How Can I Transition from Sales to HR with Limited Experience and Short Job Tenures?

Respected seniors,

Kindly give me your valuable thoughts to add to my knowledge. I am an MBA in HR & Marketing, passed out in 2012. Starting with my career, I was looking for an HR job. However, in my city, job opportunities are limited. Moreover, if there is an HR vacancy, it usually requires experience. Instead of wasting time, I joined a telecom company and worked as an Assistant Sales Manager for 5 months. Since it was an off-roll job, I left it. Later, I got an opportunity to work as an Assistant Sales Manager in an MNC (insurance company). Due to family reasons, I had to leave that job as well.

Career Aspirations and Challenges

As an MBA in HR, I aspire to work with an MNC and see my career progressing. However, the challenge I face is that I am a fresher in HR. Whenever I go for an interview, the main problem I encounter is:

1. My experience is in sales, but I want to shift to HR. This discrepancy between my CV and my career goals creates confusion.

2. My first job lasted 5 months, and the second lasted 4 months. This short job tenure may leave a negative impression on recruiters.

I left my second job in January 2013, and I haven't secured a job yet. Will this gap negatively affect my career? Furthermore, I have studied all the presentations on PF, E.S.I.C., and leave management on this site to enhance my knowledge. How can I make my CV more attractive?

Seeking Advice on Career Path

Should I opt for HR training provided by institutes, or should I begin my career as an HR recruiter? Your thoughts and advice are highly beneficial, as I have learned from other cases.

Thanks & regards,

Tamanna

Nice, you have done an MBA in HR & Marketing with around 9 months of experience. As you mentioned, "I want to work with an MNC," initially, do not concentrate on that. Try to get a job in small companies where they count your experience in HR & Business development. Gain enough knowledge of HR-related things and try to switch to HR.

This is my experience. Initially, I was into HR & Business development with a 15-25 member company. Now, I am in HR with around 150 associates in a company.

All the best.

Is it that you first wanted to try your hand at sales, and when you found it tough, you want to switch to HR? Be sure about what you want to be in the future and which career stream you like. Otherwise, you will be rotating yourself among various jobs. Spend some time deciding. If you have made a conscious decision to go for HR, then revamp your CV to connect your sales skills to HR to prove to the employer how they are relevant.

It is pertinent to mention here that HR too needs to market various HR products to internal customers, i.e., employees. For example, an HR professional also needs to convince employees how a particular training benefits them or how a particular policy is beneficial to them. Try to get into the retail business as HR, as your sales skills can be handy for employers there.

All the best.

Regards,
B. Saikumar

First of all, I would like to suggest that you write in full instead of using shortcuts. This is a professional site where you communicate with seniors, and it is not appropriate to use mobile messaging language with them. In the future, please make it a habit to type full words.

Regarding your point about not having a job, I don't think it will affect your career anywhere. Everyone is aware that the job market is currently frozen, making it challenging to secure employment easily.

Impact of Sales/Marketing Job on Recruiters

As for the impact of your sales/marketing job on recruiters, I believe you should share the reasons with them. You can directly explain why you chose to pursue a marketing job. I see a positive aspect in this - instead of complaining all the time, you have made efforts to enhance your knowledge, even if not in HR but in marketing. Since you didn't find a job in HR, starting your career in marketing as a dual-specialized candidate is perfectly fine.

Thanks!