We all have started our career some day and went through the process of learning it hard way. Some have learnt it faster than others. Some of you are about to start this journey, other might have started and some of us have passed this phase. In this blog, I am talking about top 4 challenges which are most difficult to pass through as HR professional. First two challenges are common for every person who starts its career in any field wherein rest two is specific for HR professionals.
Getting your first break
After completing the masters in Human resource, every person wants a better company to work with. But only some of you will get this opportunity. To get into a good company, you should have diverse qualities in you. Your selection is not only merely depended on mark sheet but your communication skills, confidence and overall personality. Companies are looking for smart people to get associated with.
Internship during your education plays an important role in your selection in a good company. Many students do not take their internship seriously. In fact, some students get fake internship certificate. This will not help them at all. Internship is the only way by which a student gets to know about practical implementation of knowledge acquired during study. Every student should take this opportunity to gain as much as possible. For internship, student should select a company which is determine to help in learning process rather than making them sit in a corner with a workstation. Similarly, Companies should also ensure that they get their best from the interns during internship. Hiring interns- Can be a successful recruitment strategy.
For students, who couldn’t get their first break should take up some assignment with any company in the field of HR as trainee- with our without stipend, rather than wasting their time sitting at home. They should keep looking for job during their training. Also there could be a chance that the same company absorbs you in case they have an opening and they like your work.
Winning trust of manager and team
Once you get first break of your career, next challenge is how to make a place in existing team and win trust of your manager. There is no rocket science for this. You should be open to do any work allocated by your manager or team irrespective of type of work. If you start refusing for a small work, you may not get good quality work too. You should be polite and humble. You should maintain good relationship with all team members.
You can win trust of your team or manager only with the kind of work you do and your behavior with them. If you lack at any of the front, it will be difficult for you to get adjusted in the culture and new team. Then, gradually you will be left out. Ensure this doesn’t happen at first place.
Lack of understanding about practical HR processes
Once you are settled in team, next challenge is to learn about HR processes and acquire more and more knowledge. Your relationship with other team members will be a great help in this.
You should always ask questions. If a task is assigned to you then don’t blindly do the task but ask the reason behind doing it in a particular way. If you know the reason, you can also give your suggestion to improve existing process and further earn trust of your team and manager.
I strongly recommend that every HR professional should learn various labour laws and its implementation. This serves as base for future. If you are not aware about law of the land then you could not build HR policy around it.
There are many blog posts which we have written to strengthen your understanding on labour laws. You can go through each one by one.
Learning human interaction skills
Once you are aware about HR processes, next and most difficult challenge is interaction with employees and handling their expectation. For this you should have good communication skills, interpersonal skills, a good listener and willingness to understand employee’s problem. You need to work on each of this area and improve continuously.
To start with, be part of the discussions between HR manager and employee. Listen and learn. You should also have discussion with HR Manager and understand his view point on a particular discussion. Then engage yourself directly in normal employee related discussion. This skill will be build by experience and practice.
You should also maintain a good informal relationship with employees. But always keep in mind that you need to draw a line. HR has lot of confidential information and in any case you should not disclose this to other knowingly or unknowingly. Also, always have a command on your tongue. Every line said by HR person, even in informal discussion, can be quoted in future by others.
I would request you as readers to also share your experience and challenges faced while you were going through starting of your career. Let other learn from it and get benefited.