Who is the first person, you get in touch with for a job? Who takes you through the job description, profile, and any other queries? HR personnel, right?

I remember waiting in the lobby for my HR interview in the my first big job. I was nervous as I did not know what kind of questions would be posed to me. My last few interviews had not progressed beyond few rounds. I used to prepare for the technical rounds, but took the HR rounds for granted, to be honest. While sitting at in lobby, I had realised that I need to come up with the proper answers for the general questions asked like “Why do you want to work with this organisation? Where do you see yourself in the next five years?”

But when I walked in, the HR helped me ease my nerves, even offered me a beverage! Then the general questions began and I was doing pretty well, I thought to myself. After a few questions, the HR asked me a question that I was not prepared for. She asked me, “Why do you want to join in-house job instead of a law firm?” The honest answer was, I’d taken up any job that pays at the point. But I did not think that I could be that honest in an interview. Therefore, I mumbled some half baked answer which was not the whole truth.

The problem with being creative with your answers is that a seasoned HR will see right through it. So you have to either come clean or stick to your guns! She interviewed me over close to 40 minutes and she kept coming back to the same question again and again. Now whether she was not convinced with my response or she was simply testing my perseverance, I still don’t know. Needless to say, the experience trumped over the white lies of a rookie and I did not progress further in that interview.

My takeaway from that interview? Stick to your story, but don’t lie. It is a slippery slope. Prepare and practice even for the HR interviews so that you don’t blow it.

This incidence also intrigued me as to how the HR managed grilling me on a seemingly easy question. I began wondering what happens in an HR interview of an HR! What skill set companies look for in HRs? What are the qualifications required for an HR to join a company? Are they asked questions similar to the ones that they ask us?

So I called up an friend who is an HR with about near seven years experience under her belt. I posed all these questions and asked her what skills do HRs need in order to secure a job in companies. Do they need to know the compliances and labour laws? Do they take up labour law course in order to hone their skills?

Here is what I learnt:

The HR personnel need to interact with the management and employees. They have to bridge the gap between the two and maintain a healthy balance. For this their skill set are two-fold. They need to have technical expertise in order to do the day-to-day activities and tasks, but they also need to be adept at certain behavioural, interpersonal and soft skills.

# Support services

HR personnel are required to provide support services to the organisation. They need to provide the support services to the employers and employees alike. From operational skills like managing payroll, attendance, leaves, to talent acquisition, talent management, talent development and everything in between.

From selecting possible candidates for a suitable position, to their arranging their interviews, an HR needs to do it all. The work does not stop there. They also need to manage them and help develop the candidate through workshops and seminars, etc. If the service of an employee has come to an end, then the exit interviews, full and final settlement, paperwork, etc. are also handled by the HR. Then there are the recurring activities like payment of salaries, leaves management, and the likes. The HR personnel need to be constantly on their toes in order to facilitate these functions.

# Communication skills

HR personnel need to have interpersonal skills. They need to be aligned with the company goals. But they have to act as a bridge between the management and the employees. This is not an easy task. It’s almost like being a mom stuck in between an argument taking place between you kids and your husband. You can’t disappoint either.

They need to be transparent, empathetic and concerned towards the employees as well as the organisation.

They need to be able to interact with the employees at a ground level, understand their issues, and address them appropriately. A dissatisfied employee will seldom be as productive. Therefore, the HR personnel need to lend an ear to their concern and resolve the situation.

If the employees feel that their concerns are being heard and communicated to the right channels, they are bound to be more connected to the organisation. They also need to be able to communicate to the management effectively of the issues and policies that affect them and the organisation.

# Knowledge of the industry laws and compliances

I did not know that the HR personnel need to know laws in order to comply with them. HR personnel need to know laws related to labours, contracts, etc. Read this article to know more about the laws that HR personnel must know.

My HR friend informed me that they need to know the dispute resolution mechanism when it comes to sexual harassment and contractual disputes. They also need to know the laws pertaining to working hours, working environment, payment components, and the likes. They need to know the grievance redressal mechanism, policies that need to be introduced in the organisation,etc. You can learn more about industrial and labours laws by doing this labour law course.

# HR analytics

This one was a new concept for me – HR analytics. According to Technopedia, “Human resource analytics (HR analytics) is an area in the field of analytics that refers to applying analytic processes to the human resource department of an organization in the hope of improving employee performance and therefore getting a better return on investment. HR analytics does not just deal with gathering data on employee efficiency. Instead, it aims to provide insight into each process by gathering data and then using it to make relevant decisions about how to improve these processes.”

In order to ascertain the impact HR department has on the entire organisation, HR analytics are helpful. HR analytics is about data analysis to establish between the action of HR and its effect on business outcomes. It helps to create strategies based on that and take relevant actions on the issues at hand. These days companies are hiring personnel for managing HR analytics.

These skills are much desirable in an HR personnels while hiring them. They need to be adept not only in technical skills like labour laws, HR analytics but also, the soft skills like effective communication, etc.

As an HR, the more you know the better.

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How do they gain these skills? How does one become an HR? A number of MBAs with a major in human resources are often recruited for these posts. To a certain extent, psychology majors are also hired as HRs in companies. Do these courses go into the depth of teaching everything that an HR professional is required to know? I doubt.

While an MBA is a management degree, and psychology is the science of understanding how the mind works, no one teaches HR professionals the laws that they need to be fully aware of in order to assess situations at work better. Yes, any decent management school would have a class on labour laws and basics of business laws would definitely be touched upon. Is that enough?

Tomorrow, as an HR if you are approached by a woman who claims that she has been sexually harassed by her manager, would you know what needs to be done next? Do you have an internal complaints committee in your company in place?

Let’s say the management wants an employee to leave the company on grounds of non-performance. However, you are very well know that the decision was made due to insufficiency in funds. How would you as an HR deal with this situation? Would knowing the rights of the employee help? What would be the consequences of such an issue?

These crucial issues are more often than not not addressed by both management schools and psychology majors. However, they are very much addressed by online courses that specifically deal with laws related to employees, including the prevailing sexual harassment laws. You can learn more about those laws and how must HRs use them to their advantage here.

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