. So explore at night while you work during the day and pay your rent.
If you want to solve other people’s problems, become a psychiatrist, get your PHD in psychology or join the Peace Corps.
HR is about solving business issues. The professional does not need another people person trying to help people.
Oh my goodness.
First, you have a line that says that in your heart, you know you want to pursue psychology. Then the next line asks if you believe HR is a good fit for you. I’m itching to put the CAPS LOCK on before I say: HR is not psychology. HR is far, far away from psychology. HR is the job of helping the business succeed through people. By “succeed” I mean MAKE MONEY (oops, CAPS LOCK, sorry). You help them figure out how to use people to make money. That has nothing to do with psychology, unless you mean figuring out who the nutjobs are BEFORE you hire them. You don’t “help” people. You help the organization make more money. Lately, that means figuring out who to fire.
Also–no more school. Get lots and lots more real-life experience before you go back to school. That way you’ll know what you’re getting into before you get into it. You’ll also get a lot more out of the schooling, because you’ll know why you’re there. When you’re lost, school is the worst place for you. Get found, and THEN go to school.
HR is a great line of work–but not for someone who wants to “help people.” Those are the folks who end up hating HR…and HR usually hates them back.
Think twice before entering HR. Seriously.
Ditto that for psychology. You have to have a PhD in order to do anything as a psychologist, in most states. The work is hard and the pay is worse than HR.
If you are interested in business, and you have the opportunity to go to grad school, I say go ahead and get the MBA. But keep your options open. Consider all areas of business, not just HR. An MBA can open up doors to a lot of areas for you to work with people to find solutions.
I have a Master’s Degree in counseling and a Master’s Degree in visual art. Boy do I wish that I had some background in business at this stage in my life.
Three types of HR workers exist today. There are fat HR folks, and REALLY fat HR folks and then there are really skinny HR folks.
Let me break it down like this. If you decided to go for a career in HR, you will start out skinny and work your tail off for very little pay in a thankless job.
As you progress you get fat, and then fatter as you move up. The fat HR people push all the work down to the skinny people.
Question you should be asking yourself is, do I want be fat or skinny?
If you believe that HR is all about helping people….you will be sadly mistaken. HR is far from that…. more then likely you are going to be doing the opposite of “helping people”, you will be “helping the company” for example, lay-offs, reduction in hours, finding good reasons to let good and bad people go. Your psychology degree may come in handy when you have to deal with irate employees who did not recieve the raise/promotion or solving an employee crisis such as two employees fighting over a parking space or having to politely tell an employee that she/he has bad body odor and no one wants to work near them because they smell or finding benefits that need to be cut in order to save the company money….ohhh the joys of HR work. Before investing any time, money and effort into HR work, you should speak to more HR professionals and get more experience under your belt…that’s my two cents…
I wish this post had been around while I was going through the HR MBA program. I dove into HR with my eyes mostly closed too, which is easy while in school since you will be around professors who are enthusiastic about HR (or mostly in HR theory as opposed to actual practice). I talked to a few HR professionals but really, who is going to come out and say “don’t do it”? I have a job now and I’m thankful for that but HR is not at all what most people think it is. HR professors at my school neglected to tell me that HR is always on the side of the business/company, and not really on the employees’ side. I’m still a low-level HR peon so I am mainly a paper-pusher and in the meantime will be pursuing other things that I have a passion for.
If you are set on HR, intern first or take a temp job and see if you like it, because that’s the kind of thing you’ll be dealing with for at least 3-5 years until you are moved up to a Generalist role.
Test first. HR is the shock absorber in a corporation. HR people deliver bad news, side with the corporation (only always!), and clean up extreme messes. It’s not for the faint of heart, nor for those who want to ‘help’ others. Get some actual experience before you decide.
I was in the same position as you are a couple years ago. I double majored in business and psychology. I ended up with a job paying less than $15 an hour in an HR role feeling very unappreciated. My advice to you is find a job that you will love. If you love psychology stay with it. Go to graduate school and get into a role that you find rewarding. If you are still trying to find your way get out there and volunteer, it will help you figure out what you want while adding bonus experience to your resume and graduate school applications. Good Luck!
