A professional who manages a company's most valuable asset

Contents:

• A profession that is changing modern business.
• What does an HR manager do?
• Soft and hard skills
• Ethical dilemmas of an HR manager
• How much does an HR specialist earn? Prospects for the profession
• Useful resources from the editors of Skillbox.by

A profession that is changing modern business

In the last couple of decades, and the pandemic has spurred this process, the usual idea of ​​​​the organization of the work process has changed. Gradually, the strict attachment to the workplace began to disappear. And if this is not manufacturing or the service sector, then employees can now work remotely from home or even while on the seashore. At the same time, today the emphasis is increasingly not on control, but on freedom of action. The main thing is not the time spent in the office, but the result. And such trends are capturing not only tech companies, but other businesses as well.

On the one hand, this approach makes employees happier. Work is no longer a place where we suffer and exchange our time for money. It is a hobby that we want to spend our efforts on. People who are passionate about their work can solve any, even seemingly impossible tasks.

On the other hand, in such conditions it is more difficult to monitor efficiency. Even the most passionate geniuses are susceptible to procrastination—the tendency to put off important tasks until later. Some might call it laziness, but in reality, this problem can stem from a lack of motivation, overload, or fatigue.

And in conditions when business processes are becoming increasingly complex, when it is necessary to attract people with different qualities and professional skills to work on a single project, an HR manager helps select personnel, maintain their motivation and personal effectiveness.

Who is an HR manager?

The abbreviation "HR" is an abbreviation for the phrase "Human Resources." An HR manager is a specialist who manages human resources.

There are many myths about HR. Some consider a specialist to be an advanced personnel officer. They say that he fills out paperwork, registers new employees, makes vacation schedules, but uses modern technologies when searching for talent and assessing their qualifications. Others consider HR to be an HR psychologist who, in addition to paperwork, helps resolve conflicts within the team and organizes corporate events and team building activities.

But ultimately, HR is a specialist who builds a system for recruiting employees and manages HR processes. This is creative work, but with an analytical component. It requires identifying talent in ordinary candidates, being able to interest them, and sometimes even persuading them to leave their competitors. HR is responsible for motivating and developing employees, seeking ways to optimize staffing, improve conditions for the company's employees, and create a comfortable environment for each of them. As for paperwork, this is the secretary's job.

What does an HR manager do?

The tasks of an HR manager may differ depending on the company and business processes. Somewhere, the HR department consists of one person who is responsible for working with documents, recruiting and developing personnel. In other companies, a separate specialist is assigned to each task. Therefore, let's consider the responsibilities that an HR manager may encounter in the course of work as a whole.

Recruitment and recruiting

Recruitment is the formation of a personnel selection system, and recruiting is the selection of specialists for a vacant position. In large companies, two separate specialists are responsible for this area—a researcher and a recruiter. But often, especially if the company has a small staff and there is no turnover, an HR specialist takes on both tasks.

A researcher analyzes the labor market: compares offers, determines employee expectations, formulates their own offer, and identifies recruiting platforms. For example, they can place ads in a newspaper or on an online job board, run ads on Facebook or LinkedIn, contact a candidate through an online community, apply to an online school or university, or study posted vacancies on specialized portals. When suitable candidates appear, the recruiter reviews their applications, contacts them, and conducts interviews. If a specialist with specialized knowledge is needed after the entrance interview, the specialist connects the potential employee with the responsible manager.

Hunting

When a company needs a top manager, an experienced developer, a teacher, a scientist, or another specialist with expert knowledge in a specific field, searching through job boards or selecting students at universities and online schools will not yield the desired result. In such a situation, it is necessary to poach personnel from competitors, that is, to hunt. Some companies prefer to hire a headhunter for this task. But often, this function can be performed by an HR manager.

The HR manager searches for a specialist for a vacant position, assesses their prospects at their previous place of work, and, based on this information, formulates an offer and agrees with management, contacts the right person, and convinces them to join the company. The argument may be not only a higher salary, but also career development prospects, a more flexible schedule, a large research budget, and freedom of action.

If the company already has valuable personnel, HR, on the contrary, counteracts job hunting. And its task is to build good relationships with specialists, create comfortable conditions, and promptly recognize the actions of competitors.

