"No HR education and no HR experience, just the will to break in. I volunteered as an HR Volunteer and landed my first HR job with Equinix as a Talent Acquisition Coordinator."
Elise Singleton
Talent Acquisition Coordinator
Volunteers › Career pathways › Human Resources
Career pathway · Live now
Build a career in HR, from recruitment to people operations.
Gain hands-on experience across the full HR lifecycle at real tech startups: sourcing and hiring talent, onboarding new starters, running performance and parting ways gracefully. Two clear tracks, one referenceable portfolio.
Voluntary and remote. No previous HR qualification required to begin, just the willingness to do real work.
your
photo
photo
Your Name
Aspiring HR Professional
Remote · 3 hrs/day
100%
Profile
Track · HR RecruiterActive
Track · HR OperationsActive
Founder referenceEarned
RecruitmentOnboardingPerformance+4 skills
3live applications
at any one time
at any one time
A human capital platform. Join us for the long road ahead.
66,000+
Volunteers
148
Countries
200+
Tech startups helped
5+ yrs
In operation
Why HR in tech startups
People are a tech startup's greatest asset.
Early-stage startups live or die by the quality of their first team. As an HR Volunteer Professional you shape hiring, onboarding, culture and performance from the ground up, the kind of end-to-end ownership corporate roles rarely offer.
🎯
Real
Recruitment campaigns you ran and can reference, not classroom case studies.
⚡
Live
Onboarding programmes you designed and shipped for actual new starters.
📈
Proven
Performance frameworks you implemented, with outcomes you can point to.
Two ways in
Choose your track, or master both.
It's exactly how our own HR team is structured. Recruiters find and sign the right people; Operations builds the systems that help them thrive. Most volunteers start with one and grow into the other.
Track 01
See the recruiter track →
Track 02
See the operations track →
🧲
HR Recruiter
Own the end-to-end hiring of volunteers for a tech startup, from writing the opportunity to issuing the agreement.
Need analysis & workforce planning
Listings, sourcing & talent attraction
Screening, interviews & shortlisting
Offers & Volunteer Agreements
⚙️
HR Operations
Build the people infrastructure: onboarding, performance, policy and graceful offboarding that makes the team work.
Structured onboarding & 30-60-90 plans
Performance reviews & OKR/KPI frameworks
HR policy, compliance & handbooks
Offboarding, exits & alumni
Track 01 · HR Recruiter
Find, attract and recruit the right people.
Own the full recruitment lifecycle for a tech startup, from understanding the need to handing a signed agreement to Operations.
1
Need analysis
Work with leadership to map the volunteer recruitment needs for now and the next four to six months.
2
Listings
Publish Volunteer Opportunities from templates, tailored and paired with the right Pre-Qualification Questionnaires.
3
Talent sourcing
Use category and skills filters to identify, attract and engage the best-fit volunteers via direct messaging.
4
Review & shortlisting
Screen applications, run initial conversations and present qualified shortlists to leadership.
5
Interview coordination
Schedule and run interviews, gather team feedback and make sure the best-fit candidates move forward.
6
Volunteer Agreements
Issue and manage agreements. Once signed, hand over to HR Operations for a smooth onboarding.
Track 02 · HR Operations
Onboarding, performance and graceful exits.
Build the people infrastructure that helps both startups and volunteers reach a genuine win-win, develop high performers and part ways well.
🚀
Onboarding
Design and run structured plans: welcome, system access, buddy assignments and 30-60-90 day goals.
📊
Performance management
Run review cycles, set up OKR/KPI frameworks, facilitate 1-to-1s and track development goals.
📋
Policy & compliance
Draft and maintain HR policies, build employee handbooks and keep the team aligned to internal rules.
👋
Offboarding
Manage exits gracefully: knowledge transfer, exit interviews and ongoing alumni network engagement.
Your HR portfolio
Walk away with proof, not promises.
Every track leaves you with evidence employers can verify, the difference between saying you can do HR and showing that you have.
Recruitment case studies
The roles you filled, the sourcing strategies you used and the time-to-hire you achieved.
Onboarding programmes
The onboarding frameworks, checklists and welcome processes you designed and ran.
Performance frameworks
The OKR systems, review cycles and 1-to-1 templates you built and implemented.
HR policies
The employee handbooks, policies and compliance frameworks you drafted.
A founder reference
A verifiable reference from the startup founders you worked alongside.
A professional network
Connections with HR professionals, founders and operators across 148 countries.
Getting started
Start your HR career in three steps.
Three simple moves to begin building demonstrable HR experience.
1
Create your profile
Sign up, flag your interest in recruitment, operations or both, and complete every field of your Volunteer profile.
2
Match with a startup
Browse live HR opportunities and apply to the ones that fit your goals, up to three at a time.
3
Build & deliver
Join the team, own real HR responsibilities and walk away with a portfolio of demonstrable outcomes.
Success stories
Real people. Real HR results.
HR is where SkilledUp Lifers have broken into the field, relocated, and stepped up to lead.
"I had HR experience but struggled to land my first UK job as a French expat. The experience I gained here, in an English-speaking environment, helped me land a role with energy giant EDF."
Dora Blasberg
HR Professional, EDF
"An experienced solicitor moving into HR, I operated as Head of HR through SkilledUp Life. It led to my transition: I'm now a Group HR Manager looking after 200 employees across eight subsidiaries."
Ayonike Okereke
Group HR Manager
Don't wait for HR experience. Create it.
Join thousands of professionals building their HR careers through SkilledUp Life. It's free, it's remote, it's flexible, and it's real.