In Human Resource (HR), you’ll have to master the different types industries and their practices.
Possessing a great set of practical skills and a broader understanding of these areas will get you to hire the right people.
We’ve gathered the 5 most in-demand skills for you to master:
1. Effective Communication
Look at it this way, you’ll be the central point of contact for internal and external affairs. One moment you’ll be calling potential candidates and in another moment you’ll be speaking to employees from different departments. It’s all about how well you can respond and use the right words in any given situation.
Let’s say you’re currently conducting an exit interview, of course there will be a suitable level of sensitivity involved. If not you might just come off as being rude and prevent them from returning to the company in the future.
Your job is to be that friend where anyone can come to you when they need a listening ear. Remember, you’re also the ‘face of the company’ when it comes to hiring and recruiting new employees, so the last thing you want to do is to leave a bad image.
So if you’re able to charm your interviewer with your excellent communication in your first interview, that’s a sign that you’re on the right track.
2. Having A Strategic Mindset
Believe it or not, recruiting and hiring the right person could really affect the growth of your company. You’ll have to be able to understand what the company currently needs to plan and predict future mishaps because all of it circles back to the company’s growth. Being proactive can help you in identifying possible problems early and preventing them from growing.
Besides thinking about the company’s growth, you’ll also have to think about managing the growth. Managing 30 employees won’t be the same as 300 employees. Here’s where you’ll need strategize and come up with the most effective plan that works well with a large group.
3. Event Planning and Coordination
This may sound unexpected but HR will often find themselves centre of company events. They’re known to be the go-to team when it comes to planning and organising employee engagement initiatives.
These are some of the things that HR has to plan for:
- Company lunches/dinners
- Onboarding
- Trainings
- Company trips
- Holiday parties
- Team building exercises
- Recruitment drives
HR should be able to gather supplies, create a schedule, and manage the overall event. Proactive HR planners would have a post-mortem meeting and gather feedback on what was done right and wrong. This information could be use to make the process of planning an event a little smoother in the future.
4. Cultural Awareness
HRs are the tone-setters when it comes to the company’s culture. It is their responsibility to create a safe space for each and every one of their employees to open up and express themselves without judgement. With that being said, it is crucial to treat all employees equally with respect. This definitely leave a positive impact on the company’s culture.
For large or international companies, these cultural differences will have an impact on how you hire, retain, and promote employees. When it comes to evaluating people, there is also a difference in communication. For instance, Israelis, Russians, and Dutch people are straightforward, but Japanese and Southeast Asian countries are far more indirect.
5. Crisis Management
Where do you go when you want to talk about your pay check? HR.
Who do you talk to when you feel uncomfortable about a situation? HR.
There’s a problem with your employee contract? Ask HR.
You can already tell that HR is every company’s Control Centre.
A perfect example would be when the COVID-19 pandemic came and everyone didn’t know what to do. HR are the ones who planned and made the Standard Operating Procedures of what you should and shouldn’t do in the office to keep everyone safe. They are listening to their employees’ feedbacks about the whole COVID situation and would try their best to come up with a plan to satisfy everybody’s needs.
Knowing how to deal with people in specific situations properly and smoothly is extremely crucial for anyone who’s interested in a career in HR.