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On Monday, I mentioned I received a letter from a reader.  You can read the full letter here.  One of the things the reader asked about was career paths in human resources.  Specifically, they said:

I’d like to pursue a career in HR, however, I also love sales, being on the road, and need flexibility.  Can you recommend the right career path?

This is a really interesting question because I’ve heard so many different stories about how people end up in HR or work their way through HR.  To be fair, I didn’t want to offer just one approach.  So I reached out to a few of my favorite blogging colleagues to offer up their experiences and some advice.

Christopher Hoyt – aka The Recruiter Guy

Because the person is asking about what areas within their own business channel they can explore – I’m left to think they still have more to learn about their organization.  I’d gently encourage them to get to know their own teams and the people/jobs within them before pursuing external advice on where to go next.  Regardless of how long ago they ‘fell into’ their current job – if they’re looking to stay within the HR department they’ll want to ensure they’re growing in HR rather than hopping around within the department.

Take the time to become a knowledgeable professional at what you do today.  Take the time to understand what your peers and colleagues do – on your team as well as outside the company.  You may be surprised how your passion for your current role grows or a new career path presents itself as you strive to excel.  I think someone that is truly interested in being an expert at what they do is always looking for the role to grow and evolve as it’s best for the business – and the majority of the time will know when a move makes sense.

Have said all of that…  The no-brainer for “sales” and “travel” within HR is Recruiting.  But experienced managers in HR will tell you that nearly anything within a leadership role will have sales attributes and that business needs always dictate “flexibility” and “travel” regardless of the role.  Not to mention that so much of this is specific to the type and size of company where this person works.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR – CEO of Xceptional HR and author of Blogging4Jobs

Sales is a part of every position whether you are in Human Resources or not.  As a HR professional, we sell the company, benefits, and special projects to senior management, employees, and prospective candidates every day.  Employee relations and recruiting are areas within human resources that encourage someone to listen as well as be persuasive and use closing skills.  The person may want to consider working in sales for a company that provides human resources related products like an ATS, payroll, or HRIS software.  I would also encourage this person to consider supporting a sales division within a company allowing you to engage these sales-minded professionals. One must understand that Human Resources is not something that most fall into, and returning to the industry after a period of time in another role could be problematic.

Laurie Ruettimann – Founder of Punk Rock HR

I was a regional HR manager from 2001-2007 and I was able to travel and see the world. Those types of jobs don’t really exist in 2009. Companies are smarter and using technology. Instead of having a team of regional HR professionals who report into a single person in HR, local management picks up basic HR responsibilities and calls an official HR Generalist/Project Manager when there is a question or problem. Regional HR professionals rarely travel, anymore. The result is HR-by-conference-call with an occasional trip to see a client.

I might recommend a job with a Human Resources vendor who has a product to sell and clients to see in other towns. My friend, Josh Schwede at HireVue, seems to have a great job. He’s on the road and meets with HR clients to talk about his company’s products & services. He also learns about HR trends, company issues, and he is generous enough to share knowledge about the industry. That’s a great job.

Tim Sackett, SPHR – Executive Vice President at HRU Technical Resources and contributor at Fistful of Talent

I began my HR career in Recruiting, and in hindsight wouldn’t change a thing about beginning in a recruiting role.  The one thing that recruiting allows you to do is understand how the organization works, builds relationships and contacts across the organization and, in most cases, puts you in front of many hiring managers/directors within the organization.  From my recruiting role I was brought into many strategy conversations that I never would have been brought into as a HR Generalist.  I went from recruiting into a corporate HR Generalist role (after obtaining some formal HR education), and felt that my recruiting background set me up perfectly to be successful as a generalist, primarily because I understood that HR wasn’t the most important thing going on in the business – operations/sales/profit were really the drivers of why the company was successful or not.  So many career HR folks, who haven’t recruited, tend to struggle to understand that HR doesn’t run the company – that if everyone doesn’t follow every policy exactly, the business will still open its doors in the morning.  In the end HR helps mitigate risk –  that means we educate senior leadership on what might go wrong, then leadership makes the decision on whether they are comfortable or not in taking on that risk.

