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Personnel Today

Starting from scratch

by Personnel Today 21 Aug 2001
by Personnel Today 21 Aug 2001

I graduated with a psychology degree and
moved into retail. I now work as a customer services manager, but would like to
move to a personnel role. I don’t know where to start. I’ve checked with my own
organisation and there are no vacancies.

Margaret
Malpas, joint managing director, Malpas Flexible Learning, writes:

You
may have heard that there is a shortage of HR people but this really applies to
high flying strategic thinkers. Unfortunately there is an over- supply at the
ground floor level. Expect to take a pay cut, lose your manager status and
spend at least two years studying to prove you are serious!

Vic
Daniels, director, Carr Lyons, writes:

Display
your commitment by looking at undertaking some CIPD recognised courses. You
will need to contact them and obtain some advice. get access to the specialized
HR press and read through to search for entry level positions. Register with
appropriate recruitment consultancies.

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Allison
Sheard, consultant, Chiumento Consulting Group, writes:

Talk
to your own personnel department to find out more about the personnel function,
in order to be sure that it really does interest you. If it does, then network
with anyone that you know who works in, or has contacts within, the function.
By doing so you will be demonstrating your interest in changing career and
these contacts can be an excellent way of getting to unadvertised vacancies.

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

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Personnel Today
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