Without these skills, you will be left behind the competition. What an HR specialist needs to know in order to be in demand. What do HR managers live on?

Five tips on how to gain experience in personnel management.

1. Study to be a psychologist or teacher

I started my career as a teacher of foreign languages at a university. I am convinced that it was teaching that helped me become a good HR specialist and achieve success in my company. Therefore, one of the first pieces of advice that I can give to young professionals who want to develop in the field of personnel management is to study to be a psychologist or a teacher. At the faculties of psychology and pedagogy, you will be given knowledge on the basis of which you can grow into a class specialist.

I do not recommend immediately going to study at universities directly for a manager working in the field of personnel management, just because it is very difficult for me to judge the program, subjects in those educational institutions that announce recruitment for this specialty. I know that there are already institutes and universities that will give you the basics to work in this area, but rather this is our future. Most of my colleagues in the workshop at the moment still have a psychological or pedagogical education.

2. Don't be afraid of big companies

After you have completed your education, it is natural that you need to get a job in the HR department of a company. If your dream is a big name company, then you should know that one of the strongest stereotypes of people who are just starting to build their professional career is that they are sure in advance that they will fail. Be bold. Believe me, it is just as difficult for large companies to find specialists as for everyone else.

It is clear that no one will hire you right after the university for a position, for example, the head of the HR department, so be prepared to go to assistants or to the position of a junior specialist. So you will learn how to work with documents, prepare presentations, and perhaps acquire basic skills in the field of personnel selection (recruitment) or project management.

3. Decide whether you are a humanist or an analyst

HR professionals can be divided into several groups. Some prefer the humanitarian direction, others - analytical. Some are involved in the preparation and conduct of training, and the second, for example, budgeting, developing structures and calculating salaries, and so on. Here, initially, everything depends on the peculiarities of the mindset. After analyzing your inclinations and abilities, you will understand what you are doing better and what is worse. Your immediate supervisor can help you with this.

By the way, if you are a humanist, this does not mean that you cannot work with numbers, just the skills and abilities to work with them need to be developed. An example here is a person with a bad memory: he learns poetry in order to train it. You can do the same. You can train, for example, on all kinds of reports. While working, you will definitely understand what information is collected monthly, quarterly. Approach your manager with the initiative to consolidate reporting for him, ask him to explain to you a little how to do it and what you need to pay attention to.

4. Make the Labor Code your reference book

Labor law is mainly taught in law schools. Therefore, you must fill this gap yourself, since labor law is an area in which you must navigate quite well. You can and should contact your colleagues from the legal department of the company in any difficult case. But good specialists do not go to the legal department for the slightest provocation.

It would be great to subscribe to periodicals that will help you keep abreast of all changes in labor legislation. They also provide examples of resolving some specific situations, labor disputes. Personally, the Labor Disputes magazine, as well as cooperation with professionals in the field of labor law, helps me and my colleagues to keep abreast.

5. Get a business education

It is impossible to be a good HR specialist without understanding the main tasks and tactics of the organization in all departments. You need to get a business education. It will allow you to learn about global business practices, including in the field of Human Resources, and adopt modern working methods and the experience of leading foreign companies.

But do not forget that this is an expensive form of training and not every employer is willing to pay for it. At some point in your life, you will need to answer the question: are you ready to pay for such a program yourself?

Victoria Sidyakina
According to "Trud"

“I am a sociable person” and “I love helping others” are two reasons why HRs choose their professional path. For the start of a career, they are significant, although far from ideal.

After 30 years in HR, I have some idea of how to succeed in the profession. In the best tradition of David Letterman, here are the top 10 strategies to succeed in HR (in reverse order, of course).

10. YOU MUST HAVE YOUR VISION

Know what you want to achieve and why. Do not wait for management to determine what HR should do in the company. There are many examples, and a little research will help you navigate the wide range of options. Make it your task. Learn everything you can find, communicate with colleagues in the shop to become an expert. If you are being interviewed, clearly state your goals. If you are already working, describe every chance you have. Discuss ideas with management to get feedback and approval.

I developed a corporate culture where people wanted to work and stay. The results were three million applicants for 125,000 vacancies filled in 20 years; 11% growth in annual turnover during that period; lack of complaints and arbitration (50% of employees are union members, 50% are non-union); awarding the title of the best place to work in the United States.

9. STRATEGIC

Every large company needs an HR manager who fits into the goal system and supports it. At our company, we wanted HR to be more than just a department. This meant that employees at every level knew and understood their role in supporting the corporate culture and HR philosophy.

