If you are thinking about the kind of career you would like to get into after school or college or are looking for a career change later in life, there can be a massive amount of choice – and this can be somewhat overwhelming.
The best approach is to first consider what sort of working lifestyle you would like. If you decide office work suits you best and you like the idea of working for a medium—to a large company, then one possibility could be human resources.
This is a vital role for all companies above a certain size with staff to care for. So, it can allow you to work in all kinds of different sectors, including IT and finance, without necessarily having to study the technical skills needed for other roles in those businesses.
Of course, HR has an entire skill set all of its own. Here are some things a good HR person will need to help you determine if it could be a good option for you. Of course, do some additional reading up on this career path and what it can offer – here are some good human resources examples for you to start with.
Good People Skills
HR is all about people, so you will need to be someone who likes talking to lots of different staff daily and is comfortable having some of the more difficult conversations that can arise in a company. HR people are often included in processes like disciplinaries and appraisals, which naturally make staff nervous. They can also be the ones who have to break it to people when redundancies are happening in the business.
This means you need to be good at the positive stuff, like offering new hires jobs and getting them settled in, which are sometimes the less pleasant parts of employment. It would be best if you were someone who could put people at ease and handle tough conversations. Many HR people in big companies have an HR glossary list to ensure they are using the right terms when communicating to avoid any confusion or mistakes made accidentally.
Good Computer Literacy
These days, most HR processes are managed using online HR software systems, which can streamline things and keep records safe in the cloud. This makes HR work a lot more efficient but means that you’ll need to be comfortable using business software packages and other IT tools in your everyday work.
Strong Organisation Skills
Much HR work is about admin and ensuring things get done on time. When staff is waiting to be repaid for their business expenses or new starters, need to be set up on systems before they can do things like time reporting, people lose motivation and become less productive. HR teams, therefore, need to be on the ball and help support the rest of the company’s personnel in doing their jobs effectively.
HR can give you a good career path up to senior management and is a vital function in most medium to large businesses – plus, there are HR consultancies you can also work for. If you think you have the right traits and skills for this job, why not start looking into your human resources career today?
