Having worked with many large organizations, I noticed a major gap that I am extremely passionate about and want to make sure I take the right next steps. My assumption is that unlike most people here, I am not a seasoned HR expert. I am a mid-career professional who has worked in various business consulting and project management roles (mainly in healthcare) with an emphasis on organizational change management. My work as an OCM lead on many business transformation projects opened my eyes to so many missed opportunities when it comes to companies and executives focusing on their top resource – their employees. I constantly saw companies spending tens of millions on technology and process changes yet forgetting to bring along the people that will be impacted by these changes, or simply considering them as an afterthought.  This has made me very interested in all aspects of the employee experience and other topics falling under organizational development. I want my career to be about making work suck less – not very eloquent maybe but I am frankly tired of hearing friends discuss work as something that gets in the way of their life. If I have to spend the majority of my life doing something, I simply want it to be an enjoyable experience or at the very least, one that doesn’t make me hate waking up in the morning. 

So now I am thinking, what’s next. I recently took an Organizational Design course and plan on taking an Integrated Talent Management and People Analytics course to earn my Advanced HR certificate from the Cornell School of Industrial & Labor Relations. I am trying to build more credibility to develop a career focused on making the workplace better but I know a certificate won’t be the thing that helps break me in but it probably wont hurt. 

My ask is, what should I do next? Most jobs in HR want people with traditional “HR generalist” backgrounds so simply getting a job focused on some of the innovative things taking place in HR right now is not very straight-forward for someone like me who does not have any true HR department experience. I have helped larger organizations as a change lead for HR transformations but I don’t have your typical experience the transaction HR Generalist type roles and that is frankly not what excites me. So I wonder, what would you suggest in terms of developing myself. I think simply reading on these topics on a regular basis and keeping up with the latest trends from organizations like Bernsin has given me similar knowledge to what I would learn in many professional programs yet also helped me develop a point of view. However, this doesn’t translate well to a resume. Do I go back to get another masters degree (I currently have an MPA), this time focused on Org Psychology or Labor Relations? Do I take more professional courses? Do I try to find opportunities to blog and publish on topics I am passionate about such as EE experience or development? I am very grateful and appreciate any of your thoughts and suggestions!