Breaking into HR: Are References Key or Do Companies Prefer Internal Candidates?

Hi friends,

I want to know the qualities to become a good HR person. To gain entry into any corporate sector, such as IT firms, are references more important or will they consider internal candidates only? I have not seen any advertisements for such positions.

Awaiting your replies.

Regards,
madhu.shivani@gmail.com

Hi Madhu,

Usually, companies prefer to hire sensitive positions through references as they feel that resources obtained through references are more reliable than those found in the market. Therefore, these positions are typically filled either through references or internal role transfers. By doing this, companies can control attrition and enhance job satisfaction.

It is also important to portray your work experience in your resume in a way that makes it stand out and get noticed. If you have significant experience, there is no need to worry as you will definitely receive a call.

Take care,
J

Hi Madhu,

HR is all about humans. The most important thing in HR is to "Value Human". An HR personnel is there to manage, develop, train, retain, etc., the manpower of the company. Some of the basic skills or traits required to become a good HR are:

- Communication
- Interpersonal relations with every level of management
- Listening skills
- Leadership skills
- Liaison
- Ready to accept challenges
- Diplomatic skills (this is very important)

Hey, guys! Feel free to add other skills too.

Regards,
Anuradha

Hi,

As Madhu said, these qualities may even be present in a marketing person, but a HR person should possess certain inherent qualities that only HR professionals can truly understand. However, the qualities listed by Madhu below are also crucial:

Communication
- Interpersonal relations with every level of management
- Listening skills
- Leadership skills
- Liaison
- Willingness to accept challenges
- Diplomatic skills (this is very important)

Regards,
Mukesh

Hi All,

In my opinion, an HR professional must possess emotional intelligence, which will help him/her tackle different situations in a work environment.

Prema

Hi guys,

I am Ratnakar. I agree with Anu, but I would like to add one more quality to it, which is HR should be empathetic.

With Regards,

Ratna.

HI MADHU,

THE FOLLOWING WOULD BE THE BASIC DELIEVERABLES,CHARACTERISTICS,KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS EXPECTED OUT OF A HR PERSON:

BASIC DELIVERABLES FOR HRD DEPARTMENT

1. Define what is “Right Person” for each of the position.

2. Develop a process which will get the “Right Persons” into the organization.

3. Recruit & Select the employees in accordance to the process.

4. Constantly mentor these employees and see to that their job related skills are developed continuously as required by the organization.

5. Keep them motivated towards Organizational Goal.

CHARACTERISTICS

1.Judgment of people's attitudes & behaviors.

2. Empathetic (share someone else's feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in their situation)

3. Earnest (sincere & serious) & committed in your work.

4. Diplomatic (Able to manage a difficult situation without upsetting anyone)

5. Change yourself according to the demand of time.

6. Strategist.( Able to forecast future, develop plans and achieve the results)

SKILLS:

1. Highly People Interactive personality.

2. Good communication & Convincing ability.

3. Strong grasping power.

4. Ability to analyze a situation & can able to resolve grievances.

5. Good Coordinating skills.

6. Good in Forecasting the future and preparing plans for it.

7. Learning & Leadership skills.

8. Motivating Skills.

KNOWLEDGE :

1. Excellent knowledge of Human Behavior.

2. Knowledge of related Laws & their procedures.

Regards,

Ravi.

In addition to all the other replies, I would also like to add that having an open mind helps an HR Manager or an Executive enhance the relationships between him/her and the employees.

HR stands for Human Resources - a general definition. However, I believe HR is more about Human Relations. If you have the heart to empathize and the mind to comprehend, you can thrive in this profession.

Ambika Kamath

Skills required for a good HR personnel are as follows:

1. Communication Skills
(i) Verbal Communication Skills: Language proficiency
(ii) Nonverbal Skills: Body Language, gestures, postures, eye contact...

2. Interpersonal Skills: Social awareness
3. Persuasive Skills
4. Empathy
5. Analytical Skills
6. Leadership qualities
7. Emotional Intelligence
8. Team Spirit
9. Problem-solving skills
10. Decision-making skills

:D

The qualities as per Anu and Ravik are 100%. But I would like to say one thing, "Every decision is good or right at the time when it is taken." So as an HR person, instead of making a good decision, it is necessary to predict the outcome of the decision.

Soumi

Everybody has given good views on qualities, character, and skills. As far as my concern, HR should be an ethical person who is balancing employer and employee. If he wants to achieve success in his career, he should play positive politics - which will satisfy both ends. Inborn talents and interpersonal skills will also help to attain success.

With regards,
Bhuvanesh

Here it goes, this is an addition to the traits mentioned above:

1. Patient
2. To the point - verbal communication
3. Strategic mover

Swapna

Hi Madhu,

A good HR person should have the following qualities, in my opinion:

- Should be a good communicator.
- Should be very diplomatic.
- Should be empathetic to all.
- Should not show favoritism towards anyone.
- Should be smart enough to assess any sticky situation.
- Should be polite and soft-spoken.

When it comes to the point of references, organizations depend on internal job postings for two main reasons:

1. Better reliability.
2. To make the existing employees feel privileged for being given the chance to refer people and to show them how much faith the organization has reposed in them.

Regards,
Manju :)

One more...

An HR person should be proactive. You know these days, people abscond from jobs very frequently. So, an HR person should be able to judge and observe the employees, and yes, backups should always be there. It is not that once a person has left, you then start searching for a new one.

Please respond if I am correct.

Mr. Madhu,

HR professionals should have knowledge of good communication, decision-making skills, analytical knowledge, patience, good presentation skills, and understanding of human beings. These are important skills required for HR professionals.

