How Can HR Freshers Break Into Core HR Roles Without Starting in Recruitment?

I am a PGDBM (HR) fresher looking for a job. Recruitment is not something I would put under my area of interest. I am keen to pursue my career in the core areas of HR like Enhancement of People Potential, Competency Profiling, Performance Improvement, Performance Evaluation, Performance Management Systems, Identification of Training Needs, Organizing the same, Compensation, and Benefits Management.

Keeping my areas in mind, I have applied to some companies, but I have not been able to get through because these kinds of posts are usually given to senior and experienced people. I have been receiving numerous offers for recruitment, which I am not interested in. I am sure there are many other freshers like me who are facing the same dilemma. I would like to know whether HR begins and ends with recruitment? How should a fresher who is not interested in recruitment find a stand in the industry?

Hi! I had faced the same problem 2 years back when I wanted to join in HR, but as a fresher, the only offers I got were for recruitment profiles. I accepted those, and within 6 months, I proved to my organization that I, as an HR personnel, am much more valuable and useful in many areas beyond recruitment. I worked on employee potential and performance enhancement through training, drafted HR strategies to improve the company's employee rating, managed compensation in a way that suits both the company and the employees, handled employee relations (ER), and devised methods for better company administration.

To succeed, you have to start somewhere and prove yourself. Nobody will immediately recognize your talent, so seize whatever opportunities come your way and demonstrate your capabilities. Ensure that your roles and responsibilities are utilized to benefit your company and secure your interests. I hope this advice is not too overwhelming; I'm sharing it based on my own experience.

Neha :)

Hi Divya,

If you see the current trend in the industry, HR has more openings and demand in the recruitment area. HR starts from recruitment but it has no end. To start, you can get into recruitment. There is a lot to learn in recruitment alone. Afterwards, you can gradually move into a generalist profile.

Regards,
Shreeram 😉😉😉

Hi Divya,

Please understand that HR is a cycle which starts with recruitment, training, and development, performance management, employee grievances, and strategic HR roles. To understand the basics of HR, you have to start with recruitment so that you understand the roles, functions, their importance in the business, and the right kind of people you should look for because they are the face of your company.

Cheers,
Poornima

Hi Divya,

HRM starts from recruitments & selection, Training & development, Compensation and benefits, Employee welfare, Performance management, Employee retention, Grievance management, Labour handling, etc. Recruitment is the most important part of HR. If you are proficient in recruitment, you can easily find a job in core HR, but having knowledge in salary admin makes it a bit more challenging.

Presently, core HR includes recruitment, a greater focus on future skill inventory, training & development, and performance management. When working on recruitment, it is important to understand roles, responsibilities, profiles, salary structures, and competencies required for different positions.

Keep working in the recruitment division, and one fine day, you will definitely get an opportunity to work in Core/Generalistic HR.

Thanks,
Kamal

Hi,

I read your problem, and it seems to be about the four key areas of HR:

1. Recruitment & Selection.
2. Training & Development.
3. Performance Appraisal.
4. Retention of Employees.

These are the four pillars of HR. If you have the opportunity to take on one of these activities, consider it a challenge. Remember, nothing is easy, and nothing is difficult; just go ahead.

Goodbye

Hi Ms. Divya,

Yes, I too agree with you. I also faced the same here. As a fresher in HR, we get chances in Recruitment only in the early stages. But HR is all about learning and implementing what we learn from the beginning.

I started my career as an HR Executive with a consultant about 6 months ago, where my KRA will be Recruitment. But nowadays, I am taking care of Business development, Grievance Handling of our outsourced employees, Payroll, etc. After seeing my performance, one of our clients (a top player in the TELECOM industry) is asking our management to give me to them. No one knows everything, but everyone knows something. As an HR professional, we must learn that something right from the early stages of our career.

So, I would suggest you not waste time trying to grab the cloud; instead, pick up the dust and build a skyscraper where the cloud will come to you. One more thing... no one can say where the process of HR ends; it's a cycle.

Regards,
Vasanth
+91 99401 58323
saras_vas@yahoo.com

Hey Divya,

This is one of the most common problems that HR freshers face. If you can get into recruitment in MNCs or the sector of your choice, go for it. They rotate you in various HR functions after some time.

