Could I work in HR?

Supporting people at work, and keeping things fair.

What it is really like

A lot of your week is casework and paperwork, and the two blur together. You are updating records when someone joins, leaves or changes hours, chasing right-to-work documents, answering the same policy questions about holiday and sick pay for the fourth time, and preparing letters that have to be worded precisely. Alongside that sits the casework: a sickness absence that needs managing, a grievance someone has raised, a manager who wants to start a performance process and is not sure how. You are rarely the person making the final decision, but you are the person who has to make sure it is done properly.

The harder part is that you advise rather than decide, and you carry the consequences either way. A manager will want to move faster than the process allows, and part of your job is slowing them down without becoming the obstacle they route around. You will hear things in confidence that you cannot repeat, including to people who would very much like to know. You will also be the person in the room when someone's job ends, sometimes for good reasons and sometimes because a budget moved. The genuinely rewarding part is narrower than people expect but real: a process that was going to be arbitrary ends up being fair, because you were there.

Sitting in the middle is the defining feature of the job. You are employed by the organisation and you are also the place people go when the organisation has treated them badly, and those two things do not always point the same way. Some people will assume you are on the company's side, and there will be moments when that assumption is accurate. Notes matter more here than in most jobs, because a file you wrote in March can be read out at a tribunal in November. It is detailed, procedural work about people at difficult moments, which is a specific combination to enjoy.

What you would actually be doing

You are halfway through preparing paperwork for two new starters who begin on Monday when a manager calls needing advice on a disciplinary meeting they have already scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, and you can tell the process has not been followed properly so far.
An employee tells you in confidence that they are struggling with their mental health and asks you not to say anything to their manager, but their absence is about to trigger a formal attendance review, and you need to work out what you can act on and what you cannot.
A manager wants to dismiss someone quickly because the team has lost patience with them, and you have to explain what evidence and process would actually be needed first, knowing the manager will be frustrated and may go ahead regardless.

On PRODICTA, this sits under Working with people and Leading teams & organisations.

Want to feel what it is actually like?

Step into a few real situations from this role, then get an honest, behaviour-based read on how you approached the work. No score, no pass or fail.

Try being an HR Advisor

An exploration takes about 15 minutes. You will need a free account to start.

Want the longer version? Try-a-Career works through several situations from the role and gives you a fuller career report. It is a paid exploration, unlike the Career Challenge above.