Regards,
Srinivas B

Hi,

I agree with all the qualities mentioned by the forum members. I would just like to add that apart from these, you also need to be a friendly and approachable person. Secondly, and most importantly, you need to be proactive and prompt, as almost everybody feels that HR professionals are late in responding, and they hardly do any work.

Regarding recruiting through IJPs, I feel that the main aim behind introducing this is, first, to motivate and retain our own employees. Secondly, of course, is reliability, and third and most importantly, recruitment cost-saving for the company.

Do you agree with me, guys?

Dear Madhu,

Ravi's statement is correct. On my part, only one thing to be added, i.e., the HR person should not violate any statutory procedures.

Regards,
S Ranga Raj

Hi Nashwa,

"Grasp" (UNDERSTAND)
verb [T]
to understand (especially something difficult).
I hope you now agree that an HR person needs to have good grasping skills because we work with humans, and there would be certain situations that would be difficult to understand.
And thanks to everybody for the compliments, and as Muthukumar observed, these are necessary especially for freshers.

Regards,
Ravi.

Hi,

I am working as a Manager (P&IR) for one of the MNC companies. I would like to highlight the following qualities for an HR person:

1. Should be the most disciplined.
2. Integrity should be his passion.
3. Always strive to have a long-term vision. Say no to resolving any issue for short-term gain.
4. Honesty, loyalty, and a sense of belongingness.

Thanks & regards,
Vijay Singh

Hi, though you may find these skills above to be very simple, they are very important. More than that, your self-confidence plays a major role.

Hi,

Adding one more - should be polite and soft-spoken as well, specifically when dealing with employees. (essential one)

Cheers,
Parul

Hi all,

I agree with Prema because in HR, the element to be handled is human, for which we need human intelligence.

Regards,
Vani

HR professionals should follow the religion of humanity and take a pledge not to misuse their authority. They should wholeheartedly fulfill their duties.

Hi Everyone,

I wanted advice on what the designation of an HR person should be who is single-handedly handling the entire HR (Generic and recruitments) along with coordination with accounts and admin. Please suggest.

Thanks & Regards,
Reema Sharma

Hi!

I feel the following qualities are also required: The HR person should be dynamic and adaptable to change.

Regards,
Tusher

Hi All,

HR is not Human Resources. It's Human Relations. As HR professionals, we need to maintain a good homely atmosphere among employees so that they feel comfortable. They should not feel like a fish out of water.

Hi, guys

am Praveen

apart from all the posts i want to share something more

for success in HR Career try to adopt and practice all above

characters in life.

• A man who keeps on increasing his inventory of simple, catchy and refreshing words and thought.

• A man who strives for improvement and not for perfection

• A creative personality stimulates the sub-ordinates or trainees to do something as desired.

• A counselor who understands psychology and behavioral science.

• A Philosopher who practices high thinking and lead good life practices

• A consultant who suggests the ways to improve efficiency and quality.

• A futurist to set organizational goals to keep pace with changing techno-social culture.

• An innovator to develop latest teaching, training and development techniques.

• An analytical examiner to evaluate personnel, training programmes, methodology and effectiveness.

• A psychologist counsel the employees.

• A Manager to encourage brain storming environment to enable participative learning atmosphere.

• An economist to critically plan, budget and control the activities.

• A Manager who institute discipline Task and Time.

• An architect to shape employees to suit to present and future jobs.

• A role model in set standards

• Having an un-biased approach.

• Always have a positive and constructive Attitude

• A good Communicator and also a Model in Communication Methods

• A good Motivator by his Personality and action.

• Who aims for zero Paper word and easy and simple procedures

• His each action and word is a value-addition to the Organisation

• Aim for Continuous Improvement on Quality thro cost Saving

• Practices flexible and approachable Attitude.

• Create an Enjoy Working Environment

• Accepts the Change and implements it for the advantage of improvements.

• Multi-knowledgeable personality

• Practices good Listening Skills

• A Model for learning new things

• Accepts weaknesses and seeks the methods to nullify it.

• Taking concern in sub-ordinates' developments

• Practices sweet words and avoids dominating kind of words

• A good outward personality appearance. No compromise on it.

• A good model for up-keep of housekeeping.

Hi Madhu!

With the exposure I gained as an HR personnel, I opine that an HR person should be proactive. He should be able to observe and understand the messages that a person conveys through his body language deliberately. As somebody said, an HR should be empathetic but not always. If an HR is empathetic in all circumstances, he would not be able to carry out his duties well. An HR should possess high levels of EQ and IQ as he is the person whom people approach either to share their problems or complain about anything. The HR should be able to make the situation favorable to all the people involved in any issue.

Also, an HR personnel should be able to prioritize his tasks properly so that no important and urgent issue gets neglected and the situation does not go out of hand.

Archana

Hi,

According to me, an HR professional should possess a wide range of qualities rather than being limited to specific ones. They should act as both a role player and a role model for others.

An HR professional is the individual who has direct interactions with people at all levels, from top-level management to bottom-level employees. Therefore, they should be dynamic in all processes.

Thank you.

Regards,
Shah

Interpersonal/communication skills, people management (not at a managerial level though), perseverance, and leadership skills are prerequisites for HR.

WOW! That is a long list of answers you have. As an HR Professional, I agree with all the points mentioned above. Additionally, based on my experience, I believe that when you are in an HR role, everyone looks up to you. It is essential to always be ready to clarify doubts, help those in need, share ideas and experiences, and keep yourself updated.

Regards