For example, a company wanted to build an empowered team, so we developed HR tools that managers and employees used to get HR information and perform a range of activities themselves. After training, we tracked their use and effectiveness. Having these self-service tools enabled the HR team to become a strategic partner rather than an operations clerk.

8. BECOME GREAT COMMUNICATORS

Steve Wynn taught us that the difference between a professional and a leader is the ability to communicate. You are the mouthpiece of the company's corporate culture, so try to play this role using the following tactics:

Adopt a speaker style you admire. Practice out loud and then speak up at every meeting and share what the HR team does well;

Use your skills to help others communicate more effectively at meetings, company events, and with new hires during onboarding;

Start attending meetings of leading wedding ceremonies - this kind of training will make you a good speaker.

7. GET TECHNICALLY SAVED

I believe that the use of technology will improve processes and increase efficiency. My problem was that I didn't know enough to formulate my ideas or participate in discussions. Therefore, I took courses that helped me better understand the terminology and methodology. I was never the "smartest guy in the class" but through self-education I was able to achieve my IT goals, including implementing HR information systems and recruitment systems (in collaboration with service providers we trusted).

6. BE FLEXIBLE

First, exercise healthy curiosity to find out what you didn't know. It's easy to do what you know how to do, but you need to keep up to date with what's new in HR. Set aside time online and offline to identify problems and learn best practices for solving them. Consider sponsoring business and industry meetings by your company so employees can interact with other professionals.

Second, try new things. The world is changing: the rules and principles that guided you in the past often need to be updated. How many of us have a manual that says "optional"? Isn't that old already (indeed, when was the last time you fired someone for no reason)? It's the same with arbitration: have you ever wondered why you had so many lawsuits? Often we do what we did before, but sometimes there is a better way, and who, if not HR, can offer it?

Third, be a wise host of change. The HR functions provide us with the perfect platform to learn, debate, and influence potential transformations.

A commitment to the past will not allow the introduction of the latest developments and technologies in the future. This is where an open and flexible mindset works in the hands of HR professionals. Planning - for things we want to do or for unexpected situations where things don't go as expected - that's the smart way to go.

Fourth, manage change effectively. It's one thing to find great ideas, it's another thing to implement them. Great ideas take time and effort, and someone has to do it. Learn project management best practices so you can make these changes. Know what tools are available to you, use them and take the lead in implementing your HR plans.

5. UNDERSTAND THE NUMBERS

Do you want something that costs money? It's all about budgets - and you have to fight for what you need. HR executives are often reluctant to offer programs, and generally take the initiative, because they are afraid of being rejected by the company's management. I once suggested creating a fundamentally new recruitment system - so that applicants could enter their data directly at the employment centers. The cost was high, but I was able to show in the language of numbers the return on this investment, paying back the costs in two years. Believe me, if I did not understand the calculation methodology, I would never have received the approval of the management. Everyone has budgets, but that doesn't mean you should give up without using all the tools available to champion your ideas.

4. BE A FULL PARTNER

I often hear that HR wants a "seat at the table", but this is not always justified. You must deserve it. Top management and employees should see you as a leader and a smart business person - all this is necessary for a successful career. For this:

Collaborate with each department head individually to learn about the needs and expectations of HR. Collaboration is the best way to get and implement HR ideas in an organization;

Work with each department, conduct focus groups, run pilot programs to evaluate the acceptability and usability of your ideas, and create an advisory group to contribute to the planning process;

Appoint training leaders – line managers who will take responsibility for determining what training is needed in their field, when and how it will be delivered, and track attendance and learning outcomes.

This collaboration has given our HR department a clear understanding of the context of all areas of the company and helped us understand if we are delivering what our company needs.

3. DO NOT SIT IN YOUR OFFICE

Spend more time outside of your office. Often for employees, going to HR is akin to seeing a director. Everything will be different if you visit workers at their workplaces more often. They will get to know you better, become more open to your questions, and you will get to know the problems you will have to deal with better. Besides:

Employees will appreciate your presence, and your ideas will become clearer to managers. Soon you will be seen as part of a team, not HR hiding behind regulations. You will be able to solve issues before they turn into big problems;

Create an open door policy that allows employees to express dissatisfaction with decisions, ask questions, get answers, and develop a culture of trust in the company.

