What I wish I knew when I started my HR Career 15 years ago.

Hi Ambitious HR Professionals,

How are you doing?

I am having a spectacular week! And I hope you are too.

Something extraordinary happened on Tuesday this week. I came across a post that spoke to my values of tenacity and not giving up, especially in job search and career growth, so I decided I would give it a repost and highlight the key takeaways for my audience to benefit from.

Then boom!!

The unexpected happened! The post took off and so far, here are the stats:

Over 55k impressions

858 reactions

104 comments

16 reposts

I am in shock (as this virality was not the intention or the goal). I was also very pleased to see the genuine human spirit of being happy for others when they progress, even when their own goals have not been achieved yet. Overall, I realised that people need encouragement to stay the course, and I am determined to be a continual source of encouragement.

To everyone reading this newsletter today, I am convinced that you too will get another job if that is your goal, just keep pushing, keep applying the advice given and stay the course, you will have a cause to celebrate shortly!

Now, to share with you the focus of this week’s newsletter

What I wish I knew when I started my HR Career 15 years ago.

Bright-eyed and fresh out of school, I had high hopes of being an HR hot shot, but these high hopes were seriously tainted and very nearly dimmed by the class of degree I finished with, I shared some part of the story here.

By the time I entered the job market, I felt I was already starting with a huge disadvantage, and I needed to compensate for that, to be honest, I felt like I desperately needed to compensate for that.

So, I went into hyper mode, and I would be so worried and nearly obsessed about what I needed to do to grow my career in HR.

I would constantly be thinking of thoughts and questions like these:

“Should I go back to school and do a post-graduate course?”

“Should I go for an MBA? Or should I do an MSc in Human Resources?”

“Oh no even if I wanted to do a Masters course, I should look at schools outside of Nigeria so it will enhance my academic certificate.”

“Hmm…will the schools accept my application considering my class of degree and CGPA?”

“How do I raise money to study abroad, since I didn’t have a job? And no saved up funds?”

“Should I not just look for a job first and start to get related experience?”

“But what if I cannot find an HR job that will give me a chance at entry level?”

“OMG…I really should have started my Human Resources professional certification with CIPM (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Management Nigeria) when I was still in school!”

“That is too bad for me now, because the thinking was that I would not have to start at the very beginning of the certification, since I would have a BSc in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management (IRPM) and I could just get the Associate status once done with my BSc. Degree”

Those were my thoughts…very disjointed and confused right?

Finally, I got a job, starting in a recruitment agency as an Intern. I was earning N20,000.00 per month (approximately $166 / ￡86 as of then). It was the happiest day!

I considered the job to be a rare and unexpected opportunity! and I applied myself to the maximum. After 1 month, I got a full-time offer I was earning N60,000.00 per month (approximately $500 / ￡260 as of then). My job was unbounded!!

A couple of months later, the questions started again:

“How long will I stay on this job?”

“Am I happy here?”

“Will this job fulfil my HR Career dream?”

“What is my dream again? what exactly do I want?”

“Should I not save up and go back to school?”

“Perhaps I should start seriously considering what specialisation in HR I would like to go for?”

“How will I get a better-paying job?

“I would like to work in Oil and Gas, how do I get in?”

“How are other people getting all the juicy entry-level HR jobs? Do I need someone to refer me? Who do I know?”

There was just so much going on and on and on in my mind, it was really difficult to think straight, being so constantly worried.

I know dear ambitious HR professional, that you can relate to my experience, you are constantly worried too. You are worried about your career, worried about your current choices, worried about your past qualifications or the lack of them like me, you are worried about what your next best move should be.

As hard as it might be to believe, I will advise you:

Stop being worried about things outside of your control. Focus on the things you can control.

This is what I wish I knew when I started my HR Career 15 years ago.

I was so worried and expended a lot of energy on things well outside of my control, rather than on things within my control.

All that worrying was and is for nothing.

All those questions as in my case were resolved and I am certain your questions will be resolved too.

Looking back here are the top 5 things I would do differently:

• I will stop being worried and learn to calm down and think more deeply about identifying what I want to achieve with my HR career.
• I will be deliberate and pay more attention to my personal development as an individual.
• I will look out for cues to let me know what parts of HR I have more interest in and passion for.
• I will intentionally seek to network in an HR community that will provide real value.
• I will get myself an HR Coach and mentor to give me personalised advice and accountability.

With time, you will understand what you want to achieve with your HR Career and the clarity having an experienced guide provides.

You will thrive, you will be okay.

There is more information than ever before, I mean you are reading this newsletter, right now.

What will you do with the insights I have shared? Will you continue worrying about all the things outside of your control? Or will you follow the advice I have shared?

I am rooting for you, and I know with the passage of time and more exposure to insights like these, you will understand what you want to achieve with your HR Career.

You will thrive, you will be okay.

Till next week, please take care.

Olutoyin Williams

Whenever you are ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. I am about to open doors to my paid HR Career Growth Mentoring Program. It is a group program. If you would like to be a part of it, please fill out an interest form here and on the back of that, my team will book you in for a free 1:1 career clarity session.

2. I provide intensive personalized career growth coaching and interview coaching to HR professionals looking to get into Senior roles. I will support you with the strategies I used to achieve accelerated career growth becoming the Country Head of Human Resources for a multinational renewable energy business in Africa, with an 8-figure compensation package. If you are at this level and this is what you need, send me a DM here on LinkedIn and we will start with a 1:1 Career Strategy session.

3. Through my YouTube channel, I provide valuable contents that give insights into my incredible HR Career journey. Please watch, subscribe and share with other HR Professionals in your network.