I did the “property and casualty” insurance gig for a year once– and I can honestly say “G-G-GET OUT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” It is the horror movie of insurance– EXTREMELY competitive to where back-stabbing is the norm just to get your toe wedged into the door. And once I found out I couldn’t make any real money for 4-5 yrs?? (residuals accumulate, etc.), basically poverty stricken, eating raman and bologna sandwiches—- I was on the first train to Clarksville, brother.
My advice– find a small, independent staffing agency that you’ll work cheap for where there’s a good chance for commissions, ie. more money!!– and get your feet wet with identifying candidates with positions, learning initial HR hiring procedures, etc., and ask ALOT of questions!! Then you will know if you still want to pursue the administrative duties of an HR career.
I graduated with a Psychology degree, and I disagree with those who say that there is no connection between HR and Psychology. True, wanting to enter HR to ‘help people’ is not the right motivation. But there are roles within HR where a Psychology background comes in handy (i.e. Employee Relations and Recruiting). My concentration in I/O Psychology, which is essentially the science behind HR and workforce behavior. If this individual is interested in going into HR to apply what she has learned in a business environment, that’s one thing. If her main motivation is truly to ‘help people’, she should forget about a HR MBA and pursue a Masters in Social Work instead.
It’s not very difficult to predict how readers will respond to a post like this. For some reason, HR pros have a knack for turning people away from the profession that they have immersed themselves in. “HR is a dying field,” “HR is not about helping people,” “You’ll end up fat.” I remember trying to network with the HR Director of my school during my senior year & get advice on how to enter the field after graduation – she told me not to even try, as people in HR tend not to move, and the only entry-level positions are low-paying paper pushers.
I followed a strikingly similar path – I was a double major in college (Psychology and Management) and started my career working as an Organizational Development assistant in the healthcare field. Pay was not enough to cover the bills (and I was bored), so when I was offered a full-time management role at my part-time job, I jumped at the chance to more than double my salary. A few months later, I was laid off, and landed in an underwriter training program in the commercial p/c industry. I will point out that working for a period of time in P/C insurance will strengthen your business acumen, especially surrounding risk management (as well as teaching you how to read insurance policy speak, which is always helpful). After a year, my old boss, the HR & OD director, contacted me with a new opportunity @ my old place of work in HR – greater responsibility, and enough pay to satisfy my needs. I jumped at the opportunity, and am happy I did.
I do agree that few people outside of the business understand what HR really is, but that doesn’t mean this person is entirely naive. I “wanted to help people” too, and honestly, I find a way to do it every day. Sometimes it just takes a different perspective – yes, you are usually on the company’s side, but if you realize that you’re driving the organization to be profitable & successful, then you are successfully helping many people to maintain gainful employment & grow their careers.
Moreover, I’ve found my study of psychology to be extremely helpful in every position I’ve had, be it sales, management, underwriting, or HR. Being able to deliver news – good or bad – in an effective manner, read an individual’s body language, or simply having empathy for another person’s situation is not necessarily a skill set gained along with a BA in Psychology, but it comes naturally to many of those who gravitated towards psych in the first place. I don’t think there’s a concrete set of skills required to be a successful HR practitioner, but I think these are essential – along with a healthy understanding of the industry you’re working in.
That brings me to another thought – select the industry you want to practice HR in carefully. If you decide along the way that HR is not for you, then hopefully you’ve learned a little about the industry you’re working in, have made connections, and can market your skills for a different position. My personal goal isn’t to start & end my career entirely in HR, but I think my current role is helping me to gain an understanding of the problems facing healthcare, from many different directions.
One last note – if you decide to venture into HR, choose your coworkers wisely. I work as a part of a strong, dynamic team, and that is why I am as happy as I am to be working in HR. Land a job in an HR department that’s in shambles – and unless you’re in a role with enough responsibility to turn it around all by yourself, you’ll be pulled down with them.
To those of you who are quick to jump on this person because they want to work in human resources AND make a difference – get off your high horse. Once upon a time, you weren’t so crotchety, and wanted to make a difference in the world, too.