2. RISK

Most HR professionals are risk averse, probably because they are not encouraged to (or not allowed to) take risks. But successful HR practitioners are aware of the need to use the opportunities available and the effect that can be achieved by doing so. For example, at TEDx last year, I talked about several alternative recruitment programs I've developed. Within their framework, work was carried out with police units and local agencies that provided services to people in difficult life situations, and a program was developed to work with those who first committed a non-violent crime. We turned to people who never imagined that they would get the opportunity to work in a casino - not just because we needed more applicants, but because it was the right thing to do.

1. INSPIRE OTHERS

The word I most often use to describe my HR style is inspiration. Most HR is associated with "rules" and all too often we think of them as the latest bureaucrats, unrelated to the real world of organizational needs. Of course, this is present in our work, but the more you inspire others to get acquainted with HR, realize and understand what it is for and what benefits it can provide, the faster you will become a recognized leader in your company, and not a gray cardinal. If you have enthusiasm, then it will be transferred to the employees of your company and will manifest itself in your corporate culture. If it is not there, then for you it will be another place of work, however, as well as for other employees. There is little fun in this, but you must understand that this is not the type of leadership that is needed in HR in our time.

Follow these 10 steps to become a more effective HR leader. Do not get hung up on their order: swap them, giving preference to more important ones. Good luck!

Translation: Olga Rybakova

David Letterman is an American comedian and host of The Tonight Show with David Letterman on CBS.

Employment at will is a principle of labor relations and one of the foundations of liberal labor laws in some countries, which means that an employment contract can be terminated by an employer or employee at any time for any reason or even without giving a reason; usually does not apply to employment contracts that specify the exact duration of their validity, and to contracts concluded on the basis of collective bargaining with a trade union.

An HR manager is a complex profession that requires not only specialized knowledge, but also the ability to build communications with people of different levels of education, social status, and temperament. A recruiter simply has to be a bit of a psychologist, analyst, marketer, PR specialist. And what other qualities and skills do you need to have in order to take place in the profession of a recruiting manager?

1. Follow business ethics

In the work of an HR specialist, one of the most important points is his position. The position of a recruiting manager can be compared to conscience. The HR function in business is responsible for the tasks set by the management, and for the legality and ethics of the labor relations on both sides in the implementation of these tasks.

It is important to understand that an HR specialist in his work must take into account both the interests of employees and the interests of the company. Often you will have to protect one side or the other. At these moments, there is no possibility of friendship with individual employees, the position of an HR specialist should be as objective as possible and comply with the company's development strategy and business ethics.

It often happens that an HR manager becomes an informal advocate for some employees, and indeed in this profession it is important to be able to build trusting relationships with employees. HR is an important auxiliary function, on the activity of which the company's success in the future depends.

2. Build trust

Both the manager and employees in an HR specialist, they should see and feel fair support and support. It is important to learn how to maintain a delicate balance, respect the personal rights of employees, and also understand that most of the information held by an HR manager is confidential.

3. Do not look for your own kind - for each task you need a certain type of people

A person is arranged in such a way that he is always impressed by people similar to him. We try to find similarities with those with whom we communicate. This is especially true of personal qualities. Personally, I made such mistakes at the beginning of my career path, I relied on sympathy. But life and experience quickly corrected this.

Choose for yourself some kind of personality assessment method for the tasks, I use DISC.

The technique will allow you to abstract from your sympathy / antipathy for candidates and objectively assess the personality of the applicant, how much he will be able to perform this or that task.

4. Don't be afraid to try new HR tools at work

Today there are great opportunities to receive information from professional magazines, on websites, and within the framework of specialized conferences, colleagues share their successful cases and company experience.

Do not be afraid to try new tools in your work, of course based on the goals that you and your unit face. Most of the tools were invented to improve work efficiency. Of course, there are risks - 80% of the tools will not take root in your company, but those 20% that take root will give 80% of your results.

5. There are no bad companies or employees, there are not suitable for each other

When selecting candidates or conducting certification, an HR specialist needs to keep the focus not only on the competence of the candidate and employee, which is an undeniably important aspect, but also on how this candidate /
the employee is ready to share the values of the company.

I often had to part with those people who did not correspond to the stage of development of the company or the tasks that the company faces. It is especially disappointing when a strong professional comes to the company and after a few months he or the employer realizes that they are not suitable for each other. But the search, interview and employment of an employee spent money and time.

6. Be flexible, adapt to the situation, take into account the capabilities of your team

In this time of constant change, in order to remain effective, the HR specialist needs to be flexible.

