Feeling Stuck in Recruitment After 3 Years: How Can I Transition to a More Challenging HR Role?

Dear All, I completed my MBA (HR & Marketing) in 2007 and began my career as an HR Recruiter. I have been working in this field to date, accumulating nearly 3 years of experience in recruitment. Despite receiving numerous call letters for similar positions, I am no longer interested in continuing in recruitment. The primary reason is the salary, which is less than five digits, while the targets to be achieved exceed five digits per month. Therefore, my initial goal is to transition out of recruitment and explore other facets of HR.

I seek your guidance on the best steps to take at this point in my career. I hope to receive valuable responses from any of you to help me navigate this career transition into a more challenging role.

Thank you,
Mani

Hi Mini, as you have good exposure to the recruitment industry and have gained experience in various skill sets, if income is the issue for changing jobs rather than career growth, then I would suggest you take on more challenges and start your own recruitment firm to develop business in your location and generate good revenue. Staffing is an ever-growing business, and in the long term, it can provide you with more satisfaction in terms of career and income.

I see you have 4-5 years of experience as a Recruiter, which is really good experience. However, if you are seriously looking to transition to a Core HR/HR Generalist role, you need to learn about the "My 7 Stars of HR." These are seven management functions of a human resources (HR) department that will be specifically addressed: Staffing, Performance Appraisals, Compensation and Benefits, Training and Development, Employee and Labor Relations, Safety and Health, and Human Resource Research.

These skills can provide you with the necessary foundation to establish your career in Core HR or HR Generalist roles, beyond Recruitment.

Roles & Responsibilities:

Induction & Joining Formalities:
- Plan, organize, and conduct induction programs, devise orientation plans for new joiners.
- Complete joining formalities, such as collecting required documents, creating login IDs for attendance, introducing KRA for new joiners, designing reporting systems, and assigning mentors department-wise.

Performance Appraisal:
- Involved in the Performance Review process, defined all roles, developed role descriptions mapped against KRAs through a daily reporting tracker system.
- Managed the Appraisal process across levels and established a framework to substantiate the Performance Appraisal system linked to Reward Management.

Attendance, Payroll & Salary Administration:
- Maintain employee attendance in the Time Management System and generate attendance reports online for the salary process.
- Coordinate with finance for the monthly payroll system, make necessary entries for new joiners, separation cases, unpaid leave.
- Follow up with the bank for timely salary credit and issue salary slips.

HR Policies, Procedures, & Processes:
- Implement, review, redesign, and introduce HR policies.
- Ensure records of procedures, processes, formats/forms are in line with organizational goals.

Compensation and Benefits:
- Overall coordination of manpower planning, induction, and ensuring cultural fit.
- Implement selection policies, attendance management systems, exit interviews, transfers, and redeployments as per staffing projections.
- Handle salary negotiations, increments, and compensation administration.

Full & Final Settlement and Exit Process:
- Conduct exit interviews for resigned, quit/terminated employees.
- Coordinate and manage Full & Final Settlement with the finance division, send circulars to other departments upon employee relieving.
- Analyze issues, provide warnings through verbal or written means, issue warning letters until employee termination due to continuous absenteeism, lack of prior intimation before taking leaves, failure to reach assigned targets, lack of ownership, and responsibility, etc.

Training & Development:
- Identify training needs, develop action plans for training, including measuring effectiveness.
- Conduct managerial and technical trainings to enhance managerial and soft skills of employees.
- Organize customized training programs based on training needs analysis to enhance manpower skills and efficiency.

HR Administration & Welfare:
- Coordinate offer releases, bank account openings, ID card coordination, and support staff details.
- Conduct document verifications and employment screenings/background verifications of new joiners.
- Conduct employee satisfaction surveys, design reward and recognition schemes.
- Clarify employee grievances, address issues/queries on leave policy, salary payment.
- Maintain the notice board with messages like "Thought of the Day," Employee of the month announcements, weekly and fortnightly articles.
- Update HR files, employee information in various reports, maintain employee databases, CVs, prepare HR letters, and certificates, etc.

I am sure you are already familiar with some of the above, but you need to learn more about them to establish your new HR Generalist Profile successfully in the HR world you are interested in.

- https://www.citehr.com/285974-career-hr.html
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- https://www.citehr.com/284244-how-pr...list-role.html

Hi Mini, As you have good exposure to the recruitment industry and have gained experience in various skill sets, if income is the issue for changing jobs rather than career growth, then I would suggest you take on more challenges and start your own recruitment firm to develop business in your location and generate good revenue. Staffing is an ever-growing business, and in the long term, it can provide more satisfaction in terms of career and money.