Go in to sales. If you are good at “figuring situations out and finding the best solution to the problem,” then you should go into sales. You’ll make more money than HR or psychology, if that is your true skill, and be the master of your own destiny.
If figuring things out and identifying solutions isn’t your true skill, but rather something you enjoy doing then do some research on organizational development. That may be of interest.
If you are willing to put in the time to do LOTS of administrative work and spend some years establishing your credibility, then HR might be the right fit for you. I think that some are reacting negatively simply because we know lots of crappy HR people whose motivation for this career was “I’m a people person!” and their behavior and lack of business savvy makes employees and excecutives think that HR sucks. So we’re all jaded and bitter and defensive anytime anyone says they want to help people. But I will say that working HR is NOT counseling or therapy, and the problems for which you’ll truly be seeking solutions are business/operations problems.
I wouldn’t say that a Psych degree makes for a successful HR career, but you absolutely do have to understand what makes people tick and how to individualize your strategies, or you’ll never get anything done. But just understand that you have a lot more job security right now than you would jumping into HR. When it comes to layoffs, my company cut above and below me during this recession, and a lot of companies did the same.
There’s absolutely no way to know in your heart that HR is a better fit for you until you actually do it. Working for a living comes with a whole load of unpleasant crap in every job, so be realistic about that as well. It certainly helps to have co-workers who suit your personality, even if the daily work does your head in. I work with really awesome, smart, and funny people, and they’re the reason I can keep showing up every day, despite some really stressful, unpleasant tasks (like layoffs). And you need fun things to do in your life so your job isn’t the be all, end all of your happiness.
Like those before me, I encourage you to really explore why you want to work in the HR field. As you can tell, HR people do not like the reason of wanting to help people. This probably comes in as a close second to the hated reason of “I’m a people person”.
Seriously, if you find the employee – employer relationship fascinating, are challenged by solving problems and are interested in business then HR might be the right fit. I have found that many people trying to enter this field under-estimate the importance of business to our role as HR professionals. We exist, not for the employee, but for the business. You must understand and enjoy learning about profitability, productivity and (at least in my world) compliance.
HR is not for everyone and it can be hard to break into. That said, I have found it to be a challenging and rewarding career. If, after hearing all of these negative message, you are still interested in this field I recommend you put pen to paper and figure out why you are interested. This will be one of the first questions you get in any interview process and you will need to articulate this. We ask this question because it helps us understand what a candidate thinks HR is all about. Good luck.
I can’t speak for anyone else—but I’m not anti-HR at all. I liked it. It was a great ride for me. I’m glad I worked in HR.
But I’m anti-ninny. I’ve worked with all kinds of HR folks who got in because they wanted to “help people.” Early in their careers, they’re the ones who I have to send back to their cube when it comes time to announce a layoff, because they’re crying. Later, they’re the ones who are pissy and nasty and hate all of the employees/candidates, because they’ve spent years in a line of work that wasn’t a fit. So for people who are getting into HR for the wrong reasons…run away. It’s not for you.
But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with helping companies make money. For me, the best way to do that was through people. That was the way that made the best use of my skills, and I had a successful career in HR, and I’m not one bit sorry I did. If someone with with the same skills, motivations, and clarity of purpose were to ask me if I thought they should go into HR, I’d encourage them.
But a “lost” person who wants to “help” people? No. Find yourself first…because lost people don’t make good decisions. Then find out about jobs (from real people who do them, not from an MBA). Then pick one. If you do this in the wrong order, the odds that you’re going to end up in the wrong place are pretty high.
I get a little frustrated with the self-flagellation I see on this board/blog from time to time. I LIKE H.R. and I wake up every morning feeling confident that I’m helping our business stay afloat through some tough times. I don’t see the field dying. I see it getting more challenging. They’re not writing fewer and simpler pieces of employment-related legislation — they’re writing more and they’re making them more complex. Business leaders are not understanding diversity better and embracing it within their organizations in a productive way. They’re getting more confused because there are more older workers staying employed longer than ever before and we have a population that is rapidly becoming more and more polyethnic every day. That means we have to change what we do and how we do it, but it’s far from a death knell for the profession.