When the HR profession in Russia was just emerging in the 1990s, everyone was called personnel officers - both those who actually were (HR record keeping specialists), and recruiters, HR consultants, and even HR who were completely unrelated to work books. directors. Universities invited young people to study HR disciplines, voluntarily or involuntarily shaping the expectation of an early managerial career among applicants. As a result, the perception of the HR profession split in two both among students and in the professional community. Whether at this job you will fill in labor until the end of your days, or a university degree is a guarantee of obtaining the position of an HR manager and even an HR director?

In almost 30 years of development of the personnel industry and the HR profession, a lot has changed. Examples of impressive career take-offs have accumulated, new professional directions have emerged, and the work of the notorious “HR” is being transformed before our eyes under the influence of digital technologies. However, many HRs are still concerned about what they believe to be limited career opportunities and development, lack of credibility in the eyes of business and the labor market, and, for some, the threats posed by robots and automation. What are the career horizons in the family of HR professions? Which of the fears are justified, and which are caused by a lack of information?

How to become an HR specialist

In the 1990s, people with a wide variety of educations went to jobs in the HR field that were not very clear: art critics, doctors, translators, engineers, economists, PhDs. Today, there are more than a hundred universities in the country offering undergraduate and graduate programs in the specialty "Personnel Management". Here the applicant faces two significant problems:

University education in the field of personnel management is not a guarantee of future career success, unlike, for example, jurisprudence and IT.
Higher education still lacks practice.

In fact, the "educational menu" in HR is much more diverse. So, to start a career in the field of compensation and benefits, an economic or mathematical education is useful, in the field of assessment and training - psychological / pedagogical, in recruitment, a diploma in the direction in which you will select specialists - IT, marketing, finance, engineering and technical specialization. Therefore, an alternative way is very common - to get any (but certainly high-quality!) Higher education and, starting from the third or fourth year, gain practical experience. And additional / second higher education or MBA in HR can be obtained later, when you decide on your professional priorities.

Choosing to study in an HR specialty, a Russian student is often confident that upon graduation from the university he will immediately become a HR director and begin to “manage” everyone. It is good if they are helped to part with these illusions at the start. For example, at the department of personnel management of the faculty of management of the Russian State Social University, students are explained from the first year what practical experience they will have to gain before they are entrusted with managing someone. This is one of the signs of a responsible attitude of the university towards its students.

Another common variant of the erroneous choice of profession is “I go to HR because I like to communicate with people / help people” (we leave out the sad story of choosing an HR profession simply because the young talent has not yet decided on his interests). It must be understood that HR is not the identity of charity and not the labor exchange. If you want to help people, you should think about specializing in corporate social responsibility or choose a career in a state employment center.

You should not calm down for a long time, having decided on a university: you need to immediately plan the acquisition of practical experience. Interns and assistants are willingly invited and trained both in the HR departments of large and medium-sized companies from the real sector, and providers in the field of personnel services. This is the best opportunity to consciously choose a specialization and gain practical experience in the search, selection, assessment of personnel, outsourcing of accounting functions (HR administration, payroll), labor market research.

Many recommend acquiring the first experience exclusively in an international company in order to master the best global practices. However, not everything is so categorical. In the last five to seven years, the avant-garde of large Russian companies has formed, in which you can get great experience. There are such players in the telecommunications and financial sectors, retail trade and industry. The main thing is to choose a company with values close to you, a worthy reputation as an employer, and HR leaders well-known in the professional community.

What criteria for choosing an employer are important at different ages

Source: Russian studyEmployer brand Research powered by Randstad, 2017

Seven paths to a future HR career

Having established yourself as an expert in one of the HR specialties, you need to enrich your professional background with related experience: build up managerial competencies, study labor legislation and solutions in the field of automation and robotization of HR processes. For example, when selecting and evaluating employees, one should know by heart the legislation in the field of personal data processing, registration of refusals to conclude an employment contract and not discriminate against applicants for reasons not related to their business qualities. In general, qualified HR should know and be able to apply relevant legislation in practice as well as a lawyer and understand automation systems as well as a programmer.