In terms of “enjoying sales, being on the road and flexibility” – I’ve worked in two different Regional HR Roles and in both circumstances (retail and casual dining industries) they provided all of these things.  In regional HR roles you need to use your influence (basically selling individuals on why they should do something) to launch successful projects in the field, you tend to travel often and usually better employers will give you more flexibility because of the travel schedule.  Regional Recruiting roles and collegiate recruiting tend to offer up travel and flexibility as well.  Many companies have discovered that having centralized recruiting, when recruiting nationally, isn’t the most effective structure and have been decentralizing recruiting into the markets they do business.

Well…there ya have it!  More information than you wanted to know about getting into or ahead in HR.  But seriously, there are some common themes about career paths that, no matter what role you have in an organization, you should consider:

• Understanding and contributing to how the organization makes money is everyone’s job
• Learning other people’s jobs and other areas of the business will only benefit you

Thanks again to Tim, Laurie, Jessica and Chris for taking the time to share their experience and expertise.  I owe you a drink the next time our paths cross!

P.S.  Don’t forget tomorrow is the last day of our career development trifecta.  I’ll be weighing in on the subject of certifications.  See ya mañana!

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With record levels of unemployment, all job seekers are looking for new ideas and resources to help move their search forward successfully. I can tell you from experience that Baby Boomers come to the table with concerns that are unique to their generation. They worry about ageism, about interviewing with bosses young enough to be their children and about the fact that job search techniques and methods have changed dramatically since they last looked for opportunities.

For Boomers ready for a real career change after their primary career has ended, a terrific resource is available. Civic Ventures, a think tank on Boomers, work and social purpose, provides information and advice to help Boomers transition to what they term, “encore careers.” Civic ventures recently hired Marci Alboher, a highly respected expert on career issues and workplace trends, author of the book, One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success (Warner Books, 2007) (and one of my favorite writers on the subject of career and job search issues), to help boomers hoping to transition to meaningful and different career opportunities.

I spoke to Marci recently about her new position and about Civic Ventures. She described  The Purpose Prize, which the organization offers annually to social innovators over 60 who are using their talents to make a difference in the world. (They receive between $50,000 and $100,000 for “creating new approaches to solving tough problems – from education and job training to global warming and hunger.” Read about the recently announced prize winners HERE. You may be inspired to follow in their footsteps.)

However, Marci explained that Civic Ventures does so much more. She noted, “Civic Ventures is committed to reinventing the years formerly known as retirement. Most Americans over age 65 are not planning to idle away their ‘retirement years.’ Many want to do work that matters after their primary career has ended. Civic Ventures is creating pathways to connect these talented professionals with meaningful and fulfilling work that provides continued income, personal meaning and social impact.” (Read more about Civic Ventures on Marci’s blog post announcing her new position.)

Marci also alerted me to Civic Ventures’ new guide for for those hoping to succeed in an encore career who want to get started on the right foot.  The guide is available as a series of free downloads HERE. It covers a myriad of topics, including what to expect, job hunting tips, volunteering as a bridge to your new career and updating your skills, among other key topics.

The opening of the guide resonated with me:

“We like to think that the key to a successful career change is knowing what we want to do next, then using that knowledge to guide our actions, writes Herminia Ibarra, author of Working Identify: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career.

But, she continues,

“Studying people in the throes of the career change process…(suggests that)…Change actually happens the other way around. Doing comes first, knowing second…It’s a transition, not a transaction.”

If you are a Boomer thinking of making a change to a fulfilling “encore career,” don’t miss the resources at Encore Careers. Even if you are not sure of your next step, explore the quality materials and resources. Remember, as Herminia Ibarra noted, “It’s a transition, not a transaction.”

I can help with every part of your job hunt! Need a great resume? Tips to use social networking? Interview coaching?  If you need help mobilizing your networks and your job search plans, learn more about how I can help you! While you’re at it, don’t forget those social networks! Be sure to become a fan of Keppie Careers on Facebook…I’d be thrilled to have you as part of the community! Since we’re on the subject of doing something new…Are you on Twitter? Jump on and touch base with me @keppie_careers.

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