Matt Johnson ⋅ Chicago, IL EY-Parthenon ⋅ 10 years experience

Most of the recruiters I know had some underlying HR or business degree and then formed relationships with a company of interest. This is an exploding market right now so you can consider working directly for an in-house team or a professional recruiting firm: https://www.forbes.com/best-professional-recruiting-firms/#34d5fbc720b2

Scour LinkedIn for recruiters who might connect with you. Use whatever link you may have to them - veteran status, same undergrad, same hometown, affinity groups, church connections - whatever, and use that as a basis to start the conversation. Simply ask for 20min to have a coffee chat to discuss how they got into their role, and how you might position yourself in a similar way. People love to talk about themselves so use this as an opportunity to pick their brain about their experience, the industry structure, the joys and frustrations of the job, what trends are they seeing, what you should salary range they think you should seek, and how they recommend you approach your own career or who else they can introduce you to so you can learn more. Taking a call with a student is very low risk for most people. Use that to your advantage.

Robin Segerdahl ⋅ Seaside, OR Intel Corp ⋅ 19 years experience

Hi Kyneshia,
Nice to virtually meet you and congratulations on your goal of learning more about how to get into recruiting. Having many years of experience in employee recruiting, development and HR I would be honored to talk with you more about how to set up your resume so that it is reviewed by companies and also how to network. You may want to search on "Recruiter" at www.intel.com/jobs as I know we have a number of roles open at this time.
Look forward to connecting with you
Robin

FRANCIS TEPEDINO, ESQ. ⋅ San Diego, CA THE CONDOR GROUP ⋅ 30 years experience

When Life gives you lemons, make lemonade. How about changing your focus for a period? Get a job with a company - perhaps as a Jr. Purchasing agent, (usually easy to get), work hard and then ask to move over to what you really want. Good luck.
Francis J. Tepedino

Paul Tusting ⋅ Salt Lake City, UT Bond Arms Inc ⋅ 20 years experience

When applying for a job, the applicate is asking for two leaps of faith from the company:
1) How you are as an employee in general, and
2) How you will do in that particular role.

With #1, a job change within (i.e. hiring internally) a company is easier as they already know how you are to work with in general. With #2, having a similar role or experience in a different company mitigates that.

When switching careers, I have always found it hard to overcome both at the same time. Some ways to mitigate this are:

*Start by moonlighting or contract work in the new field, at a rate slightly below market rate. This often comes down to personal contacts to get your foot in the door, but it is less committing for both parties.

*Going to a smaller company where individuals have more than one role, maybe one is something you have experience in, and the other what you want to do more of.

*Informal "independent studies" or "case studies" where you basically create resume experience and/or a portfolio on your own time.

*Of course internships are an option too.

*Training and certificates can be in addition to all of these (actually these all can be mixed/matched).

I actually have used these techniques a number of times in my own career.
Best of luck!
-Paul

Jeff Martin ⋅ Ashburn, VA The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ⋅ 25 years experience

I’d suggest that you network at the target company or industry. Use LinkedIn to find people already working there and reach out to them. Ask them the process they used to get hired and ask them to help you navigate the hiring process and if they are willing, ask them to submit you as a referral. These activities require much more time on your part but in my opinion would greatly increase your chances for success. Good luck!

Sella Rogers ⋅ San Marcos, CA Hollandia Dairy ⋅ 6 years experience

I started my career in HR without any HR experience. I took a front desk/HR assistant job and gained the experience within the company. Sometimes having the SHRM or HRCI certs help you get in the front door. I only had my Bachelors and a certification in Paralegal studies. Maybe some staffing agencies have some positions where you can be hired on as a temp-to-hire.
Best of luck and thank you for your service!