Earlier I posted on career growth and development and some ideas and insights from the SHRM Talent Management Conference, and as I was looking through some of the results from a SHRM survey released this week I realized that there is an interesting disconnect. While we want to look at employees as more valuable than their current job title for development purposes, we don’t want to do do that up front when they approach us as candidates. In fact, 66% of organizations prefer chronological resumes to functional resumes (source: SHRM). Continue reading
Tag Archives: Career Advice
HR Lands at #71 of the 100 Best Jobs
Recently the list of the 100 best jobs was published for this year, and HR was again on the list. This time it ranked number 71 out of 100. It’s always fun to look at these lists to see how they compare, because we all want to think we’re working in a field that others see as important and valuable. It’s difficult to do that in HR, because many people have never run across someone working in human resources that truly cared about their wellbeing and success.
So, what were some of the 70 jobs that beat it out?
Jobs that are (supposedly) better than HR
Accountant. (Even during tax time, this somehow managed to beat HR?)
Meeting planner. (I thought planning events was an HR function…)
Compliance officer. (Ditto-doesn’t HR do compliance? Also, how in the world is compliance better than human resources?!?)
Bill collector. (Wow. Calling people to harass them about money they owe is better? Really? Now we’re just getting ridiculous.)
How to get an HR job
From the article:
If Segal was hiring a new specialist, she says she would consider “someone who is smart, understands that HR is part of the management function, has business savvy and a keen analytical mind.†Like other areas of business, HR focuses on innovation and return on investment, she says. “HR needs creative, innovative thinkers to take us past the traditional paper processing and compliance focus to show our value and ROI in the global economy in new ways,†she says. In addition to having fresh ideas, Segal says you must demonstrate good writing skills, be able to work with financial data and have a solid understanding of your industry. “Being in HR in a startup tech company is not the same as being in HR in a bank or a manufacturing company or in the entertainment industry,†she says. “While there is some obvious overlap, if you want to be truly effective, be seen as more than a paper pusher and have a seat at the table, you need to show that you understand the business you're in and how HR can support the bottom line.â€
I agree with some of this for sure, but it’s also funny to see that some of these comments still don’t align with how a large portion of the HR population works and thinks even today. Many of those in this profession don’t put any stock in reviewing/analyzing financial data or even having a firm understanding of their industry. They are content to make policies, fight to keep fun out of the workplace, and collect a paycheck until they retire. It’s why blogs like this one have become so popular–because people like you realize that there is more to this profession than what we were told when we started. There’s certainly more to life (and HR) than what meets the eye.
More on breaking into HR, for those who are interested. Also, if you want to check it out, the US News article is here, and you can learn about all kinds of other positions, including finance jobs, banking jobs, and more.
What are your thoughts? Is this job better or worse than the ranking they assigned? Why?
How to Get Into Human Resources: The Ultimate Guide
I recently received a reader email asking how to get into human resources without experience. It made me pause, because I had just responded to an email asking virtually the same thing less than five minutes before. So I dug into my email and looked at how many times I’ve had a conversation with someone over the past five years about how to get into HR. The result? I’ve had over 250 conversations in just five years, and those don’t include the many interactions outside of email. Today I’m sharing my thoughts on the subject, some data from a recent survey I developed, and insights from other HR professionals on how to get into human resources without experience. This is going to be long, but it’s going to be good.
Table of Contents
- How to get into HR
- Relating real-world work to HR
- Improving your HR education (mostly for free)
- How to position yourself for success
- Things to remember for your first HR job
- Comments from the experts
- Additional resources
How to get into human resources
I think its hard to get that first HR job without any experience. What would you give as advice for the newbies to land the first job in hr? Alison Continue reading
What HR Students Need to Know
Last week I sat down at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and spoke with some of the students about what they need to know as they prepare to leave school and enter the real world.
I talked about some of the career aspects: negotiating salary, establishing credibility, networking, etc. I also talked about some of the things I learned very quickly after I left school (namely, the degree isn’t as helpful as most schools would lead you to assume). Many of the topics I discussed are a part of the entry level HR course I developed last year. (Side note: I’ve had a few senior level HR pros sponsor that short course for their entry level HR interns/admins, because it focuses on some of the early career skills that many of us had to pick up in bits and pieces. I think that’s awesome that they help them by putting them through the course!) Continue reading
Essential HR Skills: Organization, Focus, and Negotiation
Recently I ran across an old article on “essential” HR skills. It was an interesting read, and I wanted to break it down and show how it’s true (and, in some ways, maybe not so much). Today we’ll tackle the first half of them. Here’s the original list:
- Organization
- Multitasking
- Dealing with Gray
- Negotiation
- Communication
- Discrete and Ethical
- Dual Focus
- Conflict Management and Problem Solving
- Change Management
Source: HR.BLR
Now I’d like to break these down individually and give some perspective on which ones are critical for the role of the HR professional. I’m framing this through the lens of a generalist, because that’s what I (and most of us, if I had to guess) do on a daily basis.
Organization
This is one of my weakest areas, but it’s also truly important to being great in this role. You’re balancing 50 priorities in different focus areas, and that doesn’t come easily. How do you know what is more important between a pending lawsuit that needs a response, 401k nondiscrimination testing, and handling a discrimination investigation? Whew. Be organized or be gone.
