Ever seriously consider quitting HR?
nietra
134 Posts
Ok, maybe I'm just having a bad month (or maybe it's the fact BF has been in Iraq for 8 months now and I have the "blues") but have you ever seriously considered the fact that you picked the wrong career?
I graduate with my Bachelor's Degree in Business/HR Management in December. I start my SHRM prep class in October and I'm thinking that maybe I chose the wrong path ... but what is the right path?
SO... that said... tell me about your moment that you wanted to quit and how you got thru it!
Thanks! I'm off to meet with the boss so I'm sure I'll be in a great mood when I get back to read your replies!
I graduate with my Bachelor's Degree in Business/HR Management in December. I start my SHRM prep class in October and I'm thinking that maybe I chose the wrong path ... but what is the right path?
SO... that said... tell me about your moment that you wanted to quit and how you got thru it!
Thanks! I'm off to meet with the boss so I'm sure I'll be in a great mood when I get back to read your replies!
Comments
In an ideal environment, I would be in the consulting business. No staffing/headhunting, but true HR consulting. I am also thinking about getting my law degree.
Gene
1) Find a two or three day seminar to attend. Something out of town, not terribly expensive, something that will suck you in and hold your attention and challenge you and get you involved and send you back home energized.
2) Take two or three days off work and get an HR associate at another company to agree to let you come in and shadow him/her all day long for three days. Ask a ton of questions, challenge him or her to convince you what they are doing is better than the way you do it. Make suggestions and take notes and come away ready to implement change in your organization.
3) If those can't develop or won't, and if nothing else comes to mind, just take three days off and go to the beach. Whatever meets your needs, take it along too: a bottle of wine, a case of beer, a jug of lemonade, a cheap grill and three pounds of hamburger meat, a puppy, a kite, a beach ball, binoculars, a dart board, a younger man......hell, the sky's the limit! (PS: That list was meant to choose from. You cannot have all of those and expect to survive.) x:-)
Disclaimer: This message is not intended to offend or attack. It is posted as personal opinion. If you find yourself offended or uncomfortable, email me and let me know why.
My granddaughter's BF is in Iraq too. We're pretty close; I took her mother to the hospital (Edit: In a 6" snowstorm on Christmas morning) and brought them both home when she was born. She, too, gets depressed, and we all do from time to time.
The profession has been very good to me, though; I'll never be rich, but I get paid reasonably for what I do, and have been happy. I hope you can say that in 30 years.
When I get frustrated, I just remember that I have heard my friends complain about their companies too and they aren't in HR. Everywhere you go you will have office politics, gossip, backstabbers, and difficult employees/co-workers, issues with company benefits and disappointments. It just matters on how you choose to deal with them.
Ruskanen was absolutely correct. Every company has its good points and bad points, but you have to focus on the positive things that you do find in your company.
The worst issue I have to to address is the "entitlement" mentality that is so prevalent now, especially in the healthcare industry.
I'm fortunate that I am making good money, have a senior management position and report to a great CEO. The work is challenging and my peers are very pleasant to work with.
I have recently been transferred within our legal department and am now officially "off" HR work, though I am still turning in here while I can because I'm finding it difficult to get it out from under my skin, and I'm training and transitioning my replacement. I have to remind myself that that's not my job anymore. Now I'm supposed to be learning environmental law and about the laws relating the transmission and distribution of gas and electricity - not even close to HR. But I'm still known in the legal and HR depts as the inhouse expert. It's been wonderful being able to supply or reinforce information that always seems to help someone - either a supervisor or HR business partner caught in a legal tangle, or an employee who needs help understanding benefits.
I was asked if I wanted to move to an HR position, instead of law, and I decided not. I do love law, though I'm not a lawyer, and this is where I'll stay. But my hand is still in HR, at least for awhile. I've especially enjoyed the friends I've made on the Forum.
That was not to be. After a few years as the executive assistant to the CEO here, the HR Director decided to quit and I was told -- you should do that job. So back to school to bone up on the laws, etc., complete my credentials for the SPHR, and now I wish I had started in this professional from the first. HR is my heart. I get to be the employer rep to employees and the employee rep to the employer. Those bad days/times will pass -- we all get them. Would not want to be doing anything else (except when I am on the beach as Don described above).
I'm not sure it is the company that I have issues with because it really isn't that bad of a place. I think I'm overwhelmed with everything and need to take a step back to take 10 forward.
This morning my boss complimented me in a backwards kind of way - but hey I'll take it!!
Thanks again for screwing my head back on!