1177. A Day in the Life: What’s It Really Like to Be a Human Resources Consultant?

”I kept joking with people that it was a little bit like trying to figure out what you want to do when you grow up–but in your forties. I had worked in human resources for 20 years at that point.

“Human resources is a really broad practice area. So part of it was trying to figure out what parts of human resources I wanted to work in. Two things were really helpful in narrowing it down. One is that I had just finished my graduate degree in Organization Development. I was really interested in that field because it is systems change in corporations, nonprofits or government. I had always worked on the strategic end of HR about how the people related to the strategy, so I knew that was a passion. And then I had done my thesis on pay equity, so I knew I had that, too.

“Then the second thing was some great advice from a friend early on when exploring creating my own business: ‘You should do some volunteer gigs if you can’t get paying work immediately. That can help you kind of figure out what you do and don’t want to do, and then also can give you some immediate feedback.’ Since this was early 2020, the beginning of the pandemic, I was able to do some virtual volunteering. That really helped me in my decision making.”

Sally Loftis is the Managing Director at Loftis Partners, a 100% woman-owned human resources consulting firm located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Sally works at the intersection of human resources, organization development, and social justice. Loftis Partners specializes in strategy, people, facilitation, and pay justice. Since launching in August 2020, Sally and her firm have worked with 54 clients across 3 continents. She completed her master’s thesis on pay equity in nonprofits. She was published in the Journal for Applied Behavioral Sciences (“Building Trust Through Action Learning in An Uncertain Transorganizational Context”).