CASE STUDY: Becoming an independent HR consultant

Case Study: Becoming a Consultant

Meet Janet* who joined the PIVOT programme to start using her HR experience as a self-employed consultant.

Current job: HR Business Partner for a large corporate in financial services

Why do you want to make the change? I work around 50 hours per week, and when I’m not working I´m thinking about work and some of the challenges I have at work. I feel drained all of the time and I´ve lost the passion for HR that I had when I first started my career.

Why become a self-employed consultant? Is it not easier just to apply for another job? I´ve been looking for another role for a few months, since January actually. But most of the roles are full-time and that´s not what I want. I´ll end up jumping from the frying pan into the fire. I´m finding that most HR roles are the same…underpaid and under-valued!

I´m almost 50, my kids have moved out and I want to have more time for myself. But I´m too young to retire. I would love to be able to work remotely and see a bit of the world. And I still have the passion that got me into HR in the first place, to make a difference. But I want to do it on my terms without all of the office politics I deal with now.

What´s the plan? What kind of consulting do you want to do? I started the PIVOT programme and the Expertise Unlocked course because my biggest challenge was figuring out what I wanted to focus on. It has really helped me to nail what I was passionate about, which is bringing more equality into the workplace.

I´m still working through the modules but at the moment my focus is on smaller companies and start-ups who probably can´t afford a full-time HR manager. I´ve done my market research using a sample of 10 “ideal client” companies and although all want to have an inclusive culture none have a diversity, equality & inclusion policy. And that´s what I´m going to focus on.

I already have one company I spoke with in the research exercise who are interested in hiring me when I´m ready to launch which has really boosted my confidence.

What´s the next step? I´m working on pulling my offer together and finalising my pricing. This was a bit of an eye-opener for me. I realised after completing this module that I can make more than my current salary by working about half the hours. I really wish I had realised this before now!

My next step is giving my notice at work. Which is scary but also quite exciting.

Biggest hurdle so far? Not going on holiday this summer! I wanted to make sure that I could survive financially for at least 3 months before quitting my job and decided to save the money we would normally spend on a family holiday to add to the savings pot. I´ve used the time instead to work on my business and start making more contacts.

Advice to anyone else considering making the change? Start now. The course is easy to follow, you just do what it says and everything comes together. It takes me around 2 hours a week on a Saturday and it´s one of the best times of the week for me. The individual coaching calls have given me the confidence to know that I can do this, and that I´m not too old to start afresh. Knowing what I know now, I wish I had made the change sooner!

Thank you for sharing your journey so far Janet! We can´t wait to see what you do next!

Find out more about the PIVOT programme here. If you would like to have a chat about your area of expertise and potential consulting or freelance services you can book that here. 

*name changed as she´s not quite ready to quit her current role!