Here’s a dirty little confession that no HR person should ever make: I hate feedback. I hate giving it, asking for it, hearing it, and acting grateful for it. Every day as an HR practitioner, I encouraged my company’s employees to be fearless about seeking feedback (“You must know how you are perceived, and you can’t assume!” I’d intone) while simultaneously living in fear of criticism myself. Fortunately for my perfectionist little heart (not to mention my career), that was impossible in my highly self-aware, feedback-focused HR department. And one particularly honest feedback session led to one of the best experiences of my life.
Here’s the story: I had recently completed a rotational assignment supporting a large and complex client group as their lead day-to-day HR generalist, covering for a colleague on maternity leave. For those who aren’t familiar with HR functions, that basically means I was the go-to person for any and every daily employee issue as well as larger scale projects and long-range strategy related to people management as a lever to grow business. One day I could be discussing salary adjustments; the next, attending a finance meeting to better understand the client group’s numbers and goals; the next, having painful discussions about layoffs (contrary to myth, your average HR person and line manager agonize over these decisions and are acutely aware of the fact that we’re dealing with people’s lives and livings). The role also involved referring issues that required a specialist’s input (say, from compensation or recruiting or benefits) to my colleagues.
It was a big, scary job. I broke out; dreamed about work; worried whether I was doing it well enough—and I was completely exhilarated and honored by the challenge, too. In other words, it was like everything else that’s worth anything in life—a complete rattling of the chain; an adventure trip out of the comfort zone.
After it was over, I bit the bullet and asked my supervisor how I did. Her voice was gentle and her approach very direct. I’d done a great job on the day-to-day putting-out-of-fires (no small feat), but didn’t add as much value as a long-term strategist, which is the brass ring of first-rate HR practice. She knew I had the potential, but having made a mid-career switch to HR from journalism, I didn’t have the deep experience you really need to rock a senior-level generalist role. Ouch. But then she said, “You know, if you feel like you want to stay in HR, go to grad school.”
And reader, as much as I hate feedback, that’s exactly what I did.
Best. Decision. Ever. (A side note: My former company and its HR team at that time were amazing. Class personified. If you were there, you know who you are. Thanks everyone!) OK, so anyway, grad school: great decision for me. Would it be for you, too?
To help answer that question, I picked up the phone to chat with Sara Edwards, the director of my grad school program, Cornell’s part-time School of Industrial and Labor Relations’ Master of Professional Studies Program in New York City. Before you make the leap back to the classroom, ask yourself these five questions:
What’s your endgame? “People who have the most success in our program really have done their thinking about why they want to do it,” Sara told me. In my case, I needed some HR credibility to back up my relatively few years of experience in the field. Also, I like school. Give me a teacher, a book, and a writing assignment, and I’m almost embarrassingly happy. For some folks (doctors, lawyers, or those in industries where, say, an MBA is an widespread norm to get to a particular level of practice) advanced degrees are essential. Other people really want the status (no judgment here). And we all know about the famously successful people who don’t have even an undergraduate degree. For the rest of us, graduate school is a personal call and requires clarity, because…
Are you ready to have your butt kicked? “It’s a big commitment,” my grad school friend Nicole said over dinner last night. She’s right. Even when it’s clearly the right thing to do, working and going to school at the same time is its own little circle of hell. Chances are you’ll be a better student than the last time around, but you are also an older one. If you have a family or other serious obligations, graduate school can be punishing to the point of impossibility. If, on the other hand, you’re aching for a challenge, open to thinking in a different way and engaging with new people, and have good support at home, grad school might be worth the sacrifice of time and money. Speaking of which…
Can you afford it? US News and World Report has done a lot of great work compiling data on the actual value of a graduate degree, which can help you calculate whether it’s worth the cost to you. Corporate tuition reimbursement programs may not be as generous these days, but they are worth investigating. If your company is willing to underwrite all or part of your tuition, make sure you know their policy about what, if anything, they expect in return (for example, two or three years continued service after you graduate). If that’s not an option, serious research can help (hint: if you dislike research, grad school is not for you). This article from US News and World Report is an excellent place to start.
How will your advanced degree benefit your current employer? Super important question, because it’s your manager and colleagues who will support you and pick up your slack while you duck out early for class, study surreptitiously at your desk, or recover from a weekend of problem sets and paper writing. Not only must you feel confident you can maintain your performance while you earn the degree, it also helps to be clear on what the expensive piece of paper will actually bring to the table once you have it in hand.
Where’s the love? Something about your course of study should speak to your heart. I was, and am, passionate about the workplace, how people show up there, and how organizations and individuals can best serve their own and the other’s needs. So a degree that involved hours of conversation, reading, writing and problem solving about these issues was its own kind of nirvana for me. It was the sustaining factor when the question, “Why am I doing this, again?” popped up, which was often.
My happy ending: I got promoted in the middle of my program (eventually leaving the company to consult), and even better, I met wonderful people (two of my favorites are with me in our graduation photo), got world-class training in labor and organizational relations, and a credential that can be used in several different ways. Most important, I discovered that it’s never too late to regain your sense of wonder and curiosity. All because I once dared to ask, “How did I do?” and my manager had the courage to tell me.
