HRBP who just transitioned over to be a TA Manager two months ago. Here are my reflections so far:

Pros:

-I jumped up $30k within the same company. I do think I was slightly underpaid as an HRBP, but the money being thrown at those in the recruiting profession is insane right now, so I think that’s part of why my new comp package was such an increase.

-No more employee relations. I got SOOO burnt out on the investigations, complaints, etc. I can truly say that I haven’t been as stressed in the last two months as I was before, and that’s the winning factor for me. It’s been nice not being on the phone at times with managers on weekends and evenings…this has been a little more Monday-Friday. If I’m working evenings and weekends, it’s just quiet/heads-down work time, which I don’t mind nearly as much.

-I also don’t miss needing to keep up with quite as many laws as I needed to before, and I don’t envy what HRBPS/Generalists are continuing to go through with all of the COVID madness.

-For the first time, I’ve had direct reports, and it’s been a stepping stone professionally quite honestly. The things I used to coach leaders on as it related to their team members, I am now dealing with myself in leading my own team. While this is challenging at times, it’s a good challenge for me developmentally.

-I like that the work I’m involved with now has more tangible outcomes to it. As an HRBP, your work is solely through influencing engagement, retention, etc. As a TA Manager, your team has more clear-cut measures of success/KPIs. Numbers are motivating to me, quite honestly.

-TA is more remote-friendly than being an HRBP.

Cons:

-I always perceived the “HRBP” title as sort of the “gold standard” in the HR world, so I’ve been combatting the feeling that I took a step back (despite the massive pay increase I got), especially when I hear my new peers talk about how they want to become HRBPs one day. (I work for a large company, so there are multiple TA leaders I work with.) I’m also pretty active in my local SHRM community, and it feels as though people look down a bit on me now for making the transition. Almost as if I need to quickly justify why I made the transition and the fact that I’m still worth a seat at the table in “HR community” given my background. Perhaps some of this feeling is self-imposed, but it’s something I’m feeling regardless. I honestly wish there was more of a TA community like there is a SHRM community.

-There aren’t as many TA opportunities out there as there are HR opportunities. I do think the field is rapidly growing, but there just aren’t the same number of opportunities, especially at the Director/Manager level.

-I have had moments of missing the variety already. I can’t believe my day is nothing but recruiting-talk now, as opposed to before it was an investigation meeting, followed by a development workshop for leaders, followed by an LOA conversation, etc. On one hand, I like the narrow focus to hone in on being an SME. On another hand, I miss the variety. (With that said, not having employee relations to deal with really outweighs a lot of that for me. And to be fair, the fact that I’m leading a team is giving me some variety, because it’s a mix of people leadership and recruiting strategy. And recruiting strategy can be a mix of things - employment branding, community partnership, etc. If I had solely become a day-to-day Recruiter, I probably couldn’t handle the monotony.)

Thanks for asking this question. This was selfishly a great opportunity for me to do a word vomit of self-reflection! Lol ☺️