June 24 2015 - Human resources are crucial for the efficient and smooth functioning of a company. Unfortunately an effective workforce does not appear by itself, it needs management and clear guidance. Do you feel you have what it takes to guide the development and growth of a company's human resources? Read on to see which skills are not negotiable for someone in HR.

People Skills

Thousands of CVs claim that their authors have excellent people skills, but what does that entail in the HR sector? It means that you need to be able to listen. Employees will approach you with personal problems, issues of discrimination, interpersonal conflict and many similar problems. You need to be able to listen patiently and take on board what the employee is talking about. Together with this you need to be empathetic. Try and understand the employee's problem from their point of view. You may feel that what they think of as bullying is 'a bit of fun' for example, but you need to be able to understand why in their eyes it is not.

The flip side of this is that you must be able to stand firm when it is necessary. Unfortunately in the field of human resources you will have to make tough decisions and inform employees of tough decisions made by others. Sometimes you have to be ruthless, if you cannot stand by difficult decisions and face negative reactions from others, HR may be a bad fit for you. A HR manager must be able to deal with the good and the bad.

Organisation and Multitasking

This would seem obvious, but when it comes to HR there is no room for being disorganised. You will be dealing with people's livelihood and the company's bottom line. Dropping the ball will have serious consequences. You will have a substantial to-do list, and every item needs to be tended to in good time. This means that you cannot approach it piecemeal. You must be able to keep a few balls in the air at once. Complications do not wait their turn, they demand attention and in today's economic and political environment complications are the rule not the exception. Yet even in a crisis someone still needs to sign off the salary payments!

Being Tech Savvy

In the past, advice to individuals wanting to enter the HR field may have ignored this skill. Why do you need to know computers to work with people? The world of work is constantly evolving, to the point that a company with no website might as well close its doors. This goes for employees as well, but doubly so for HR staff. With invaluable tools like XCDHR cloud HR systems available, with the possibilities of online collaboration through Google Docs or Microsoft One Note, a successful HR manager needs to know more about computers than where to switch it on!

Human resource management can be a difficult field with many ups and downs. Helping a company to reach its potential and seeing the employees you have helped makes it more than worthwhile. So if you have what it takes, HR management can be an excellent career choice.

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