Seeking Advice on Shifting to HR in IT and Building an Applicant Network from Scratch

Dear Seniors, I have experience working with a financial services firm and a publishing company, holding positions in corporate communications and research. However, I am now interested in transitioning into a Human Resources role and have been actively seeking opportunities. I have found that even when applying to HR positions within the financial services or publishing industries, where I have experience, the preference seems to be for candidates with an IT background. This has been true even for junior positions.

With this in mind, I have a couple of questions:

1. Should I consider starting from scratch, i.e., accepting an entry-level HR job within an IT company to gain the necessary industry knowledge and experience?

2. I've encountered instances where prospective employers inquire about my 'contacts,' specifically, whether I maintain an applicant database. Should I start building such a database? If yes, how would I go about this, given that I haven't worked in HR before? Would it be sufficient to expand my LinkedIn network and begin making connections there? Is this the recommended approach?

Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated, as I'm struggling to find a way forward.

It's better not to leave your present job and take this step at once. Have a self-assessment and decide, "Are you really an HR person, or was Finance better?"

Initially, start studying basic HR concepts such as Recruitment, Compensation & Benefits, Labour Management Relations, Motivational Strategies, Workplace Diversity, and Training & Development, as well as Indian Labour Law, which you can easily find in different sections of 'Citehr'. After a week or two, you will be able to understand the HR terms in light of your past experience.

Also, you can start reading and understanding job descriptions of different HR jobs.

If you are already familiar with the office environment (in any discipline), nobody can consider you a beginner, even as an HR employee.

After progress in social media engines, a candidate's database is no longer a big issue. Yes, you should develop your LinkedIn and other professional profiles to enhance your relations and familiarity in the job market.

Regards,

Adeel