The Human Resource Professional's Career Guide: Building a Position of Strength

This book differs from the rest of the getting started in HR books. This book is not a how-to resource for running an HR department, but a real framework for pursuing an HR career. Most others sort of talk about what HR is and give generic advice for students. This book has some of that, but also looks at real-world people who by accident or design choose HR, or are chosen by it, further alon in their work life and need to build a career path in the discipline. Along with the content are chapter endin interviews with real, successful HR professionals that bring the subject of the chapter into focus.

Every once in awhile, a book is crafted that helps a reader see the smaller picture in context of the larger picture. This is such a book. Jeanne Palmer does a terrific job at walking the reader through decision trees around HR career strategies and tactics. She makes it easy to understand the "who, what, when, where, why and hows" of the Human Resources world, and makes plain what is often seen as complicated or elusive. In my world of executive search, she has given me greater understanding of the HR professionals with whom we interface on a daily basis. I would recommend this book to anyone who works in the human capital industry.

This book provides inspiration and practical information for readers at almost any stage of their careers. It is about cultivating an HR career over time. The chapters examine core competencies and key characteristics and how to: tell the stories behind career choices and accomplishments; lay out and track an HR career plan; plan your next career move well in advance; build a powerful network; overcome career missteps; come to terms with what you can't change and mitigate hazards to career prospects; successfully engage in senior-level interviews; and prepare for unexpected changes that offer new opportunities. Includes interviews with senior HR executives that provide lessons learned and insights. Appendices offer a map of career paths linked with qualifications and a list of valuable websites. Viewing this book as a senior HR professional and consultant (co-founder, Stern & Associates, hrconsultant.com) I wish such a book was available to me when I was first getting started. A must read for every HR practitioner and those aspiring to be one.

With so many HR professaionals helping others with their careers, this book enables such people to look after their own career through self assessment and interviews of successful people in HR. Surveying the HR landscape today, Jeanne Palmer enables you to map out your own career, assess what you need to get to your next goal, and how best to conduct yourself in acheiving it (including how to avoid common pitfalls and how to recovery from them). The Human Resource Professional's Career Guide is of particular help to those individuals who are at the beginning and all the way to the later stages of their career. For those who are at the end of their career or teach, it is an excellent tool for mentoring.

Jeanne Palmer and Martha Finney have delivered outstanding and practical advice for HR professionals at all levels. The tone is warm and encouraging, and the information is pragmatic and insightful. The many roadmaps in this book show career-minded professionals how to prepare themselves with the focus on long-term goals while outlining the many different ways of getting there within this changing field. The field of HR seems to be a moving target at times, and this book addresses that issue by presenting information to be considered in many different scenarios. In summary, this book is a must read for HR folks who want to manage their careers in the same manner in which they do their jobs by handling the tactical issues while focusing on strategic plans.