From HR to finance and back again: What I learned managing a career transition

What led her to consider a career change from human resources to finance?

After earning her Certified Human Resources Leader designation, Jackson spent several years working as a human resources specialist in the alcohol and gaming industry. While the job itself lined up with her interest in human resources, she very quickly realized that many departments worked in silos and struggled to understand each other’s perspectives. Jackson remembers, “We constantly faced challenges understanding the needs, processes and goals of other departments, especially finance. I had ideas I wanted to move forward that I knew would be beneficial for the organization, but I didn’t fully understand how to position them as value adds from a financial perspective.” It was at this point that Jackson realized she could be much more effective with a stronger financial background and made the decision to transition into a junior accounting role, with the intention of building her knowledge and skills before returning to human resources in the future as a more well-rounded employee.

What was the most challenging part of the transition into finance?

As with any career transition, the learning curve was quite steep at the beginning. Jackson recounts, “I needed to step into the role being open to learning a whole new set of rules, regulations and practices. The company was smaller, which allowed me to still support components of human resources as well, but the whole experience in finance was quite eye opening.” While gaining more experience and confidence in the new role over time, Jackson began to fill in the blanks on how closely connected the work of finance and human resources should be. The opportunity to understand the inner workings of finance allowed her to advocate for ideas in a completely different way than she had before. “I started to realize that in my previous role, I didn’t know the right questions to ask when speaking with finance staff, and I didn’t understand how to effectively advocate for my ideas from a financial perspective in relation to our bottom line. I was speaking to the benefits from a human resources perspective, like how this is going to benefit staff, but I was missing the ability to share the financial aspects.” After four years, Jackson was able to transition back into a more dedicated human resources position with a refreshed perspective and approach.

How has this experience in finance made her a better human resources professional?

Before transitioning into a finance role, Jackson knew that she ultimately wanted to return to human resources in the future. She knew that she needed to work for an organization that valued learning and collaboration between departments. This meant having integrated business processes, joint planning and a leadership team that “walked the walk” in relation to these areas. Reflecting on her change in perspective, Jackson can now be a relationship builder because she understands the needs and challenges on both sides. “I want to be someone who is able to build trust with staff across all areas of the business. I want to be an effective leader, and that means I need to be able to have credibility interacting with all staff, not just the ones I manage.”

This version of Jackson has a much more rounded skillset and perspective, and she hopes to share the experience with others to reduce some of the fear around exploring other career paths. “At the end of day, I didn’t ever see my transition into finance as separate from my longer-term goals in human resources. It was challenging, but I wouldn’t trade it for where I am now. So many skills are transferrable, and it isn’t the case that you have to leave the past version of yourself behind. We all need to evolve to advance in our careers, and I encourage others to be open to new challenges in the future, even if they are a little intimidating at first.”

This career journey is an example of why building capacity and bridges between your finance and human resources departments is so important. Now, I’m not telling you to jump into a different career – that isn’t necessary to gain a better understanding of departmental goals – but take on the challenge to not only build your own capacity, but the capacity of others in your organization. Being aligned in your end goals and understanding why certain motivations exist on both the human resources and finance side of the shop will only lead to better connections, relationships and innovation to solve the next challenge that will inevitably knock on your door. As they say, two heads are better than one, and so are two departments working together as one.

Enter some text...