People who understand how to influence people over whom they exert little or no direct authority, people who can sell their ideas up the chain, and people who can interpret objective information from subjective source material should have a bright future in HR. You CAN make more money in sales, but you have less operational involvement and have to use a different type of analytical skillset. You CAN make more money in technology, but you have less opportunity to sell your ideas and come up with creative answers to complex problems. (I know technologists may disagree with that statement, but at the end of the day your program will either run or it won’t. Your engineering calculations will either be right or they won’t.)
Believe all of us and don’t believe any of us. MattyMat is right. Get a job with a temp service. Use it to figure out if you really like this kind of work. I was in the temp biz for a long time and it’s kind of like speed dating HR. You push folks thorugh the employment life cycle faster, but the cycle is pretty much the same. I do find that, because the employment relationships are much longer, you have to deliver good and bad news to people you know a lot better than any I ever knew any of the employees in the temp business. If you can’t disconnect yourself from those personal relationships enough to be objective, fair and impartial about tough decisions you may want to consider other fields.
Personality and aptitude tests aren’t going to answer these questions for you. You’re going to have to get your hands dirty. But it CAN be very rewarding.
Personally, I equate “I believe human resources is a good fit for me as I enjoy working with people and I am good at figuring situations out and finding the best solution to the problem” with
“I believe housekeeping is a good fit for me because I enjoy organizing space (my house, office, car, etc) and hate a dirty environment.” It’s true – I’m an organized person and I drive my husband insane with the amount of cleaning I do, but that doesn’t mean I should be in housekeeping.
I “stumbled” into HR because I needed a job, I didn’t care if it was in HR, I didn’t care what the company/industry was, I didn’t care what the pay was, and I didn’t care how far I had to drive. I was the lowly HR grunt making $10/hr despite my Bachelor’s, and my supervisor tried to mold me into a touchy-feely people-person. To be honest, I didn’t want to have much to do with the employees – I wanted to process new hire paperwork, payroll, benefits enrollment, analyze the company’s use of contract employees…. I preferred doing the grunt work! Four years later I’m doing slightly less grunt work, I’m an analyst, I “help” people and the company, and I’m good at figuring out situations/finding the best solution. But I also did that as an office manager, customer service rep, bookkeeper, and quality analyst before HR entered my life. HR just happens to be the field where I get to use every single one of my skills. Except Broadway superstar, which is why I’m thankful for what free time I have!
Regarding working in sales, as mentioned earlier: I have a friend who got a psych degree. He now sells cars for a living, and is very good at it. He found a dealership that was ethical–sold all cars at a given price, no BS–and he’s very happy with his work because he loves cars. His boss who started the dealership got her degree in psychology as well.
If you want to help people, volunteer. The impact is immediate, you feel good, and anyone will take needed help. I’d suggest working for a non-profit, but those jobs are extremely competitive, despite the long hours and low pay. Or, join up with AmeriCorps. They have programs all over the country, typically for one year though they sometimes have 3 month stints you can participate in. The pay sucks, but those organizations are crying for help.
I thought I wanted to do HR as well. I would probably be good at it. However, the idea of being instrumental to laying off its employees, then paying out bonuses to its executives for cost-cutting–or for firing them–made me ill. I would seriously contemplate suicide for enabling that kind of disgusting behavior. Some people justify it because they say, “Well, if I don’t do it, someone else will.” That is true. That doesn’t mean I want to be a part of it.
I wish you better luck and wisdom than I had when I graduated.
Future HR Guru –
We in HR suffer from over-certification…it seems when we hit road blocks we get another degree. This can have an adverse effect. The best advice I ever got was to be as well rounded as possible. There are a number of great courses on influential writing, public speaking and negotiating that will differentiate you instead of commoditizing you.
Different is Better than Better – Dare to Diversify your Skill Set.
PS – HR is Cool, don’t be deterred!
- Dave
I love this kind of question. Let me drop a few gems of wisdom that I got from my first boss in HR.
