Author Offers Career Tips to Students, HR Newbies

College students and those new to the HR profession often have many questions about how to start and navigate a career in this ever-evolving field: What college courses should I take to prepare myself for an HR career? Is it more advantageous to work at a small company or a large one? How can I market myself if I don't have any HR experience? 

SHRM Online spoke with Kay Maddox-Daines, Ph.D., author of How to Get Ahead in HR (London Publishing Partnership, 2021), about these and other pressing career questions. Maddox-Daines is the founder of Future People Learning Ltd., an HR training facility headquartered in Wimbledon, London. She also heads the School for People and Culture at Arden University in Coventry, West Midlands, England and is a visiting fellow at the University of Suffolk, whose hub is in Ipswich, England. 

Her comments have been lightly edited for length and clarity. 

SHRM Online: You write, "A career in HR has always presented variety and a good mix of opportunities, but the profession is changing quickly and this calls for a diverse range of skills, knowledge and competence." What sorts of skills would you advise students interested in an HR career to focus on acquiring?

Maddox-Daines: What I'm seeing and advising my own learners is to really think about the skills of tomorrow. People analytics, technology, the ability for deeper and complex analytical skills are three key areas to focus on.

They need to be able to analyze and present [analytics] in a way that's logical and meaningful to the executive groups, … and present it in a more storytelling way so the HR professionals are that much more influential in promoting what they can do to shape and sustain the business going forward.

At entry-level HR, know what data is [and] how to analyze data from a very basic Excel spreadsheet to make sense of it to, for example, facilitate decision-making, look at the shape of the workforce at a much greater level of detail [and] look at projections of who we might need [to hire] going forward.

SHRM Online: For someone starting out in the HR profession, is it better to do so at a small organization or at a large one?

Maddox-Daines: Smaller organizations will give you that breadth of experience. At large organizations, you get that depth of experience. If I were looking at a plan for my career, I would want to have exposure in both. I think it's a great opportunity to get involved in a smaller company because you get such a generalist awareness … [and] you've got much more influence at the overall organization. Large organizations [offer the] ability for depth and for progression; you've got the ability to specialize and also to progress in specialist areas.

SHRM Online: Chapter 3 of your book looks at the value of HR professional organizations. In it, you note that there are more than 80 such groups in the U.K. and dozens in the U.S. You devoted nearly three pages to the Society for Human Resource Management—including information on the SHRM Body of Competency and Knowledge (SHRM BoCK) [now the SHRM Body of Applied Skills and Knowledge (SHRM BASK)]. What specific value do such organizations offer for someone just starting out in an HR career?

Maddox-Daines: Before we've accumulated the [job] experience, we need a helping hand. What I like about belonging to a professional body is networking. It's getting in contact with other people who've been there and can provide some great clues for what needs to happen [careerwise].

You've got a one-stop shop with your professional body that can keep you updated and also [provide] a professional framework so you can self-assess where you are in terms of your professional map, your career guide.

It raises your profile. [There is] mentoring, coaching, all those informal opportunities you get through those groups. Belonging to a professional body is incredibly helpful when you put more into it. The more you engage with it—getting involved with the chapters—the more you do that, the more you get out of it.

SHRM Online: Preparing a resume that attracts a recruiter or hiring manager is critical, but how does someone new to the profession, or a new graduate with little or no HR experience, create a compelling resume? Is there any merit, for example, in including hobbies or volunteer activities?

Maddox-Daines: The first thing is, we are not just a person at work. When I look at my skill set, I look at my skill set for my whole person. We can rely on our hobbies, our interests, particularly our volunteer experience, to help us win our next role. Think about what skills you're acquiring along the way that you can highlight in your resume. What an employer is looking for is the transferability of those skills.

SHRM Online: Can you offer advice on networking?

Maddox-Daines: As soon as you think about a career in HR, tell everyone you know. Shout it from the rooftops. Tell your family, tell your friends, tell your professors—anyone, really. When people know that's what you're looking for, they will know somebody who knows somebody who will have an opportunity: your doctor, your dentist, whomever. There will be somebody in your network who will be able to help as long as you've shouted it from the rooftops.