I want to do HR!

I enrolled in Cal Poly - SLO with the intention of graduating with a BS in Nutritional Science and a nutrition counseling job (specializing in eating disorders) waiting for me upon graduation. My last quarter in school, I took nutrition counseling class and I knew - I wasn't ready for it. It was too emotional. I saw myself getting too attached to my clients and taking work home w/me and emotionally, I knew it wasn't a good step for me. If I cry out during newscasts and commercials and sit-coms, nutritional counseling - I wasn't ready for this yet.

Ever since I graduated, I debated upon what I wanted to do for the rest of my life I always had HR in the back of my head. I said - hey I can talk to people! I'm a people person (like every aspiring HR person thinks)! I can mix and match the right person for the job! that's me!

My first job out of college, I was a Schedule Coordinator. A branch off of HR, they said. I scheduled the engagements out for the ee's under management's direction. Every ee' and every manager had to know me. My name was on the top of the list - (by default). I made sure everything flowed. But I couldn't take the stress (or my stressed out supervisor) and the environment was not what I wanted. I didn't want corporate, sleeping, eating - work for 15+hrs sometimes. It wasn't what I signed up for.

so i quit. with no plan and no job lined up. i just knew this wasn't what i wanted.

My next job was a Career Services Advisor. (it wasn't counseling on nutrition but it was counseling!) It wasn't HR but it was working with HR folks. I was on the opposite end of the spectrum. I could network I thought. And! Since it was in a school and I was still recently out of college - I could relate to the students needs more. I thought this job was perfect - I liked the students, I liked my coworkers and I liked what I was doing. Until we got a new boss. A 26y.o. guy who had never supervised before and was a skirt chaser. He was why I quit. I couldn't kick my a$$ at work for someone I didn't respect. But I liked my job. I thought that it also called for a formal HR background to pull from though. I felt like I needed to be in the trenches to give these students the real life experiences to pull from. I thought if I just get a couple yrs of HR under my belt, i want to go back to career counseling - just not with this boss.

so i quit. with no job lined up. my only plan was that I was finally going to pursue HR. I was going to go to school and study and get a job in the field. I was going to work for it. i was going to pay my dues. I told my coworkers my plan and I told my boss (former HR guy) and in his most condescending voice, he said it couldn't be done. HR - you have to have experience, you need to know people, you're not going to be able to get a job in HR....his deterance or attempt - made me work harder. I went to school part time and found a bartending job at night and weekends and! i found a volunteer HR gig (just a couple wks after resigning) to get my foot in the (industry) door.

so here I was, taking like 2 classes of HR, volunteering 32hrs / wk and bartending a couple nights a week. My commute was terrible and my hours sucked - I didn't pick my schedule and my schedule wasn't being nice to me. I think my hardest day was wednesday:

---> wednesday
8-5pm volunteer (mind you the 1hr commute)
6-9:00pm class
10-3am bartending (3am was usual after clean up)
**mind you, our boss had us drink during work to make more money for her. we could NEVER deny drinks if patrons wanted to buy us one. and since it was a neighborhood bar, i was buzzed if not drunk, every shift.
3:30am - 6am - sleep
---> thursday
8am - back at the HR desk (after the 1hr commute)

yes, i don't miss wednesdays. the other days were better but wednesdays had me wired on red bull and alcohol all night.

but it paid off. i stayed at that company for a couple yrs. i sweated it out to:

volunteer (to the point where I was paying to volunteer here i.e. toll and parking) ---> part time intern (picture right above minimum wage) ---> higher salary part time ---> regular full time

but i wanted it, so i didn't mind. it taught me about how much i really need to survive to make things work for me. it made me realize all of the unnecessary expenses existed and it literally taught me what my bare minimums were.

i finally left because of two items: 1.) i didn't feel challenged anymore 2.) the cost / stress to get there wasn't adding up anymore.

so here, i am in HR. but now i want to relocate. and i'm having (financial) hesitations but if i think about it i know i can do it. i really wanted HR and with no experience, no connections and no education - i worked for it. why am i having hesitations about seattle? i know what it takes to go into something cold - i need to remind myself i did this before. seattle - i can do.