Personnel - never a dull moment! (Personnel Officer)

Member Name: lorraine199

Product:	Personnel Officer
Date:	03/02/01 (141 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good career prospects, varied work

Disadvantages: Need to study further to get up the ladder

I've been in personnel for over 3 years and I'm a manager now. I'm in the throes of finishing a postgraduate degree so that I can have full Graduate membership of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development. I was in accountancy beforehand and was bored to tears. Human resources can be difficult - who else has to encounter weeping interview candidates or fraught disciplinary cases? - but it's a constant challenge and it's always so varied.
There are two ways to approach entry into the personnel field. Firstly, if you have a good administrative background, you could transfer into personnel and become a Personnel Assistant. You would probably be involved with recruitment (job adverts, interview letters, etc), absence monitoring, annual leave, etc. Plus, if you're keen, you could learn an awful lot about other aspects of personnel (policies, disciplinaries, grievances) just by being in the department and being aware of what's going on.
However, if you want to develop your career and become a specialist (such as training) or a manager, you really must get full membership of the CIPD to make doors open for you. If you look at job adverts for HR Managers, nearly all will ask you to be CIPD qualified. To achieve this, there are three options: study full time at university; study part-time at university; or distance learning.
I would seriously recommend that you get into a personnel working environment and try to get your employer to fund or part fund the cost of the course as it costs between £3000 and £4000 to complete. But it will make you think more deeply about HR and your employer will definitely benefit from your training well before the end of the course. It's hard work but it's worth it.
Career prospects are good - every company employs people, don't they?! - and you could even look at being a consultant if the thought of being self-employed appeals to you. Bear in mind, though, that's it's not
all touchy-feely motivation stuff. HR is more and more about getting value from staff and fitting into the objectives of the company.

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