Photo: Alejandro Escamilla. Wikimedia Commons.
Human Resources departments are – obviously – tasked with dealing with human beings. Human beings are complex animals indeed. Therefore, the need to have some great qualities to be able to help them is a must. However, what exactly do you need as an HR professional? This guide will take you through the top qualities that you need.
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Communications Skills
HR professionals need to be able to effectively communicate and understand the needs of a great many of them. There are plenty of stakeholders that need to be effectively communicated with by HR professionals. Company executives need to be in constant contact so that their strategic vision can match the workings of the HR department. Candidates, headhunters and advertisers need to be communicated with when trying to fill a role. Employees need to be communicated with during disciplinary actions, promotions or during payroll enquiries. Overall, any job in HR is likely to be a highly communicative one. Clear, empathetic, aim-driven discussion needs to be easily achieved.
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Efficiency
Human Resources management and administration is a very time-constrained world. Companies ask a great deal of their HR teams. This can include payroll management, data analysis, hiring, termination, pensions management, tax management and a whole lot more. The ability to work efficiently is an absolute necessity in the field. HR professionals also need to know when to automate tasks in order to save time. A great deal of good HR automation software is available that eases the load placed on the shoulders of HR teams every week. Software, however, cannot solve every problem. Efficient use of this software is crucial.
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Strategic Thinking
While a great deal of Human Resources work is rather focused on the completion of individual short term tasks, this does not mean that there is no need for strategic thinking in the field. The ability to stem back and see the problems in their wider context is essential. HR teams frequently lease with other divisions of a company or its executives so as to match the aims of the department with the strategic aims of the company. The data produced by HR teams also feeds into the strategic vision of an organization as a whole. HR teams produce data about employee retention, promotion and hiring. They also produce valuable data about pay equality and wage expenditure that can help a company make long term improvements to their business model.
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Relationship Development
HR professionals need to leave the office and develop interpersonal relationships with staff from all over the organization in which they work. Employees rely, to a large degree, upon being able to call on members of the HR department when they have enquiries about payroll, promotion, discipline or any number of other things. Without good relationships, HR professionals can seem distant and appear as if they are working exclusively in the interests of their employers. Good relationships help to keep everybody cared for.
