I worked until recently for the Canadian Diabetes Association, a national nonprofit. We have a minimal HR department, and used to have regional departments of Volunteer Managers (an HR-type position). However, lately, we've been developing something called a VEST, which is a team made up of complete volunteers who take over all of the HR functions. Most of the people on it are HR graduates who have apparently not found jobs, and are willing to do this for experience -- kind of like an internship, where you work for free and get something to put on your resume.
I don't have much to conclude from this other than that HR is a field where people don't have a lot of leverage when applying for professional positions, there must be a great deal of competition.