36
Seeking guidance
I am currently located in Toronto, Canada. I have completed a post-graduate degree in Project Management in Corporate Communications. I have a second master's degree in Industrial Psychology. I have four years of experience working in employee engagement, training and development, organisational development and talent acquisition.
I currently work with a small business. I am working towards elevating the operations, streamlining the company processes, documents, crafting the company's employee handbook, putting the onboarding documents in place and to better the overall work culture. The organization and the directors are the best mentors but since the place has lesser opportunities for growth I am looking for a change and would really appreciate some help. I am looking at HR Coordinator, Generalist, People and Culture roles mostly with a focus in employee engagement, well-being and relations.
I have been applying for positions and have reached the final rounds in the interview process but there always seems to be a stronger candidate. The process has been exhausting and I am out of leads at this point. I'd be grateful for any guidance, open positions or connections. I look forward to any insights I can get.
Thank you.
Anonymous
04/11/24 at 2:19PM UTC (Edited)
My best suggestion is this: find a niche.
This, too, can be a struggle, but it can also give you that edge you are looking for. Essentially, pick something (like an industry, or an approach, or a set of skills) and train/learn on it hard. I'd suggest looking at job postings for positions you really want/or past postings that sounded good and pick out some things from them that you could become more of an "expert" on. Then, tailor your resume to really pump that aspect up (and practice your related talking points). Good luck!
Alfiyah Qureshi
36
04/12/24 at 3:51PM UTC
Thank you for your suggestions. I have noticed the HR descriptions are mostly such that the organizations want the candidate to have experience with crafting policies, looking into full-cycle recruitment, employee experience, relations, engagement, labour relations, experience with clients or in a unionized enviroment and everything else an HR professional does. In such a case do you think finding a niche or targeting an industry will limit my options?
I'd relly love some more insights from you.
Thank you and I look forward to your response and suggestions:))
Anonymous
04/12/24 at 7:46PM UTC (Edited)
Well, I suppose I was thinking from my personal experience.
First, I was a teacher. As a teacher, like when one is in HR, you have to be a jack-of-all trades - that's just what is expected. But, I enjoyed using lots of tech in my classes. So, that became my niche. This is the kind of thing I meant when I said pick something out of the job post - the bigger abstract nouns that fit with the topic of the job postings' intro text - that is more where you'd want to look for those niche ideas (I think).
I was able to translate that (once I wanted to pivot careers and leave the classroom) into getting hired at an EdTech company in a sort of HRish position - my resume still said all the normal things, but I tailored it to show off the intersection of tech and education in my background. Since then, I have continued to pivot further into tech by learning programming. I have used the intersection of tech and education to get myself a new position at a different EdTech company, this time as a developer, again by showing how my niche experiences bolster my other skills. I'd say that finding a "niche" is more about how you market yourself and how you look at your broader goals professionally than focusing on day-to-day tasks (however, thinking about how those bolster your other goals and broader professional image can help). I also took courses and read articles and networked at the intersection of tech and ed. (ex. linkedin courses on educational technologies, joining forums focused on educational tech etc).
You are right that this can be limiting though, so having a more generic set of materials and talking points in addition to your more niche stuff is also a good idea.
I hope this helps!
Anonymous
04/09/24 at 6:50PM UTC
Go into business for yourself.
Alfiyah Qureshi
36
04/12/24 at 3:53PM UTC
I do plan to start a business of my own and with just 4 years of experience I feel I have a lot to learn before I take the plunge:)
