How to kick start your HR career in five ways July 16, 2018

How to kick start your HR career in five ways

What is HR?

The HR department is a group of people who work for a company or organisation that are responsible for the welfare and wellbeing of the other employees that work there. They are also responsible for hiring fresh new talent to the business and overseeing managing the organisations human capital.

The HR department have always been seen as the most important department of any company and hold a very high standing. The department will work closely with senior managers and directors to find a way to save the business money. They might curb excessive spending by creating plans to trim the workforce management costs, this can include getting better health care coverage for the staff.

They will intensively study the labour market out there to see if the salaries being offered to existing and new employees are competitive and realistic. The human resource team are especially helpful if the company is small or a non-profit organisation where there are excessive budget constraints.

In a company with many different diverse personalities and work styles, conflict amongst employees is not uncommon. HR managers are usually specially training through HR management courses to deal with conflict between two employees or manager and employee. They work methodically to resolve the issue to restore the positive working relationship.

The HR team are usually enrolled on human resources courses twice a year; this is to ensure that they are fully up to date with all the new regulations. Every new employee that takes a position in the HR department has to make sure that they have a variety of hr courses under their belt.

Here are a few ways you can kick start your HR career:

Firstly you will need to get experience; this can be hard and frustrating but don’t be disheartened by a few “no” answers. You will need to show the company that you really want to learn, ask if you can shadow a HR manager to get experience of their day to day tasks. Companies rarely say no to free labour.

Always be on the lookout for junior positions in the HR department. This will help you get experience and progress on to a more senior role. When approaching the vacancy ensure that your CV is clear and concise also ensure that you include a cover letter explaining why you would like this job. Generic cover letters might be pushed aside or not looked at.

There is a misconception that to get a role as a HR professional you need to solely be a people person to secure the role. As this is a part of the role, you also need to be mindful, diligent and tactful so you are able to deal with stressful situations. This will help you with the correct judgements of people and suggesting where improvements can be made.

When applying for a HR position make sure that you speak the HR language, this applies to the different titles within the department as different job titles mean different responsibilities. For example an hr executive and hr analyst do very different things.

Ask your employer whether they have any paid training to become part of the hr department. Many employers can help you to switch departments and pay for the training to make this possible to ensure you have the right skills. You will need to be a motivated individual to make sure you take advantage of the opportunity.

Want to join the HR department? Find out more about the human resources courses available at London TFE.