Human resources has a funny way of finding people who were never planning to land there in the first place. Sometimes it starts with an accounting degree. Sometimes it starts with a book. Sometimes it starts with a wild idea like building a website for a company on the other side of the world and seeing what happens.
That kind of sideways path says a lot about what makes a strong HR professional. The best ones are rarely boxed in. They pick up ideas from different industries, different roles, different places, and then use that range to make better decisions when the real world gets messy.
That was the thread running through this conversation on the HR Engage Podcast with Jonathan Mamaril, Director of Employment Law at South Geldard Lawyers. With more than 16 years in workplace relations and industrial relations, Jonathan regularly brings together practical HR and legal perspectives, which is exactly why this discussion hit on so many issues that matter right now.
From accounting to HR by way of curiosity
Jodi McLeod’s career did not follow a neat straight line. She began at university studying accounting, largely because it felt like the logical move. Then one book changed the trajectory. Reading about Anita Roddick and the way The Body Shop blended ethics with business opened a much bigger question about what work could look like.
That shift led to a broader course of study. Instead of narrowing down too early, she opened things up with a double degree that included HRM, Japanese and tourism. That decision to stay broad turned out to be a theme that would shape everything that came after.
An early act of initiative then did what formal planning often cannot. She created a website aimed at getting noticed by The Body Shop. It did not deliver the exact job she hoped for, but it opened a door internationally. That one move led to conversations in Ireland, work overseas, leadership experience in hospitality, time with Sky TV in Scotland, and eventually a return to Australia with a much wider commercial lens.
There is a useful lesson in that. Career progress in HR is not always about following a strict ladder. Sometimes it is about creating momentum, taking the meeting, making the trip, saying yes, and trusting that each experience adds another layer.
Why Rockhampton works for ambitious HR professionals
Rockhampton is often described as a country town, but that undersells what is happening there. It is growing, economically active and increasingly attractive for professionals who want meaningful work without being swallowed by a capital city.
Jodi’s perspective on regional Queensland is grounded and practical. Rockhampton has familiarity, yes, but it also has a lot of movement. There is activity through councils, links to mining, major events, and a stronger professional community than many assume. That creates real scope for HR practitioners to build careers, take on responsibility and influence organisations in a way that can be harder in larger, more layered environments.
Regional business is not a smaller version of city business. It has its own complexity. It often requires broader capability, stronger relationships and a more adaptable style. For an HR generalist career, that can be a huge advantage.
Why HR generalists still matter
One of the strongest ideas to come out of the discussion was a defence of the generalist path. In a profession that sometimes pushes people towards specialisation as quickly as possible, there is still enormous value in staying broad.
HR work changes shape depending on the setting. Media is different from IT. Hospitality is different from resources. State government is different again. The personalities, operating rhythms, communication styles and risk profiles all shift. Someone who has only worked in one environment can easily mistake policy preference for universal truth.
A broader background helps prevent that. It builds a habit of asking why. It trains an HR practitioner to look past assumptions and understand the context before pushing a solution.
That matters because people issues are rarely repeat jobs. The same surface level problem can require three different responses depending on the employees involved, the history, the team dynamics and the business setting. HR is full of nuance. Anyone treating it as fully standardised will eventually come unstuck.
The balancing act between big picture thinking and focus
HR professionals are often told to think strategically, and that is right. But there is a trap in staying too high level for too long.
Jodi made the point that wide experience can sometimes make the mind run in every direction at once. One project can trigger thoughts about culture, operations, legal risk, team impact, leadership capability and downstream effects across the organisation. That broad thinking is useful, but only if it gets narrowed into action.
The practical discipline is this:
- identify the primary issue
- set the immediate focus
- consider the likely ramifications
- avoid being paralysed by every possible impact at once
That tension between strategic vision and granular detail sits at the heart of good HR leadership.
Technology, data and the AI shift in HR
The conversation also highlighted something many HR teams are feeling already. AI is not coming. It is here, and it is moving fast enough to make even experienced people feel behind.
Jodi’s interest in technology did not come from being a pure process person. In fact, she is quite clear that she does not naturally think in a rigid step-by-step way. The attraction is more about what data and systems can bring to a profession that is otherwise full of grey areas.