All the best.

Regards,
Santosh Verma.

Hi Divya,

I have been going through the same phase. I made a mistake by not accepting the recruitment offer and joining as an HR Coordinator, where my access to information for analysis and competency is very limited. They don't realize our worth, despite our knowledge. However, taking on recruitment, proving ourselves, and subsequently handling other functions would be a wise option, and it wouldn't take much longer.

Best Wishes,
Swathi

Hi Divya,

Recruitment is definitely a part of HR functions, and it is definitely not as easy as it looks. You would learn a lot as a fresher, from the psychology of the person to the competencies within them. It's definitely going to help you in the core HR areas; a lot of analysis and planning are involved. Do take a chance and don't waste your precious career time. I think, as one of our friends suggested, work for some time, prove your talent, and reach your goals.

Hi Divya,

This is a major fear faced by freshers... whether they would be labeled as "recruiters" if they selected recruitment to start off their career.

If we study in detail the other developmental activities like OB, T&D, Capability Enhancement... the main focus is understanding human behavior. And I tell you, the best way to understand human behavior is interacting with humans... and there is nothing better than Recruitment.

I will put down the following advantages of having recruitments at the start of your career:

1. Understanding the various profiles in the organization/industry.
2. Understanding human behavior/aspirations/thought process.
3. Getting to know firsthand why people change jobs, what keeps them sticking to jobs, what makes them motivated, what encourages them, what forces them to change career line, etc.

Once a person spends a minimum of 1 year in hardcore recruitments, I am sure he/she would be a perfect person to handle other assignments like T&D, Employee Involvement, Capability Enhancement, etc.

So, please do not underestimate recruitments. I would say it is the building block of HRM.

Regards,

Ajay

Dear Sanjukta,

Can you please tell me the location and the approximate CTC? (My present CTC is around 2.2 lakhs).

Regards,
Gururaj.

Hi Divya,

I faced a similar kind of problem, and at that time, I wished to do Training (Trg), Performance Management System (PMS), etc., but I started with recruitment. After 2+ years, I find recruitment to be very easy, and any organization would like to take me. Now, I have expanded my profile to include Training as well.

The basic thing is that recruitment is related to revenue, so it is crucial for all HR professionals. Even my senior GM - HR also goes to naukri.com to search for top Senior profiles.

Don't be discouraged, as recruitment will certainly give you a good foothold for existence in any organization.

Regards,
Gaurav Kumar

Dear Divya,

After seeing so many responses to your query, I'm surprised!

To share my experience, as a fresher, I had joined as a recruiter, which I was not interested in like you are. We did not have any openings for core HR or generalist profiles, as this position was always open to experienced individuals or very seniors.

But honestly speaking, Divya, my experience as a recruiter for four months has helped me a lot. Trust me, I have gained so much knowledge about recruitment from the ground up.

Currently working as an HR Executive Generalist, I feel that having a little bit of prior experience as a recruiter in a consulting firm or a company for 6 months to 1 year is really beneficial for a successful career. Gradually, this experience will help you gain more expertise in handling other areas of work, as you aspire to do.

I suggest starting your career as a recruiter to learn from scratch about the different steps, methods, sources, and so forth. This will give you the confidence to achieve your goal of managing other core HR activities that you have always wanted to do.

I offer this advice to all other freshers who are receiving calls only from consultants for IT or Non-IT Recruiter positions.

CHEERS!

Paromita

Dear Paromita,

It's nice to see your comments. Actually, I am also new to recruitment. As you mentioned that you started with zero knowledge and became an expert in recruitment, could you kindly guide me on how to get trained in recruitment and all the processes related to it? Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Shweta Swarnkar

Dear Paromita,

I won't agree that expertise in recruitment will lead to a path in CORE HR. It will give you 5% knowledge of different industries, but CORE HR is more than that. I believe that if someone is interested in CORE HR, one needs to take time to nourish their knowledge and prepare themselves to enter core areas. Only then can the experience of recruitment be of any use.