Dear Mr. Gopi, Thank you very much for your valuable suggestion. However, I believe it is not the right stage for me to start a recruitment firm at this point. With just 3 years of experience in recruitment, I feel there is still a lot for me to learn before venturing into starting my own firm. I am currently gaining insights while working in a consultancy.

When I reach that stage in the future, I will definitely consider following your suggestion. At that point, I will inform you of my progress.

If I am thinking incorrectly, please guide me.

Regards, Mani

Dear Mr. Anil Arora, it's very nice to see your suggestion. Thank you very much. As you said, I am a little bit aware of all those "My 7 Stars of HR." Yes, I will definitely concentrate on it and try to learn more. Here my doubts raised are:

1) Should it be learned from institutions, or can it be learned independently?
2) If I am thorough with "My 7 Stars of HR" and attend an interview for CORE HR, will the company consider me as a fresher or experienced?
3) If as a fresher, then what about the experience in recruitment to date?
4) If you say it's better to learn from an institution, then which is the best in Hyderabad?
5) Some say it's better to learn SAP HR/ERP HR/ORACLE HR, then only can one grow in HR after completion of PG. Is it right?

I would be so thankful if you could clear my doubts. I hope you will give better suggestions.

Thanking you, Mani

OK! Well, Mani, before going further, I would like to know how much you know about "My 7 Stars of HR" and how?

Answers to Your Questions

Answer 1: You can join any reputed institute to learn about Human Resources and pursue a Certificate Course, which will enhance your skills and HR knowledge.

Answer 2: As I mentioned above, I advise you to go for a Certificate Course to learn more about "Human Resources." However, one thing I want to say is that no single institute will teach you or define HR with the concept of "My 7 Stars of HR." You can learn them in detail and gain practical knowledge. The reason no institute teaches this is because "My 7 Stars of HR" is my own theory on the important and major functions of HR. Everything about HR falls under these stars, based on my research on Human Resources. I have compiled this to help people like you who are familiar with HR theory but not with these specific concepts.

To learn "My 7 Stars of HR" means to have a comprehensive understanding of HR with a specific concept. If you sincerely engage with them, you will be able to answer every question from recruiters. After learning them, you can confidently handle the work and demonstrate your experience.

For example:
- Recruiters must understand the Compensation Structure, Salary Breakdown, and other elements of Salary, which are crucial for the job.
- Understanding the importance of positions, designations, and grade structures, all of which fall under Compensation Structure.

Therefore, you need to know how to work with these elements and prepare salaries and other calculations, which you can learn from reputable sources like CiteHR. Many formats, examples, and discussions are available on that platform.

As a recruiter, you must have knowledge of all HR factors. I believe you are not unfamiliar with these concepts and have likely worked with them. If you have explored "My 7 Stars of HR," you may have noticed that many aspects align with a recruiter's job profile.

People often learn a lot during their studies but may overlook practical applications that can enhance their understanding and skills.

Regarding Q3, I don't think you need to worry too much because you can start as an HR Executive, and Recruitment is part of an HR Executive's responsibilities. You will handle both recruitment and other HR tasks. It may be a long journey, but it's a starting point for gaining experience and progressing in your career.

We can't ignore the fact that you lack experience, but starting as an HR Executive is a good way forward. With time and experience, you will become skilled in both areas and can expect further growth.

Answer 4: To find a good institution, you need to research and locate a reputable institute in that field. You can seek help from members of CiteHR who are from Hyderabad and also utilize Google for more information.

Answer 5: Right! SAP HR/ERP HR enhances the skills of HR professionals, meeting the current demands of the high-tech and evolving HR world. However, one can still survive in HR without SAP/ERP HR skills.

I suggest finding an institute that provides both theoretical knowledge and practical skills for your development.

Exploring a Career in SAP HR

This is Namrata. I have 3 years of experience in IT/Non-IT recruitment as well as all HR functions (payroll, performance appraisal, salary negotiation, exit interviews, training, orientation, etc.). I am also involved in administrative tasks. I am interested in pursuing a SAP course in HR. Could you please provide information on the future scope of SAP HR? I have heard that it might be challenging to secure a job in SAP. Can you recommend any institutes in Bangalore where I can take this course?

I would appreciate it if someone with experience in SAP HR could share insights on its pros and cons. If any member is working in SAP HR, please reach out to me at [Email Removed For Privacy Reasons].

Thank you.