Numbers can stabilise the messier parts of people work. Data analysis gives a way to test assumptions, sharpen priorities and make sense of patterns. That is why data analytics looks increasingly central to the future of HR.
AI then sits on top of that shift. If analytics can be automated, reporting accelerated and routine work streamlined, the capability expectations for HR will change quickly. Australian organisations are already under pressure to catch up. For guidance on national policy direction, the Australian Government’s safe and responsible AI work is a useful starting point.
The challenge is not just adoption. It is judgment. HR teams need to understand where technology genuinely improves decision-making and where it creates new risk.
That is why conversations around HR and AI strategy matter. The future is not about using AI because it is available. It is about using it in ways that support people, compliance and commercial outcomes at the same time.
Domestic violence, vicarious trauma and the expanding HR role
One of the more serious parts of the discussion focused on how societal issues are increasingly becoming formal workplace issues. Domestic and family violence is a clear example.
The workplace absolutely has a role to play in support, safety and leave entitlements. But recognising that role does not make the burden simple. HR professionals are often not psychologists, yet they can find themselves having deeply traumatic conversations with employees during crisis periods.
There is also the under-discussed issue of vicarious trauma. The person receiving the disclosure may have their own history, their own triggers, or simply absorb emotional harm over time from repeated exposure to distressing situations.
That means support systems need to protect both sides. Policies alone are not enough. Training, referral pathways and careful handling matter. For employers dealing with these issues in Queensland, this guide on domestic violence workplace and legal support offers useful context. National workplace entitlements can also be checked through the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Competence before strategy
Another standout idea was simple and sharp. If the HR team is not competent in the fundamentals, it cannot be truly strategic.
That point matters more than ever. Industrial relations changes, payroll complexity, compliance obligations and fast-moving workplace reforms create constant pressure. Without a strong technical base, HR gets stuck in survival mode. The team spends all its energy reacting and never gets the chance to build value.
Competence does not happen by accident. It requires:
- regular team learning
- one-on-one development
- targeted training aligned to each person’s role
- support for self-directed professional growth
- permission to say yes or no depending on life stage and capacity
That approach is practical, humane and sustainable. It also reflects something many teams need more of, which is development without performative pressure.
Advice for early career HR professionals
There was also some particularly useful advice for people starting out in HR.
First, keep it broad. A double degree, cross-functional exposure or work across different sectors can make later transitions much easier. HR paired with law, psychology or workplace health and safety can be especially valuable.
Second, be confident but stay humble. That sounds obvious, but it is harder than it looks. Early career professionals now have access to more information than ever. The risk is mistaking exposure to information for depth of understanding.
Situations are contextual. One conversation, one policy or one opinion should never be treated as gospel. A better habit is to stay curious, test ideas and learn the difference between speaking up and listening well.
The real skill is conversation. Not simply making a point, but engaging with another person’s reasoning and working through the issue properly.
Fairness, merit and the hard question HR keeps facing
Perhaps the most provocative part of the discussion was around fairness in the workplace.
The concern raised was not against fairness itself, but against a model of blanket fairness that removes meaningful ways to reward effort, initiative and contribution. In sectors with thin margins, especially not-for-profits, that challenge becomes sharper. If many traditional benefits are legislated minimums, what tools are left to create a compelling employee value proposition?
This is not a simple debate. Businesses need fairness, employees need protection, and culture cannot run on pure ideology. HR sits in the middle trying to build a genuine win-win between workforce needs and organisational reality.
That is why the profession needs a stronger voice in policy settings. HR sees where legislation lands in practice. It sees the employee impact, the business constraints and the unintended consequences. Without that seat at the table, reform can become fragmented and reactive.
The future belongs to the adaptable
If there is one idea worth carrying forward, it is this: the future of HR will not belong only to narrow specialists or loud opinions. It will belong to adaptable practitioners who can hold complexity, learn across disciplines, use data sensibly, navigate technology wisely and stay human in the middle of all of it.
Broad experience is not a lack of focus. In HR, it can be the thing that makes better judgment possible.
And in a profession being reshaped by AI, industrial relations change, wellbeing pressures and shifting expectations of work, better judgment is worth a lot.
