Some people enter Human Resource management by design others, including myself, by luck.
If luck is not on your side yet, the management did not entrust you with the new role in in-house HR, you need to do something to impact your ability to work in HR field.
With solid experience in operations, but little to no formal education in HR and no experience in HR, this is what you can do:
* Try to take on additional tasks in your current job that take you in the HR direction. Make your workplace (boss and HR person) aware that you are interested in an HR role. Maybe there are ways the departments can share you. You can support HR Manager in a component of Human Resource management, like training, e.g. orienting new hires, preparing their training plan, conducting training sessions; or recruiting, e.g. scouting talent in social media, engage with users to recruit talent, conducting screening interviews.
* Consider taking a sabbatical to do a HR internship abroad, there are companies out there who paid will surely find you a placement.
* Consider taking up a voluntary HR assistant job with a local nonprofit organization in your neighborhood.
* Make your current skills and tasks relevant to HR. Don't expect your prospective employer to connect the dots in your CV. Get the support of a decent CV writer to take your current experience and make it sound useful in an HR department. There are many skills needed in HR department - project management skills, analytical and problem solving skills, (internal) customer orientation, excellent verbal and written communication skills, with an emphasis on tact and diplomacy.
* Look at niche job boards to find specific openings for HR professionals. Read the job ads carefully. Some companies look specifically for HR staff with experience in operations.
* Apply for term jobs (fill in for a person on sabbatical or maternity leave). These are usually not attractive to HR professionals with linear CV, so the competition might be not so strong.
* Inform your network on Xing, LinkedIn and even Facebook about your desired career direction.
* Network in HR groups on social media networks and engage in discussions.
* Get a twitter account and start twitting on you insight and link your experience to HR.
* Once invited for an interview, prepare well. Be enthusiastic and turn every HR need into an opportunity you could fulfill.
* Read books, blogs, and magazines on Human Resource Management and Talent Management.
* Get a formal qualification in HR – however, do not overestimate its value.
* Do not give up hope and use every chance to put a foot in the door in HR.
Showing posts with label HR professionals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HR professionals. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Who are German HR Professionals?
Accordingly to Human Resources Manager, a German trade magazine for HR pros, one HR professional serves on average 100 employees in German companies.
By analysing data on a salary benchmarking site gehaltsvergleich.de we can understand better who German HR professionals are.
In March 2011, 308 HR professionals shared demographic information, information on their educational background and experience, as well as the employment details. Some 121 of them were male, 187 female. The average age of males was 41, of females 37.
Female are the majority of workers in HR departments in the age group younger then 44, male dominate in the age group 45+.
Males in HR department have on average higher level of education. In contrast, females attend further training and development workshops more frequently. At the same time, females completed their studies rather recently, while males are out of school for several years.
HR Professionals who have maximal five years of professional experience are mostly female (85 percent). The share of male and female among the professionals with 10+ years of experience is about the same.
Female HR professionals work more often part-time then their male counterparts. Among workers working more then 40 hours a week (most frequently 42 hour week) the share of male HR professionals is twice as large as the share of females.
Females usually work in companies with less then 500 employees. In companies employing between 501 and 999 employees, males prevail. About the same share of female and male HR professionals work at companies with 1000+ employees.
Some 70 percent of HR professionals work in small HR departments, staffed with 1 to 5 HR employees.
By analysing data on a salary benchmarking site gehaltsvergleich.de we can understand better who German HR professionals are.
In March 2011, 308 HR professionals shared demographic information, information on their educational background and experience, as well as the employment details. Some 121 of them were male, 187 female. The average age of males was 41, of females 37.
Female are the majority of workers in HR departments in the age group younger then 44, male dominate in the age group 45+.
Males in HR department have on average higher level of education. In contrast, females attend further training and development workshops more frequently. At the same time, females completed their studies rather recently, while males are out of school for several years.
HR Professionals who have maximal five years of professional experience are mostly female (85 percent). The share of male and female among the professionals with 10+ years of experience is about the same.
Female HR professionals work more often part-time then their male counterparts. Among workers working more then 40 hours a week (most frequently 42 hour week) the share of male HR professionals is twice as large as the share of females.
Females usually work in companies with less then 500 employees. In companies employing between 501 and 999 employees, males prevail. About the same share of female and male HR professionals work at companies with 1000+ employees.
Some 70 percent of HR professionals work in small HR departments, staffed with 1 to 5 HR employees.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
“There is no HR in Asia”
Since I remember, Westerners in China often complained that “there is no HR in Asia”. The statement mostly suggested lack of high caliber human resources talent, weak HR architectures and “me too” HR practices and policies. True, for many years, little investments have been made in China in upgrading HR departments. However, HR has always been of a great consideration, particularly among MNCs and companies set-up by foreigners. Additionally, senior management and company owners have always played a key role within major areas of human resources management like recruitment and selection, retention, development, compensation and staff reduction.
After spending several years in China, the phrase got however a different meaning to me. “There is no HR in Asia” pertains to mediocre managerial skills and almost non-existent support of thereof by HR. Traditionally, line managers are poorly trained in people issues. In addition, Western managers face the intercultural challenge with lack of Chinese language skills and pitiable training in cross-cultural subjects.
Finally, one misconception prevails among Chinese and Westerns executives. In their attempt to improve HR and people management they hire a HR person or a HR team to fix all corporate culture issues and make the company live by first-class people management practices. But delegating people management to human resources specialists does not work. No! No!
HR can merely equip line managers with the necessary skills and competencies to handle people management issues. HR can overtake huge part of paper work, supply tools as well as design and align practices, and only in cooperation with line managers ensure their effectiveness.
Without close relationship between HR and line management, HR cannot bring about results. HR lacks the most immediate and up-to-date information about employees competencies and performance. HR alone also lacks authority in the organizational ladder and hence they may only have little impact on employees` behavior.
In conclusion, there will be no HR in Asia, as long as line and general managers do not fill responsible for the day-to-day 'people-management' activities at their companies.
After spending several years in China, the phrase got however a different meaning to me. “There is no HR in Asia” pertains to mediocre managerial skills and almost non-existent support of thereof by HR. Traditionally, line managers are poorly trained in people issues. In addition, Western managers face the intercultural challenge with lack of Chinese language skills and pitiable training in cross-cultural subjects.
Finally, one misconception prevails among Chinese and Westerns executives. In their attempt to improve HR and people management they hire a HR person or a HR team to fix all corporate culture issues and make the company live by first-class people management practices. But delegating people management to human resources specialists does not work. No! No!
HR can merely equip line managers with the necessary skills and competencies to handle people management issues. HR can overtake huge part of paper work, supply tools as well as design and align practices, and only in cooperation with line managers ensure their effectiveness.
Without close relationship between HR and line management, HR cannot bring about results. HR lacks the most immediate and up-to-date information about employees competencies and performance. HR alone also lacks authority in the organizational ladder and hence they may only have little impact on employees` behavior.
In conclusion, there will be no HR in Asia, as long as line and general managers do not fill responsible for the day-to-day 'people-management' activities at their companies.
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