I have seen many recruiters say that they are not interested in recruitment and want to transition to core HR. However, when I ask them what they understand by HR, they find it difficult to explain. How many recruiters approach their job from an industry learning perspective rather than just focusing on meeting targets? Today, most recruiters work solely for targets, similar to what we see in marketing. I suggest that alongside targets, one should also focus on learning. Learning how to conduct interviews, the competencies to assess for specific roles, and the overall interview process, among other aspects.

Regards

Hi Swetha,

When I was working as a recruiter, it was totally on-the-job training.

There were certain points we were made to remember or understand:

Firstly, you need to know about the company's recruitment process. Any company...

Secondly, the other sources of recruitment of that company.

Third, the different job portals the company or the consultants are dealing or collaborated with.

Fourth, how the screening of candidates is done, either on paper or on the web.

Fifth, find out if the company has criteria for selecting the candidates.

Sixth, if the company is very particular about criteria they have, then what are those criteria or parameters.

Seventh, shortlisting the candidates and calling them to attend the interview on a specific date and place if they are interested.

Eighth, inform the company about the particular candidate coming for the interview for the specific post.

Ninth, constant follow-ups with the candidate as well as the client for the result of the candidate's interviews.

Moreover, as you get on to understanding the kind of database that is available in front of you, you should also be able to check the kind of database that matches the profile.

Individuals that appear multiple times in the database because they have been independently identified many times.

Start screening candidates right from fresher and the kind of technologies they use. Understand how resume screening is done and what various points you have to keep in mind to understand the candidate by looking at his resume.

Constantly check that the client company should be very transparent with the consultant. For example, if a consultant is recruiting for a client and later comes to know that the candidate has already attended an interview earlier with the client, the client company should make sure they inform the consultant immediately about the matter.

As a recruiter, you may have to learn this way, or I don't know how you are working as a recruiter in your company. There are other steps involved in the recruitment process like pre-screening and post-screening of candidates.

Especially if your company or consultant has the employee screening solutions. This helps to minimize the costly threat of fraud or misconduct. The process of identifying the right candidates should include screening to verify that information provided by candidates is legitimate. You are protecting your organization by doing this pre-employment or post-employment screening strategy.

This is mainly the step of scrutinizing resumes.

The constant track of the recruitment process of the client company. Check if the company has completed the preliminary round of the interview, either rejected or shortlisted. The client company has to inform you about it.

If selected, an offer letter from the consultant or company should be provided. Depending on the contract between you and the client, they should also know about the terms and conditions of the consultant or the recruitment company.

So different consultants differ in the kind of process they follow.

So as a recruiter, you have to understand the basic concepts of what a recruitment process involves. How is it done practically in the workplace? Have discussions with recruiters of other companies or consultants and how do they carry out the work.

You will start gaining confidence in the recruitment process you are going through in your company and will have drawbacks too.

First, think of this job of a recruiter, which I felt was very monotonous as you are doing the same job repeatedly every day.

Swetha,

As per the different clients' requirements, the screening is done based on the company's criteria. For example, like the academic marks cut-offs, the age, or correspondence. Some companies don't accept correspondence courses or individuals with part-time jobs, and so on. Therefore, based on the clients, you have to understand their requirements too!

Dear Dr. Kavita,

You made a valid point that recruitment will not lead pavements to CORE HR. It takes and needs lots of hard work and a thorough understanding of the practical working of CORE HR from scratch. It takes time for one person to nourish themselves to work in core HR.

It's true that recruitment jobs are purely target-based, and recruiters have to constantly keep "TARGETS" in mind as well as time management.

Just a few months back, I also faced the same problem with an interviewee in HR looking for a job who ended up not clearly explaining the important aspects of what HR is all about or the difference between HRD and HR Personnel.

Thanks for your valuable suggestions!

Hi Divya,

I can understand the reason for your choice of getting into core HR. But even core HR has recruitment as its first stage. HR does not start and end with recruitment; there are many other stages too. What I want to tell you is to continue with the same post for the time being. After getting 6 months of experience, you can change.

Regards,
😄 😂

Hi,

I am currently working on a project in Recruitment at an IT company. They are asking me questions such as what specific topics I need to learn in recruitment and why I chose recruitment. I don't know how to answer them. I need some suggestions.

Regards, Poornimah