Transitioning from HR Consultancy to Generalist: What Skills Do You Need for the Shift?

I would like to know if one can shift from HR consultancy to an HR generalist profile. What are the skills required to get into a generalist role?

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Yes, it is possible to transition from HR consultancy to an HR generalist profile. To make this shift successfully, individuals should possess a strong foundation in HR principles and practices. Some essential skills required for a generalist role include:

1. Employee Relations: Ability to manage employee relations effectively, including conflict resolution and performance management.

2. Recruitment and Selection: Experience in sourcing, screening, and selecting candidates for various roles within an organization.

3. Training and Development: Understanding of training needs analysis, designing training programs, and facilitating learning initiatives.

4. HR Compliance: Knowledge of labor laws, regulations, and HR best practices to ensure legal compliance within the organization.

5. Communication Skills: Strong verbal and written communication skills to interact with employees, managers, and external parties.

6. Analytical Skills: Ability to analyze HR data, identify trends, and provide insights to support decision-making.

7. Organizational Skills: Capable of managing multiple tasks, priorities, and deadlines efficiently.

By acquiring these skills and showcasing relevant experience, individuals can successfully transition from HR consultancy to an HR generalist role.

It's not a tough bridge to shift from HR consultancy to an HR generalist profile. HR consultancy includes the main responsibility of recruiting and filling positions ASAP. An HR generalist profile is significant, encompassing almost every activity in the HR field, which is as dynamic as the ocean. Every day, you learn something new in this field. Since HR is related to human psychology, it is a challenging job. An HR generalist profile involves recruitment as one of its important parts, but the key responsibilities are much greater than in consultancy. Essentially, an HR generalist performs all the responsibilities of the HR field, from day-to-day operations to making significant decisions related to organizational growth.

Key Responsibilities of an HR Generalist

Some key responsibilities of an HR generalist are as follows:
- Manpower planning and recruitment
- Maintaining an updated employee database
- Issuing all letters from joining to exit
- Conducting induction, training, and employee development
- Performance management
- Managing employer-employee relations, including engagement activities, handling grievances, and collective bargaining
- Creating and ensuring the disciplined implementation of policies within the organization
- Providing employee counseling and ensuring safety and welfare
- Overseeing all activities such as compensation and benefits, leave management, and full & final settlement
- Organizational development
- Ensuring compliance with all statutory laws, including labor laws and other applicable acts for different types of organizations.

This is not an exhaustive list; there are other Key Result Areas (KRAs) that you can explore on CiteHR. I hope this information is helpful.

Regards,
Renuka Prashar
Chandigarh

That's really good, Ms. Renuka. Very appreciating, but there are some facts we can't ignore before discussing the HR Generalist Profile.

First, I want to know something about you, Mr./Ms. HR_87, about your qualifications and other experience, which is really important for this because just working with a consultancy, one can get involved in HR and needs more basic HR skills and knowledge.

For example, a person who has no relevant experience and no direct concern can work with an HR Consultancy but can't obtain the basic HR skills needed to understand the HR Generalist Profile.

If you have basic HR education and are working there but want to continue your career as an HR professional, you have to acquire more HR skills by doing an HR course and need to strengthen your HR knowledge and understanding of their functions, which will enhance your skills.

HR Generalist Profile

At the HR Generalist profile, one has to work with every function of HR. One needs to keep themselves updated and play a very important and bridging role for an organization. They are characterized by their involvement in -- and knowledge of -- a wide variety of functions and divisions within HR. On any typical day, the HR generalist may renegotiate with a health benefits broker, determine if positions should be classified as exempt or non-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act, open recruitment, answer questions about medical leave options, and testify at an unemployment insurance hearing. The generalist is a jack-of-all-trades who can administer any aspect of HR.

Thank you so much for your valuable information. I am currently working with a consultancy but want to shift into a generalist role. It's been 6 months now, and I have completed my MBA in HR in the 2011 batch. It would be very helpful if you could suggest to me how I can make this move?

Thank you for your assistance.

Best regards,

Thank you so much for your valuable information. I have an MBA in HR from the 2011 batch. I have been working for the last 6 months in a consultancy, but now I want to shift into a corporate HR role, specifically in Generalist HR. If you could suggest some additional courses, it would be a great help.

Regards

First of all, thank you, Mr. Anil, for the detailed and impressive elaboration.

Hr_87, as you mentioned that you are an MBA in HR, I believe it may not be that difficult for you to shift from consultancy to a generalist profile. However, besides that, I would like to mention, as explained earlier, a Generalist role is all about hardcore HR. Therefore, initially, you will have to start as an Assistant HR Executive/HR Executive in a firm, which may or may not be a consultancy, where you are expected to handle not just recruitment but all the activities mentioned above.

So, you need to ensure that it is an executive profile and not just a recruiter profile. It would be a better option if you work for some time under someone's guidance to gain practical knowledge of all aspects. There are numerous online and part-time courses that offer comprehensive practical training for a Generalist profile, such as Asiaweb Media Training or HR House, among others. You can opt for a course that provides good guidance. These courses are part-time and follow a batch system. You are required to attend classes for 2-3 hours either daily for one month or every Sunday for 3-4 months, depending on the course duration. Further details can be found online. These courses are specially tailored for HR professionals and cover almost every area of HR.

Regards,
Renuka Prashar
Chandigarh.