Catch 22

Of all the students and graduates I’ve talked to looking for work, most are struggling with the Catch 22 of needing the experience to break into the HR industry and not being given the chance to get the experience needed.

I remember when I was looking for jobs, I would read the job description and get excited about the position and what I would be able to do and learn. And then the very last line in the description is “3-5 years of experience required.” I couldn’t even guess how many times that burst my bubble. Now, I still applied to those positions because I didn’t think it would hurt getting my name out there and my resume in front of important eyes. It paid off and I certainly built my network, but the fact that I only had 1 year of experience was still barring me from the HR Generalist and Specialist positions.

I graduated in May 2010 so I started looking for work as early as December 2009. I knew that companies would be looking to hire immediately, but what if they were really impressed with me? Maybe they would wait? Wishful thinking. The thing is that companies don’t have to wait these days. For any one position they have open, everyone and their brother is applying. They have people with no experience in the field, people looking for a career change, people who have been laid off, people who left for reasons such as new management, people with 15 years of experience, and people who have the 3-5 years they are looking for. Why are they going to pick the person with no experience if they can pay the person with 15 years experience the same amount of money to do the same job with less training (which is an expensive investment)? Well, the person with 15 years of experience will most likely leave if they’re ever offered a higher level HR job because it will pay more and they are qualified. But that isn’t really the point. The point is that the person with no experience is going to be overlooked.

Students have to think outside the box to get some much needed experience. Accepting an internship is a great place to start. I understand that most students have loans and would need some sort of income, but they may have to think about an unpaid opportunity. It is not ideal, but it’s experience. Starting as an assistant in the HR department or neighboring departments is a great idea too. Sometimes, accepting a job as an administrative assistant in a smaller office will allow you to ask for projects or other things that pertain to HR. See if there is a need for new job descriptions for working employees. Ask if there is an open position they’d like you to help recruit for. Discuss any kind of projects with your supervisor that may have to do with HR because you can put that on your resume and it gives you a good discussion topic for interview questions.

When I graduated, I was under the impression I was going to start as an HR Generalist or Specialist immediately and that’s simply not the case. It’s good to be optimistic, but you have to stay realistic. I am lucky to be using my degree as a Staffing Consultant and I am very please with the amount of HR that I am practicing. Not every student is going to be as lucky as me, but realize that everyone has to start somewhere. I interviewed a 2006 graduate the other day who had been initially looking for HR but had given up because they weren’t able to find anything. DO NOT GIVE UP! If you’re passionate about it, then that’s where you should be. You may have to take another position that isn’t in HR to start, but use that to your advantage and ask for HR related projects.