Multitasking
This one is on every list you’ll ever see for a “critical skill.” However, I think it’s less about multitasking and more about being able to shift focus quickly. Multitasking sounds like you’re trying to do 5 things at once. And in the end, that will just leave you with 5 things done in a so-so manner. Shifting focus at a moment’s notice to be able to handle a fast-moving priority IS an important skill. Multitasking can drop your IQ further than smoking marijuana, in case you were curious.
Dealing with Gray
Everything is not black and white, even in the world of policy creation and enforcement. You won’t think of everything, and that requires some level of discernment and backbone to make your job possible. If you are only interested in creating policies, adding amendments, and closing loopholes instead of using your brain, then this probably isn’t the profession for you. We have to work in the muddy areas frequently in this field, and it’s just part of the job description.
Negotiation
From handling compensation discussions to recruiting great candidates to working out your budget for the year, negotiation is something you need to work on if you plan to be successful in the HR field. In fact, I’d say the better you are at negotiating, the higher up the ladder of the profession you will go. The best and brightest HR pros I’ve run into over the years were not only unafraid of negotiating with vendors and management, they actually enjoyed the challenge! So put your negotiator hat on, because you have some work ahead of you…
That’s all for today. We’ll cover the last half later this week!
How to be Excellent at Work
Earlier this month I was promoted to become the HR Manager at Pinnacle, which is a lot of fun. I’m doing work I love with people I enjoy being around, so I couldn’t ask for more. This week I was talking with one of our managers and discussing what makes people successful at Pinnacle. I think it’s probably the same as most companies, but sometimes it’s hard to tell with the significant differences between large and small organizations. I wanted to share some of those thoughts here, and maybe this will help with some coaching discussions as we head into the performance appraisal season…
How to be successful
As fast as I can rattle them off:
- There’s no job too small. You’re never too good to do anything.
- Treat everyone with respect. There’s always time to help people who ask to some degree.
- Become known as the expert in something (or multiple things). People will want your advice, and there’s a chance they will actually take it if they solicit it up front.
- Do your work with excellence, but also know a little about a lot of other areas. Otherwise you’re in a vacuum and relatively ineffective.
- Build others up whenever you get the chance, even if they don’t reciprocate.
- Learn to love things that others hate. More below on this one.
Loving what others hate
The easiest non-work example I have of this is running. I absolutely love running hills. Why? Because everyone else hates them. If I practice enough, I can easily be better than others in that area, and it ultimately serves my needs of wanting to run faster/stronger.
It applies at work as well. Have a software package that everyone uses but nobody likes? Take an hour to learn the ins and outs (at least at a basic level) and next time people grumble, ask if they’ve tried x or y solution.
Learn about the biggest challenges people face and try to determine how to solve them. Even if you don’t, you’ll still learn more about the tool and how it works.
In the end, the goal isn’t to make others love it. It’s to become an indispensable piece of the workforce.
Additional reading
If any of this struck a chord with you, then I highly recommend that you check out “How to Be the Smartest Person in the Room” and “How to Become the Go To Person at Work“
How Stale Are You?
I’m edging into my three year mark with Pinnacle Solutions, and I’m thinking a good bit on growing professionally and avoiding a stagnant mindset, among other things. Recently my friend Krista published a piece on staying fresh. She made some great comments, and I want to spin off those today as a great tie in to the overall discussion.
- How long is too long? Â
- How do you keep growing?
Just to get us started, let’s check out some of Krista’s commentary:
I'm a little torn on this whole 10 years [at the same job] = stale idea. I'm not stale. You know what, I've known people who were stale in their roles after two months, because the truth is, they were never fresh. I've known people who moved from position to position within the same organization and are still stale with each incarnation. And… I've known people who honestly do stay too long and go stale in their roles.
So, if there’s a formula or idea on how to do it right, what is it? How do we answer the big questions mentioned above? Let’s dig in.
How long is too long?
We’ve all met those people. They are continuing to “work” and exist in the workplace, but they aren’t contributing anything of value. They are going through the motions and just biding their time until they can leave. They’ve been there too long.
In my own career, I have kept up one steady focus: grow or leave. If I ever get to a point in my job where I’ve stopped growing and learning and I no longer have passion for my daily efforts, then I start looking elsewhere. In the past, that could have been 1 year, 2 years, or more. It really depends on the manager, workplace, and other factors.
That has been my longstanding decision, though. And I stand by it. If you’re not growing and developing, you might as well find a place where you can.
How do you keep growing?
It might be a surprise to some of you, but growing requires effort. You can’t just sit back and have growth opportunities pour into your lap forever. Sure, when you pick up a new role or responsibility, you might have the option of picking and choosing from a multitude of growth opportunities, but eventually you’ll have to take the responsibility on yourself and seek them out.
As I discuss in the post on owning your own growth, you need to have a mindset change. Want to be more valuable? Make yourself more valuable. Want to develop new skills? Start researching ways to make that happen. We all have growth areas we can pursue, but the hardest part is often making the first move. Commit. Go for it. Make it so.
Nobody else is going to do it for you.
Wrapping it up
To turn it back to my own career progression, I’m approaching the three year mark at Pinnacle and still learning new things each week. I’m staying on top of trends, learning new software tools, and developing my daily skill set to prepare for future career opportunities (whether at my current employer or elsewhere).
Want the world to know that you are not stale?
Prove you’re not. Today and every day.
In the long run, you’ll be glad you did.
