AVOID THIS MISTAKES IN YOUR HR CAREER

A came across this interesting piece from my good friend Alan Collins (of Success in HR), and thought you will benefit by reading. Enjoy

How To Endanger Your HR Career By Making Rip Van Winkle Mistakes…

 
by Alan Collins
You may remember the story of Rip Van Winkle.
He was was the fictional character in the famous short story who went to sleep before the American War of Independence.
Weary one night, as the tale goes, Rip put his head down for just a moment.
And he stayed asleep for 20 years.
When he woke up, he missed the war, the death of his wife, the marriage of his daughter and the birth of his grandson.
He had no clue where all the time went.
This can happen to you too as an HR professional.
You can lay your head down for a moment, only to look up years later to find out everything has changed around you.  And you’ll wonder where the heck the time went.
And that’s exactly what happened to a coaching client of mine.
She was perfectly happy in her HR job and, like Rip Van Winkle, woke up and came in office one day to discover that…

Her worst fears had been realized! 

Her company that day abruptly announced that they would be removing 3,000 jobs over the next year.
Because of rapid changes in microchip technology, they were now producing outdated products and had to cut costs.  However, just two years ago, this company was category leader in chips.  Now they were going to have to fight for survival.
My client was stunned.
She was single, in her late-thirties, bright with a graduate degree in HR. She had invested fourteen years of her young professional life in that company as a senior compensation analyst. One job. Exact same company. In other words, she had one year’s experience fourteen times, which is much too long if you want a career, as opposed to a job.
Anyway…
She had been with them since their beginning as a tiny start up and through their IPO.
But she had become pigeon-holed as a compensation specialist, at the top of her pay grade with no opportunities for advancement.  No one in her company could envision her in any other role so transferring to another HR job was out of the question.  All of this made her a prime target to be whacked from the organization…and she knew it.
She admittedly was caught flat-footed with the company announcements. And because she worked so hard at her day job, she hadn’t developed industry contacts outside of her organization.  Because of this, it was almost impossible for her to get an interview anywhere.
“What should I do?” she asked me over coffee, not expecting me to help her find a job, but perhaps provide some advice.
As it turned out, I knew of a job. But it wasn’t a good one.
One of my former colleagues, now an HR executive in a smaller division of PepsiCo, had a need for a compensation analyst for a massive six-month project. Their tiny staff was tremendously overworked and they needed help from a compensation pro. So I called her with the news.
“There is a short-term assignment I just heard about,” I said.
“They could use you.  The team is based 200 miles away, so you’ll need to get an apartment close by.  But I’m not going to lie to you. People are working twelve hours a day and all stressed out with a huge deadline to hit. The pay is decent. But there’s absolutely no guarantee that it will lead to anything long term.”
“Okay. If those are the good points, are there any downsides to this job?” she said.  At least she hadn’t lost her sense of humor!
I was honest with her: “I know this isn’t an ideal situation and it’s a huge risk.”
“But the big advantage to this job is it gets your foot in the door.  It keeps a paycheck coming in.  And allows you to still explore the job market. It will also eliminate a potential gap in your resume should you get laid off and fail to find a job.”
“Another thing, even though there are no promises, if you wow them, there’s a tiny chance they could offer you a full-time position.  And my advice is: if they do, take it.   Stay there twenty-four months.  Then you can put a great company name like PepsiCo on your resume and sell having comp experience in a world class company.  With that, you can go anywhere in your career.”
And that’s exactly what she did.
It was tough, but she was able to negotiate a severance package with her old company.  Then she left before all the job cuts and bloodletting there happened and never looked back.  The six-month assignment DID turn into a full-time gig and she vowed never again will fall asleep at the switch again.
Clearly, every situation doesn’t wind up like this one.
Everyone makes career mistakes. Our careers in HR can last thirty, forty, fifty or more years if we’re fortunate. That’s a long time. And you’re bound to make some mistakes along the way.
However, it’s important to avoid making Rip Van Winkle mistakes if you can.  And these occur when you:

1. Stay too long at one company.
2. Stay too long in one HR job.
3. Fail to keep your HR skills and competencies up to date.
4. Fail to build, grow and cultivate your network of contacts.

Don’t fall asleep on these things.
Regularly monitor and candidly assess these four facets of your career at a minimum every six months. Then make changes before they’re needed.
Otherwise, you may arise from bed one morning and find out that YOUR world has completely changed.
Onward!