From Quality to Human Resources

[Quality_Goblin]

I posted this in a different thread but thought this might be a better spot....

I have been in Quality for almost 4 years. My job title is Document Control, but I am also the Training Coordinator, and I assist with some light HR stuff as I already have a penchant for that, and I also am the Safety Coordinator (light). Mainly I work with the QMS, and I enjoy quality assurance, but I am wondering if maybe I should consider going into HR and transferring some of the quality skills into that role? Things like continuous improvement, documentation, recordkeeping, even CAPA and RCA would definitely translate to the HR world. I'd even love to do more stuff around employee engagement and productivity from both a quality system perspective and HR perspective.

Has anyone had a career change from Quality to HR or vice versa? How did that work out for you? What challenges did you face, and what were some of the pros that you experienced?

 

[SeanN]

I posted this in a different thread but thought this might be a better spot....

I have been in Quality for almost 4 years. My job title is Document Control, but I am also the Training Coordinator, and I assist with some light HR stuff as I already have a penchant for that, and I also am the Safety Coordinator (light). Mainly I work with the QMS, and I enjoy quality assurance, but I am wondering if maybe I should consider going into HR and transferring some of the quality skills into that role? Things like continuous improvement, documentation, recordkeeping, even CAPA and RCA would definitely translate to the HR world. I'd even love to do more stuff around employee engagement and productivity from both a quality system perspective and HR perspective.

Has anyone had a career change from Quality to HR or vice versa? How did that work out for you? What challenges did you face, and what were some of the pros that you experienced?

Your QA experience could be very helpful for HR Engineering / Ergonomics. I am not sure if someone who honestly "enjoys quality assurance" can excel in HR too. I myself moved from administration (a lot to do wit people/culture/engagement/development etc.) to QA, and I see these two realms are quite different (and equally challenging!). Anyway, don't hesitate to give it a try if you have such an opportunity to discover yourself. Best of luck!

 

[Tidge]

While some elements of HR can be formulaic, my experiences with HR departments have been that they are almost entirely reactionary (in the ad hoc sense) by design, which is the part of the CMMI period that folks with a sense for quality try to avoid.

From my PoV: trying to bring quality to an HR department would be akin to marrying an alcoholic with the intention of helping them to get sober.

 

[Randy]

The HR person is often the 1st person to "get it" when someone goes ballistic in the workplace.

 

[Ed Panek]

The HR person is often the 1st person to "get it" when someone goes ballistic in the workplace.

Yep. As HR you try to act like if there are sides to an issue you are in the middle, but in reality you are not on the little guys side usually.

 

[RoxaneB]

It depends on what role you're looking for within HR. I work in a healthcare organization - our HR team consists of three buckets: Recruitment, General HR, Employee Experience. Supporting those buckets are some foundational HR processes (sub-teams) such as Training, Learning & Development, HRIS, Project Management. There isn't really anything dedicated to those activities you mentioned, however, we're 8,000+ people and nationwide. A smaller organization might look for those tasks you've highlighted.

My team supports HR in terms of data - we help them make data-informed decisions, showcase observations and insights (while they offer HR-related context to the data). We developed and provide their mandatary reporting - monthly and quarterly reports for lines of business and the board for HR-related metrics such as turnover. We support root cause analysis and strategic planning. But we aren't a part of HR.

The challenge, in my experience with HR, is that they are excellent at seeing the end goal or coming up with a grandiose vision, however, the details related to executing the plan or even accepting a change are not areas where they are strong. I fully acknowledge that my organization may not be the norm.

My recommendation is show how your skills can support HR...and Procurement...and IS...and Operations. The quality toolkit helps us develop skills which are transferrable between departments, processes, and even fields. Prior to working in healthcare, I worked in the steel industry.

 

[FRA 2 FDA]

I am basically doing the same thing. I have been with my current company for 4 years. I have been the quality department since I started and about 3 years ago I started picking up HR responsibilities. I am now essentially the HR department too. I enjoy both roles and would be happy to pursue either exclusively. I am self-educating in HR just like I have in quality. I can recommend HR Dive (HR News and Analysis | HR Dive) and HR Morning (HRMorning - HR News and Insights) as good sites for bite-sized chunks of interesting, informative reads plus other resources. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to share any other info and be weird-career-path buddies

 

[Quality_Goblin]

I am basically doing the same thing. I have been with my current company for 4 years. I have been the quality department since I started and about 3 years ago I started picking up HR responsibilities. I am now essentially the HR department too. I enjoy both roles and would be happy to pursue either exclusively. I am self-educating in HR just like I have in quality. I can recommend HR Dive (HR News and Analysis | HR Dive) and HR Morning (HRMorning - HR News and Insights) as good sites for bite-sized chunks of interesting, informative reads plus other resources. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to share any other info and be weird-career-path buddies

Wow seems like we are on the same path indeed!

 

[ScottK]

It really depends on the organization size and culture. I'm currently in a company large enough that there are specialist roles in HR that could potentially interest me - like talent acquisition, DEI, and leadership development. In fact I'm always tossing around the idea of getting a Masters in Organizational Psych. But many of my past jobs were smaller companies where HR was a generalist or two who spent 90% of their time on payroll and benefits administration. That has no interest for me.

 

[FRA 2 FDA]

As of October 15, I will be starting a new job in an actual, in-real-life HR role. Regrettably, this means my visits to and involvement in the Cove will be pretty limited. However, I don't want to forget ALL of my hard-earned quality knowledge and write that career off forever, so I'll try to come back from time to time and stay a little informed in the quality world. I appreciate all that I learned here!!!!!