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Human Resource Management as a Profession

Profession of Human Resource Management and Development (HRM & D), call it by any name -
HR Operations, HR-Generalist, Recruitment, Talent Management, Training and Development,
Employee Relations, Industrial Relations, Organization Development, Performance
Management or Compensation and Benefits...they all come under the umberala of HRM & D. So,
let me start with one question for HR Professionals across the globe, why you joined HR
Profession? Was it your first choice or you joined because you didn't had any other choice? I
like to ask the HR aspirants, why they want to join this profession? What do they think is the
skill required to enter into this profession and excel in this profession? Is it that anybody or
everybody can join this profession and there are some qualities that one must posses before
even thinking of joining this profession? Recently we had discussion that many people hate HR,
so what you have in you…as a professional that people should love you and this profession.

These and many more similar questions just stormed into my mind and I thought of discussing
these questions with you. Let's start with a set of skills which, I think a HR Professional should
posses, first do be in this profession and secondly to excel in this profession
.
Why should you join HR Profession? Who should join?

One should join HR profession, if they have any of the following qualities:

1) You are very good in legal aspects particularly Labour Laws. You have thorough knowledge
about various provisions of Labour Laws, Various forms associated with those laws and
implications.

2) You are excellent in Database Management and can Generate N number of reports in just
fraction of seconds.

3) You are very good with Number- statistical tools, Mathematical Formulae, Income Tax
Provisions (particularly those related to Salary), Costing (Cost Analysis).

4) You have a sharp eye for recognizing the talent, talent identification, talent management
and talent development. (Just like Bhuvan did in movie Lagan - Oscar Nominated Movie)
5) You are great negotiator and can negotiate a best deal with management and employees
(Read it as Trade Unions)

6) You are an excellent motivator and can motivate any person to get best out of him. You have
a talent to motivate and inspire a non-performer in such a way that over a period of time that
person gets counted in the high-performers of your organization and starts getting rewards for
his performance.

7) You are a great strategist. You can think like "Chankaya"; you are clever "Birbal" (Both are
characters from Indian History) and an Cajole people like Lord Krishna (A mythological
Character)
8) You are much matured. You don't think from your heart but you are empathetic. You are not
emotional but can understand the way people think. You can solve any work related or
professional problem of any of your employee, without getting carried away.

9) You are great in crisis management. If there is any incident or accident in the organization;
if there is any rumour in the organization or any crisis…you can ensure that a minimum
possible damage is caused…keeping in mind the interests of the organization and its people.

10) You have deep knowledge about various industries. You are like a knowledge hub. You
know all about who's who in the field; business models; success stories (case studies) and best
practices being adopted by different companies in different industries.

11) You are not a great leader but an excellent leader, who can inspire their team and can get
best out of them. No one wants you to be Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela but yes, you
need to be like Ricky Pointing or Steve Waugh (Cricket Captain of Australia ) or like Hansie
Cronje (Former Cricket Captain of South Africa) or like Saurav Ganguly (Former Cricket Captain
of India).

12) They are life long learners. They never think that…it's enough. They keep on learning…new
HR related Techniques, HR Strategist, about new-new businesses etc.

But, why people join this profession?


I spoke to few people, those who are freshers or who are just pursuing their MBA's with
specialization in HR and they mentioned that they want to be in this profession because it is a
"Tension Free Profession".

Most of the females join this profession for following reasons:


a) Of course they want to work and this is the only "decent job" in corporate world which,
gives them respect and dignity.
b) They don't want to join "field jobs" (Marketing).
c) They hate mathematics so don't like finance and
d) This is the only profession where time suits them…as per the family needs and restrictions.

What others think about this profession?

1) "Oh, your job is not that difficult. What you people does, anybody can do and for that you
don't even need MBA. Even a graduate can do this job.

2) "Oh, ok, so you job is that Na…which involves filling so many forms, maintaining files and
settling the claims".

3) "Ok, so you give the salary"

4) These days HR is a Synonym of recruitment. Tell anybody that you are in HR and they will
reply, "Oh, ok so you are a recruiter".

5) There was one CEO (my friend) looking for HR Manager for his company (He is a CEO of one
IT company, where they have 150+ employees) and he asked me to help him in finding a right
person. They one day he said, "Sanjeev, I have dropped the idea of hiring a HR-Manager,
Admin guy is doing the "HR Work" and he is handling it in a better manner. Now the things are
running smooth and I don't want to complicate the process by hiring a HR Manager. Earlier, I
had one HR Manager and at that time my organization was in mess".

Regards
Sanjeev Sharma

About Author
Dr. Shailesh Thaker renowned management guru, human potentialist, philosopher, author and motivator in
India, offers HR/HRD Training, Leadership Workshops, Management Training, CEO Training and business
consulting services through Knowledge Inc

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