How to Become a Human Resource Manager: Education and Career Roadmap
Becoming a good HR manager requires some special knowledge or technical skills. This job encompasses various functions and responsibilities that affect the overall results of the company. In this article, we are going to talk about what it takes to become a pro-human resource manager. The tips and recommendations we outlined will be effective for beginners and for the professionals who expect a career move.
Qualification as a key to success in HR career
An HR manager will hardly find a proper candidate for a certain position if he does not have enough qualification. The matter is that the process of finding a perfect candidate is more than just checking resumes. An HR manager needs to interview a person to define his strong and weak sides, the real level of skills and professionalism. Besides, he needs to know how to train new employees, how to keep the sustainable level of loyalty, how to develop cross-discipline workshops that would be effective for all employees.
What roles does HR have?
As a rule, the HR manager embraces various positions in one. Frequently, he is a recruiter, HR executive, relation manager, communication manager, and event manager in some cases. He must be great with time management, people management, and have perfect organization and communication skill. Moreover, he must understand the specifics of his industry. For example, if he works in IT, he must know how React.js differs from C#.
Requirements for different HR positions
It goes without saying that requirements to HR trainee and HR executive are different. For a beginner, it’s enough to get a proper education, while executive managers need to have extended experience in hiring different kinds of employees. It’s important for them to get certificates that prove their area of expertise.
Education for HR managers
Some think that to become a human resource manager, it’s enough to get at least some higher education. It is possible to become an HR manager even getting a bachelor degree in logistics or computer sciences. Moreover, it will apply some benefits to your job, as you will be able to estimate the skills of the candidates more effective.
Most relevant degrees for HR managers
However, if you to succeed with a career in human resources, it will be better to get a relevant education. In this way, you will get to know everything about labor management, employee training and development, and other issues. Besides, you will get acquainted with different legal issues that are applied to your job as well as some financial details to work with people in an effective way.
Degree in human resources
Talking about HR managers, we should point out Human Resources departments and faculties. Still being a college or university student, you will be able to apply for a trainee position at one of the companies and practice your skill. It will be a huge advantage for you when you start to look for a job
However, Human Resources is not the only department that you may pay your attention to.
Degree in business
Knowledge of business processes is priceless as an HR manager needs to know to hire employees. Most of them still act intuitively when it comes to solving business issues. Professional education in business gives a proper understanding of statistics and accounting, so in case you are working on a startup, you can additionally perform the functions of accounting manager. You can always choose business administration, especially if you are interested in paperwork more than in direct communication with candidates.
Other departments
Management is a perfect choice for everyone who wants to understand how to manage different processes, finances, and people. Economics, Finance, and Marketing also relate to Human Resources, so that this education won’t be the worst decision.
Main requirements for education
The only requirement for education is getting at least an associate’s degree. However, it will be better if you get at least a bachelor degree. Please note that even if you get a doctorate it won’t help you to get some significant results in your career.
Also, do remember that a degree is not enough to move up the career ladder. For human resource manager, as well as for any other specialist, it’s vitally important to attend different workshops, get different certificates, etc.
How to build a career in human resources?
Academic background is great for your career, but if you are intended to reach significant results, you are to keep working on your skills.
Develop interpersonal skills
What makes you a great human resource manager? First of all, this is an interpersonal skill. Speaking about this skill, we should concentrate on the ability to communicate clearly both with the individuals and groups. As an HR manager, you need to interact with different types of people regularly, and you need to know how to find an approach to them.
Learn to ask questions
Besides, you need to know how to ask questions properly and how to analyze the answers. You will hold a huge number of interviews, and each candidate will have different answers even to the most common questions. If you don’t know how to analyze them, it will be almost impossible for you to build clear communication and define which candidate is better for a certain position.
Improve your presentation skills
For a head hunter, it’s crucially important to have excellent presentation skills. For example, while searching for the candidates, you are to know what to attract them to the position.
Make your management skills perfect
Management skills are important for everyone indeed, and it will be hardly possible to become a great human resource manager if you do not have them. First of all, you need to know how to organize your time properly. Some days, you will have several interviews, and you are to understand how to settle time for them. Secondly, you need to know how to manage people during the process of recruiting and afterward.
Keep everything under control
Organization is another skill that will make you a great human resource manager. It will be better to use some online planners. You should also create a list of prospective candidates organized in such a way, you can use it prior to searching candidates in LinkedIn or job markets. Proper organization will help you use your time and resources more effectively, and you will be able to make the next career move quicker.
Working in human resource is more than just having some basic knowledge on cooperation and communication with people. You really need to work hard to be able to organize your activity, find candidates quickly, and keep a great atmosphere in a team. Of course, everything comes with time and practice, but if you want to become an HR executive faster, you should definitely apply some efforts in your personal development.
Author’s Bio:
Kevin is a professional educator and a private tutor with over 8 years of experience. He is also a content writer for various blogs about higher education, entertainment, social media & blogging. During his off time, Kevin enjoys traveling and cooking. Feel free to connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin & Google+.
Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-of-human-hand-327533/