1. “HR is the only occupation where everybody else thinks they can do your job better than you can.” Think about it. HR Management touches everything they do (Comp/Benefits/Employee Relations). They have a vested interest and often have thoughts on those issues. Be prepared to hear every opinion from every employee on how HR should work.
2. “The grass is greener on the other side of the fence . . . because it’s fertilized with more shit.” You may think that HR is an ideal opportunity for you. Truth is – it’s a job just like the one you have. Working for a living is working for a living. Make sure you understand what kind of fertilizer your neighbor uses before you go walking in his yard.
I don’t know if these points are specifically pertinent, but I got this advice over 10 years ago. If they weren’t pertinent, I probably wouldn’t remember them. They are entertaining, though.
As recommended above – get an internship or better yet, a job with a staffing agency. A staffing agency is the buffer to the HR world. You get to help people get jobs, while simultaneously learning that HR is not about helping people. It’s about making a buck for the company.
So long as you remember this wisdom, I guaranteed you happiness and success in your HR endeavors.*
(*Guarantee not redeemable if you actually enter an HR career)
Do not go for a graduate degree just because you think you might like a particular field. Seriously. Work in the field first before you commit that much time and money to something like graduate school. Besides, without experience, that degree isn’t going to be much help.
@class You know what job sucks? Research librarian. Thanks but no thanks.
@salescomp Thank you. A.men.
@Kerry HOLY CRAP. CAPS LOCK. You are on a personal mission to prevent this woman from entering HR — and I love you for it.
@bztat Maybe it should be, “All jobs suck.”
@glenn I dunno. I’m not following the fat/skinny thing. Is it good to be fat or skinny?
@latinahr good advice — i think the comments here represent some excellent pieces of data!
@ghrunt I wish we could have steered you elsewhere, too. Glad you are here, though!
@marsha Test first. Such good advice.
@newtohr Thank you.
@mattymat Is it just me or is property & casualty a bunch of bullshit? I think she should work at Starbucks.
@Ben G. I’m not sure if she has a basic BA in Psych or I/O. Makes a difference, I think.
@Joe That is so awesome. Thank you for that thoughtful post.
@Puf I never recommend sales. Yuck.
@H.Aria There’s absolutely no way to know in your heart that HR is a better fit for you until you actually do it. Working for a living comes with a whole load of unpleasant crap in every job, so be realistic about that as well. Thank you. So wise. You continue to be the voice of reason.
@Michelle Solid advice. Thank you.
@Scott Oh hey now, I only hate because I love. It’s not self-flagellation. It’s introspection.
@Whitney You could be a broadway star. I believe in you!
@econopete I wish everyone better luck than I had…
@Dave I can’t tell if you’re serious.
@HRPuter Hilarious. You are such a strong writer.
@minion Thank you. Perfect.
I was really intrigued to see a post discussing a recent grad situation and what advice I could take from it. I appreciate hearing the harsh realities of an HR job, but don’t understand the harsh judgments about being a people-person in HR.
I am pretty much in the same position as “future HR guru.” I am a recent grad as well, but I’ve made the decision to start a master’s program in HR next year. It would have been a lot easier to just jump into a master’s/MBA program immediately after graduation, but I knew I needed to work and gain some “real world” experience. So, yes, get definitely some experience. I took a different route with getting a taste of HR… I’ve been working at a law firm on worker’s compensation benefit claims. I’ve been learning from the legal side and in doing so reiterated to me that I am capable/want to do HR. Don’t be discouraged away from going back to school. I think you should consider finding the right program rather than considering whether or not it will benefit your career/fix the uncertainty of what to do next. I was lucky to find the right master’s program and get accepted, but it wasn’t something I just decided to do one day. A lot of money, time, and stress go into grad school so it is not necessarily the best choice for everyone.
It’s a rough time to find a job, let alone one in your desired field. But if it’s want you really want to do, do anything related to HR to gain a little experience. I think Psych absolutely can tie into HR. I know people working in HR, as well as current students in my future program, that majored in Psych. Instead of hiring/firing roles, maybe focus on training, development, or change management. Don’t get discouraged, listen to any advice you can get but take it with a grain of salt. You just have to do to what’s best for you.