Compensation & Benefits

In short, this is the calculation of salaries and bonuses. An HR manager, and sometimes a separate C&B specialist is responsible for this area, must understand how much an employee is worth in a particular position and find a balance between employee expectations and saving the company's budget.

A C&B manager studies the labor market and determines the conditions under which specialists agree to work in a particular position, and makes an offer. Moreover, it may include not only the actual salary, but also bonuses in the form of premiums, housing rental compensation, insurance payments, increased vacation, etc. The responsibilities also include the formation of payroll and budget.

Personnel records

In large companies, the HR officer or HR secretary is responsible for this, and in small firms this responsibility falls on HR.

He concludes employment contracts, maintains personal records, registers employees in accordance with labor legislation, makes entries in work books, etc.

Adaptation

After hiring, a new employee needs to adapt. A recruiter or other HR employee helps with this. He or she introduces the newcomer to the job, sets goals, explains job responsibilities, may conduct welcome training, assign a mentor, or organize additional training for the intern. For some positions, it is important to create conditions that will help a specialist to reach their maximum potential.

Employee Career Development

One ​​of the important tasks for a business is to monitor the performance of its staff and develop them professionally. In many large companies, a dedicated specialist, a Career Adviser, is responsible for this. They advise employees on career issues and help them create a career development plan. But this area falls under the heading of HR management and is included in the list of HR functions.

The HR manager conducts assessments, personally communicates with employees, and identifies strengths and weaknesses. Based on the collected data, he or she determines who can be promoted, who needs to improve their skills or take retraining courses, and which employees should be let go. He organizes professional development courses: selects an educational program, finds an expert to conduct a master class, or selects training materials for specific specialists.

People Management

Any company is not just individual employees, but a team that must work together. Traditionally, HR is responsible for a good microclimate within the company and the personal motivation of personnel. In some organizations, these responsibilities are performed by a separate specialist – the People Partner. They resolve conflicts, conduct team building activities, motivate individual employees, and ensure that each specialist feels comfortable working. For example, he can negotiate special working conditions with management (flexible hours, the opportunity to leave work early to pick up children from school, etc.), an additional bonus, and other incentives.

A People Partner is more than just a psychologist and event organizer. He or she acts as an assistant to employees, helping to resolve organizational issues and ensure comfortable working conditions.

Dismissal

This is also an important part of the job, and no less responsible. Parting with an employee is often more difficult than hiring. And the HR manager's job is to ensure that everything goes amicably. He or she ensures that the law is not violated, all formalities are observed, and the employee receives the required benefits. Some companies take full responsibility for employees even after they leave. Searching for vacancies, writing letters of recommendation, and, in some cases, negotiating are also HR's responsibilities. The manager maintains dismissal statistics, monitors turnover, and analyzes the reasons for employee departures.

Soft and hard skills

HR manager is a relatively new profession, and a professional standard has not yet been fully formed for it. For some vacancies, employers require education in one of the following areas: sociology, psychology, HR management. Or they require any higher education. But many companies focus not on a diploma, but on personal qualities and professional skills. Let's consider the main ones.

Soft skills:

• Communication skills.An HR manager is, first and foremost, a recruiter. And his main job is communicating with people: job seekers and employed specialists.
• A propensity for analysis. This skill will help when calculating the payroll and analyzing proposals.
• Strategic thinking. HR is responsible for personnel development and recruitment strategies in general. Sometimes you have to make a choice: poach a valuable specialist from competitors or develop a talent from scratch.
• Stress resistance and diplomacy.These qualities will come in handy when resolving conflicts, firing employees, or politely turning down applicants who are not a good fit.
• Organizational skills.The HR specialist is responsible for organizing corporate events, team building activities, and refresher courses. Negotiates with experts, teachers, and company management when budget negotiations are needed.

Hard skills:

• Knowledge of the Labor Code. Necessary if HR performs the duties of a personnel officer and is engaged in the registration of employees.
• Basics of working in "1C: Salary and Personnel", accounting. Necessary for specialists who are engaged in personnel records, payroll calculation and C&B management.
• Personnel assessment methods: questionnaires, competency matrix, etc.
• Fundamentals of psychology and conflictology, knowledge of modern methods of motivation development.
• English. An optional but useful skill — necessary in IT companies where employees are selected from different countries.