At some point, you find yourself at a professional crossroads. It will be necessary to make a choice of further development path, for example:

Cross functional development: to work consistently in selection, evaluation, training and development. The sphere of HR is good with a variety of opportunities for horizontal development. For example, Executive Search (search and selection of managers and rare specialists) or HR analytics can be successfully dealt with for many years, and it will be very well paid. But if you are firmly committed to a managerial career in HR, you need to achieve professional heights in at least one or two areas. For example, in selection and evaluation; assessment and training; HR analytics and compensation/benefits.
Regional / project expertise: you can expand your professional horizons by working in a branch in another city; on a mass recruitment project at several production sites; in a team to launch a new career portal or automate various HR processes.
International career: adopting the experience and cultural characteristics of other countries and peoples through the field of personnel management can be a very exciting experience.
Vertical Growth: HR director career In this case, you will need to get additional education, and most importantly, go through the stage of cross-functional development, build up project expertise and gain managerial experience in business operational management.
Moving from HR to consulting if you started your career within the company, or from consulting to internal HR. It all depends on your preferences and abilities.
Organization of your business– for example, a training or recruiting startup. This path should be chosen by those who have shown entrepreneurial qualities and a desire to start their own business from the institute's bench.
Cardinal change of profession: transition to the sphere of sales, jurisprudence, marketing. Experience in HR will come in handy everywhere.

Who can become an HR director

If you have systematically developed your career, then only one step separates you from the cherished position of an HR director - the acquisition of managerial competencies: leadership qualities, strategic thinking, the ability to assemble and motivate teams of professionals. The function of an HR director is more like describing the work of a manager from other areas than HR: managing labor productivity, the system of rewards and staff costs, return on investment in human capital, optimizing the organizational structure and implementing complex information systems. It is not surprising that more and more often managers with non-core experience are appointed to the position of HR director - sales director, financial director. Experience in production, logistics, marketing or sales will help the future HR director feel confident with colleagues from business units, communicate with them in the same language - the language of numbers and performance indicators.

Of course, not a single university, or even an MBA program, produces ready-made HR directors. It is necessary to supplement your first higher education with knowledge in the field of finance, economics and project management. If you still have a need for advanced training in HR, among the programs offered in Russia, you can consider the international one, CIPD Advanced Level Diploma (a joint project of the RANEPA and Kingston University, London).

However, the best way to learn modern HR technologies is to work in companies that apply them in practice. Large corporations usually have the most advanced HR-IT systems, advanced recruitment and training programs, a culture of succession, and a structured remuneration system. It is also worth remembering that no HR director will be successful without a professional team that needs to be able to assemble, constantly train and develop.

The pinnacle of career development in HR today is not “something digital” as an end in itself, but the Chief Customer and Employee Experience Officer - the director of customer and employee experience. This is a completely new, revolutionary step in the HR career, requiring competencies and experience that are significantly different from traditional ones. You need to completely reorient your mind, cultivating an attitude towards employees as customers. And, of course, to dive deep into the world of digital technologies and social networks, where activities are shifting both in marketing products and services, and in developing the employer brand.

Seven options for managerial growth in HR

However, there are other career options:

Move to larger companies with expanded functionality. For example, corporate social responsibility is added to HR functions.
International career / projects in different countries within global corporations.
Transition to consulting. You can become a CEO at an HR consulting/training company or an associate at Executive Search.
Creation of own consulting / training company. This is where professional and managerial experience, as well as a network of contacts in business, come in handy.
Transition to education. For example, to a leadership position in a business school or in a non-profit organization.
Transition to civil service. For example, Olga Golodets moved from the position of Deputy General Director for Human Resources and Social Policy of Norilsk Nickel to the government of Moscow, and then to the government of the Russian Federation.
Building a career as a CEO. This option is recommended to be done in more than one step. First, it is worth working in a managerial position in a business, for example, heading an operating unit / branch / region. Some companies deliberately practice this kind of rotation. For example, HR director of KFC Raisa Polyakova, having worked as a commercial director of the company, a year later was appointed general director of the company in Russia and the CIS.

An HR director has a very high chance of succeeding in the role of CEO, because in an era of accelerated digital transformation, the selection of managers requires exactly the same qualities that successful HR directors possess. They are hardened by constant challenges and difficult situations in working with people, they know how to support employees in a state of uncertainty and change, they are used to carefully choosing words before voicing something to the team, they understand the company's values like no other.

Most analysts agree that robots will replace humans in routine labor activities, but will not deprive us of jobs, but will create new ones for people who have not only experience and knowledge, but also developed emotional intelligence. For those who choose a career in HR, the main challenge will be the need to learn how to humanize numbers, find an individual approach to each employee and translate machine data into information that is understandable and useful to people.