Why did you choose HR?
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I have returned to college and I am taking classes in the evenings. I have a research paper due for one of my management classes and I have decided that I couldn't find a better source of information than right here on this board.
So if you don't mind, please let me know what influenced your decision to go into Human Resources? Almost everyone I have spoken to has given me the same response which is "it needed to be done and I just somehow was given the job".
Thanks so much for your help on this assignment.
Nietra
So if you don't mind, please let me know what influenced your decision to go into Human Resources? Almost everyone I have spoken to has given me the same response which is "it needed to be done and I just somehow was given the job".
Thanks so much for your help on this assignment.
Nietra
Comments
Actually, I'd like to say for the same reason Gillian did, but he beat me to it.
I started out in college with every intention of going to law school but then decided I didn't need a heart attack or a nervous breakdown at age 28 from working 80-hour weeks at a large law firm. HR combined the two things I enjoyed the most - recruiting and law - so I just stumbled into it and moved on.
I also missed the interaction with my customers. I'd "grown up" doing face-to-face customer service type work, and my accounting position was all desk and phone work. A great learning experience but I didn't get the gratification of seeing the people I was helping.
I retired with 25 years of that madness and realized what I had actually done all that time was nothing more or less than personnel or human resources type work with an unlimited leash. So, the transition to private industry was a breeze.
Everything I've been lucky enough to do in private industry is a direct result of that evolutionary process that began when this (then) liberal college graduate took a job at $501 per month (MONTH, not week). I never once said anything as idealistic as, "Hey, I think I want to do HR work for a career." After all, I bet 95% of us arrived here quite by accident.
My only other option at the time was joining the Peace Corps and marching against the establishment. This pays better. x:-)
Cheryl C.
I am a good five years older than the next oldest person in the majority of my classes and they are choosing HR as their career choice. It is extremely interesting to hear about your experiences.
Thanks once again!
Over the strong protests of my original career mentor, I went over to the "dark side" - corporate benefits management - in the early 1980s. Ten years later, I was handed the responsibility for the rest of HR - and I've never looked back.
As I settle into my 50s, I'm still enjoying the challenges and variety of this career that chose me! Sometimes, I'm tempted to envy the "youngsters" that seem to know in their 20s how they want to spend their working years. However, I wouldn't trade my own experiences on the road to "now" for anything!
I was working for MetLife Resources when this job dropped into my lap (Benefits/Compensation Manager). Some friends of mine saw the job ad in the paper and said it sounded like something made for me. My wife asked me if I had applied and I said no. She said to apply so I did and voila, here I am. And I am enjoying it.
Well, it's convoluted.
When I was a kid, I wanted to become a lawyer in the worst way. I took debate classes, public speaking classes, participated in the Student Body Association & then a very nice middle school counselor asked me if I wanted to job shadow her husband. I agreed and so did this other kid. Job shadowing her husband was pretty boring - he was representing the wife in a divorce hearing and the two sides were arguing over, yes I am old, their record and 8-track collection. The other kid and I skipped out of the room in search of "greener" (read: sexier) pastures. We hit pay dirt with the next courtroom. A guy was on trial for assaulting his girlfriend - hit her repeatedly with beer bottles & the works. His attorney was SOOOOO theatrical, SOOOO over the top in all of his "objections" and such that I thought at one point we were going to get kicked out of the room for laughing/giggling. When a break occurred, we left the room to report back to our assigned attorney about the buffoon fella. When we related the story back, our attorney, nice Norwegian fella, turned extremely white. Turns out, the buffoon was his boss & the top attorney in town. The kid and I were so disgusted; we both swore not to become attorneys. Here's the thing though, the law was still interesting, just not the profession.
Next, after the incident with the attorney, it took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to do. It wasn't until the death of one of my most favorite teachers while I was in college that I realized that I should teach. In fact it's something that she had told another teacher friend I should do a few weeks before she died. I was all set to leave the community college & attend Eastern WA U, when the bombshell dropped at home - no money for school (I had been paying for CC). With no funds, no real support, I went into the Air Force. They had an education program and I went into an Administrative position thinking that when I got out, I could at least get a half way decent job & go back to school.
In the Air Force, I worked in the chapel or I should say several chapels. I interacted with a lot of folks in different emotional states, I had to go with chaplains into the field when a suicide occurred, I met my first real life crazy person, and I had to organize a lot of events, from weddings to funerals. When I got out a few years later, I started school. But, while I was in the military, I also got married & two years after getting out (married a total of 6) we were divorced & I needed to bring home some money. I didn't finish college, but I picked myself up & starting working Admin. for a company & not long after starting the gal that hired me quit. My boss gave me her position, a lot less pay, the employee manual and told me I had a meeting with the insurance broker later that day to discuss benefits. Now, 10 years after it began & 6+ years in management & a PHR under my belt, I say that HR chose me. Some days I love it & some days I hate it. Every day though, I'm thankful that it incorporates all of my interests.