See, research librarian is one of my dream jobs. That’s a perfect example of how it’s not a job that sucks; it’s whether the job fits the person.
My oh my so many of you are right. I think Laurie summoned it up best though. I worked my way into HR thinking that I would love it because I could help people. Part of that’s true. I can help people update their personal information, I can help them get into their time tracking programs when they forget their passwords and I can help them by sending them to the correct people who can really help them, if they will. We have a small HR department of 2 and I am on the lower rung but I prefer that. I do like my job, even though it’s a rare occasion that I REALLY get to help someone with a major issue. People do come in and talk to me when they have problems, but I am a sounding board, and rarely can I really help them. It’s very frustrating when you know there is only so little you can do. I give them suggestions on what they can do but rarely do they want to give (and here’s that dreaded word again) FEEDBACK to the people they really need to work out their issues with. Unfortunately the way our system is set up is that the managers are supposed to deal with things like this, and, if they don’t get the issue solved by the manager, they come to HR. By that time it probably involves the president of the organization anyway. I really do feel frustrated and helpless much of the time because so many things are out of my control. The appropriate people (who could help) don’t always take the appropriate action. So, I channel my energy into things I can accomplish like data entry, working on projects, doing billing, working on payroll, making sure everyone logs their time entries, scheduling interviews, keeping benefit information up to date, etc. All the things that really make up a good part of HR.
@Laurie You nailed it! Bullshit doesn’t even describe how P & C is structured. First– the incumbent agency get’s first crack at every insurance agency for the cheapest bid WEEKS before a competitor can receive a bid (you have to hope the incumbent and decision maker’s disorganized and retarded at this time, right??)— and your only hope is to talk enough smack about other companies to convince Joe Business Owner to switch to you– although it’s frowned upon– BUT IT’S THE ONLY WAY TO GET NEW BUSINESS IN P&C!!! EVERYONE DOES IT!! AND JOE B.O. ALWAYS GOES WITH THE CHEAPER BID!!! (I put SO much work into a couple Joe B.O.’s—– Need to kill rising…. )
And if any line of business has more chauvinists, white-boy Boy’s Club MutherFuckers??, Let me know—-
The “enjoy working with people” is the concern for a career in HR and Laurie’s advice is spot on with respect to the way to find a career that matches this work value. If you want to continue in psychology as applied to HR, you may want to consider industrial and organizational psychology. Many I/O psychologists are employed by firms in the areas of talent management, leadership development, and training and development. As an I/O psychologist you will be using the principles of psychology applied to maximizing the effectiveness of talent…a great field but not exactly the warm and fuzzy career you might prefer.
I will go against the naysayers here and say that HR is a wonderful field! It’s growing and changing as we speak, and will more than likely look much different in about 5-10 years from now, so keep abreast of the industry via trade publications, HR-related blogs (like this one and countless others), podcasts and other social media outlets, and maybe join a professional org like SHRM if you are able to, or if not there are plenty of informal HR meetups and networking events available, especially if you live in a major metropolitan area.
Since you’re a psychology major, you probably have a very keen intuition for people and their behavior, and that is one great skill to have. The other skill to develop, if you haven’t already, is a passion and deep understanding of business processes and operations. Like other posters have said, HR is more about compliance and streamlining the business than the people side of it, but you nonetheless get to foster the employee-employer relationship. That is the rewarding part of HR.
Good luck!
@Tivs Thanks for the comment!
@Kerry True.
@HR-Hooligan You are a saint and one of the ones who makes HR work so well… you deserve better.
@MattyMat OMG, you get the star for the day. Motherfuckers is right.
@Paula If people like working with people and want a career where you solve problems — go work in retail management. I’m serious. That’s a good job for people who want a fast-paced environment, like solving problems, and thrive off change.
@Extra Thanks for the optimism!
Someone I’ve known for years recently pointed out that for being bright, talented, and working really hard in HR, the rewards I get from the organizations I’ve worked for, and the management of those organizations is not equitable.
Some times it helps to see it from someone else’s eyes to put my career and the decade of hard work that I’ve put in. I think if I had had that observation made before I entered the world of HR I would be more selective on how I managed my expectations.