Article: What an HR course doesn't teach but you need to know

Strategic HR

What an HR course doesn't teach but you need to know

HRD isn't only about recruitments, rolling off offer letters, increments and payroll. There is a lot more to its role. What most of the HR courses teach is barely the tip of the iceberg
What an HR course doesn't teach but you need to know
 

 HR has become more strategic and talent analytics are being used to bring in the right talent

 
  1. Hiring and increments isn’t all that you are accountable for:

    Hiring, recruitments, increments etc. are a few big words of HR jargon. No doubt, courses emphasize on these points; what they do not tell you is that this isn’t all that companies expect their HR department to do. Richa Gupta, a senior HR professional working with a Telecom giant shares her experience, ‘Equipped with an MBA (HR) degree from SIMS (Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies), when I took up my first job, I was clear that HR is all about hiring, recruitments, interviews etc. That absolutely wasn’t the case. As an HR, not only am I accountable for people I bring into my organization, I am accountable for their performance, retention, engagement, employer branding and lots of other things. It’s more about people than about processes.’Even when it is about processes it isn’t mechanical at all.

  2. An HR should have a deep understanding of behaviors:

    Most of the HR strategies focus on people.To be able to recruit the right resource, to engage and motivate people, to create succession plans, to keep employees ready forany sudden change etc. it is imperative for an HR professional to understand individual responses.

    The biggest challenge with these responsibilities is that there are no fixed rules to successful people strategies; only prompt actions and deep understanding work in such situations. An SHRM research ‘Future HR Challenges and Talent Management Tactics’ clearly points out that retaining and rewarding best employees would be the greatest challenge for HR over the next 10 years. Due to these challenges companies are looking out for candidates who may shoulder these responsibilities and strategize. As much it is a personal trait and skill, it is about right training too that many courses fail to offer.

  3. Recruitment isn’t a task, it’s a race:

    Recruitment is the most important function of HR. Stiff competition in the recruitment market and the challenge to recruit the best possible candidate has kept HRD on its toes for quite some time now. HR leaders are expected to conquer this competition with speedy recruitment process. Besides, it should be cost effective, prioritized strategically and in tune with global changes. A 2010 report ‘Analytics: The new path to value’ highlighted the fact that top organizations use analytics five times more than less performing ones. In recent times, with tightening of recruitment budgets, HR has become more strategic and talent analytics are being used to bring in the right talent. To analyze and understand these changes and requirements, a keen eye on everything relevant is necessary. What’s important is that HR professionals prepare themselves for a much broader and spontaneous role rather than relying on age old practices and lessons.

  4. An HR should be ready to tackle technology challenges:

    Most of the companies are looking forward to create technology-packed work environment. More and more companies have flexible work hours and work from home options. This distributed workforce needs new-age and technology friendly systems to connect. Older systems of creating attendance sheets, absence management etc need technology upgrade. Good news is that many organizations are already working on it. Bad news is that the ones who are late will be too late. The challenge is to tap these changes before they happen and to upgrade processes and systems accordingly. The fact is that the frequency of these changes will only increase with time.

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Topics: Strategic HR, Watercooler

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