Ethical dilemmas of an HR manager

Recruiters and HR managers often face ethical dilemmas. And to solve them, in 2007, the international SHRM community formed a code of ethics. Let's look at the main ethical challenges that HR may face in their work.

• Professional responsibility.The HR specialist's task is to find personnel who will fill a specific position or create value for the business. Sometimes it is impossible to find a specialist who is exactly right for the position, so a dilemma arises. This is more relevant for recruiting consultants and recruiting agencies - to refuse a fee or recommend a not entirely suitable person.
• Ethical leadership. An HR manager is the link between the staff and the management and shareholders. On the one hand, he is responsible for the well-being of the employee and must find an approach to him. On the other hand, his task is to help develop the business and take into account the interests of the company owners. The HR manager must be able to find a compromise that will take into account the interests of the parties.
• Non-dissemination of information. An HR specialist has access to personal information: passport data, special working conditions, salaries, bonuses. A manager needs to be able to separate personal grievances from work and not share confidential information about employees.
• Poaching employees when changing jobs.When moving to a new company, there is a temptation to poach employees about whom HR knows literally everything. This is considered a violation of ethics, and some companies even include a prohibition on such actions in their contracts.
• Discrimination.The HR manager must act exclusively in the interests of the company, look only at professional qualities, and not discriminate based on gender, age, nationality, or past grievances.

As for hunting or poaching employees from other companies, this is not considered a violation of ethical standards. The recruiter only makes an offer, the employee himself decides whether to stay in the company or not. And this is a good mechanism for protecting the interests of employees. If the company neglects working conditions, it will lose valuable personnel.

How much does an HR specialist earn? Prospects for the profession

In a highly competitive environment, the rule "personnel is everything" is relevant. And the more complex the business processes, the greater the influence of personnel competence and a good microclimate within the team. Requirements for the quality of personnel selection are increasing along with the advent of new technologies, increased competition, and the increasing transition to a post-industrial society. Therefore, the role of the HR manager in business development will continue to grow.

The contribution that high-quality recruitment makes to business development is clearly evident in the level of HR managers' salaries. According to the service rabota.by, the salary of a junior manager is $350-667 per month. Experienced specialists can expect an income of $700 to $1,350, while seniors with management experience can earn up to $2,200.

Large companies have huge departments that search for and select candidates even for simple positions like secretary or administrator, develop and motivate personnel, and find an approach to each specialist. Small businesses, such as beauty salons, startups, and retail stores, where paying a full-time recruiter or HR manager isn't cost-effective, prefer to outsource recruiting, development, and motivation strategies to consulting firms or freelance consultants.

As for career prospects, an HR manager can join a large company and eventually rise to the rank of HR Director. They can also open a recruiting agency or begin providing services as a consultant. A specialist can choose a specialized focus—developing as an expert in job hunting or employee motivation. The services of such specialists are highly valued, with fees sometimes several times higher than those of regular HR professionals. As an alternative career development option, you can consider retraining as an agent who would sell the services of various experts, writers, show business stars or athletes.

Useful resources from the editors of Skillbox.by

To become an HR manager, you can get a higher education in the field of "personnel management", and as an alternative, you can consider distance learning courses. In both cases, the editors of Skillbox.by recommend paying attention to the relevance of the curricula and the opportunity to gain practical experience. And to get to know the profession better, we have collected useful resources for you.

Literature:

• Harvard Business Review "Rethinking the Role of HR";
• Ilya Butler "HR Marketing: How to Make Your Company a Dream for All Candidates";
• Timothy Clark and Bruce Blackstone Hazen "Business Models for Teams";
• Maxim Batyrev "Difficult Subordinates. Practice of Managers";
• Tim Sackett "Tools of Powerful Recruiting";
• Kurshat Ozench, Margaret Hagen "Rituals for Work".

Blogs:

• peopleforce.io/ru/blog — blog of the platform for cloud solutions for HR management;
• hurma.work/ru/blog — blog of the platform for HR automation;
• /www.socialtalent.com/blog — a blog of an American recruiting agency that selects personnel for large corporations and technology companies;
• booleanstrings.com — a recruiter's personal blog with tips and practical examples;
• www.hrbartender.com - recruiter's blog.