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At Tandem Partners my specialist area is partnering with and advising executives within the Human Resources sector. As you’d expect this means I’m regularly meeting with a broad cross section of people from the HR executive community. One emerging trend I’ve observed over the last few years with those in the upper levels of our industry, is an increasing level of job insecurity. To be clear here, I’m referring to professionals that have a vast range of achievements under their belt, have worked with excellent companies and in a number of cases, are already operating at senior executive or even board level.

This insecurity is paralyzing many of these individuals, forcing them to remain with their current employers for a significantly longer period than they would freely choose to, living in fear of redundancy or restructure. .

Sources of Concern

The most pressing issue expressed by HR professionals at this level is the comparatively small number of suitable career opportunities that are available (when compared to earlier in their careers). The reality is that the further up the career ladder they progress, the fewer opportunities exist. This means that many HR executives either remain with their current employer for far longer than they’d prefer, or if they are unlucky enough to find themselves out of work, they struggle to find and secure new opportunities. In addition, whereas in some sectors Interim Management can be a solution to such a problem, in HR, particularly at the very top level, there aren’t large numbers of executive contracting opportunities, rather more ad-hoc low term, consulting opportunities derived through networks.

Somewhat linked to the first point, is the speed at which the HR profession and business in general is transforming, particularly in response to digital disruption. This is both in terms of HR being able to respond to the ever changing demand from their current business and also meeting the key criteria set for most new job opportunities.

With many senior managers having spent a number of years with the same employer and receiving healthy bonuses along the way, remuneration can be an issue when looking at new job opportunities. However, because most are closer to financial independency, the bigger issue is more often the desire to be challenged. This group of people feel it’s too early for them to consider retirement and would jump at the chance to be involved with one or even two more big projects, but due to the reasons mentioned above are rightfully concerned about their chances of securing an opportunity to do so. 

Becoming Marketable

If this resonates with you, the great news is that we regularly work with many people who have tackled these concerns and have found they’re not impossible to overcome. Your approach will likely differ depending on whether you’re currently employed or out of work, but the following advice is based on input we receive from HR professionals in both scenarios, who have successfully taken control of the latter stages of their careers.

It’s crucial to focus on what you can control, not what you can’t. It’s not possible to change the volume of good executive HR jobs in the market, so it would be time wasted to worry about this. There may be fewer numbers of permanent and contract opportunities but they do still exist and the reality is that it is the top talent in our industry securing them. The key therefore, is to get to a position where your skills, experience and brand put you into this group, and just because you’ve been in the industry for a many years doesn’t mean this isn’t possible.

The biggest realization most people have when focusing on upskilling their technological awareness and understanding, is that it has nothing to do with how active they are on the latest new mobile app. Instead, technical literacy is understanding how businesses utilize technology to be more agile and customer centric and what you can take from this to influence the people agenda. Most of this information can only be learnt by practical hands-on exposure, meaning that neither Millennials or the younger group from Generation Y, who are traditionally more tech savvy, hold any advantage.

There’s a huge plethora of online courses and whitepapers available, some of which can really help. However, if you’re not getting the exposure to digital transformation you need then there are two great ways to address this. The first is to volunteer to be the lead on major transformational projects within your existing business. The second is active participation in the broader HR industry, whether online or offline. Traditional conferences definitely provide a range of new insights and case studies but smaller community groups and meetups are allowing HR practitioners to work closely with each other, sharing ideas and solutions.

The other way of increasing your worth to an organization is to focus energy on your market perception or brand. For many, having reached the top of their profession, this may be counter-intuitive, but it can make a dramatic positive difference, both to the opportunities that present themselves and your chances of securing them.

Personal branding comes in all shapes and sizes, you might prefer to blog for industry publications, contribute to online forums, actively network with HR peers and key business leaders, or even to present at industry conferences. There is no correct solution, the most important aspect is to broaden your professional network and to showcase your expertise and knowledge.

Summary

Professional insecurity shouldn’t have to be an issue, especially for HR executives who have experienced such successful careers to date. Unfortunately, however, digital disruption is here to stay and for many this has meant it’s now part of everyday life. To address this, we have to adjust what was previously deemed as normal career advice and push the boundaries outside our comfort zones. If we do this, then the future looks a lot more positive with plenty of exciting and challenging projects coming into reach.

Whilst this advice is written for senior and executive HR professionals who are approaching the final stages of their careers, if you are reading this at an earlier stage, it’s never too soon to start implementing some of these ideas! To stay up to date with what’s happening in the HR employment market and for specialist executive HR career advice, please feel free to get in touch.