5 Desirable Qualities of a HR Professional

Date posted: 12th November 2019

It is true to say that in HR a practitioner needs many levels to their working personality. The ability to listen, communicate, nurture staff but also at times be able to communicate bad news with empathy.

What are the top qualities needed for a career in HR?

The role of HR in business is multi faceted, the main levels being those  needed in managing the employee life cycle :recruiting, empowering , training  and rewarding the work force.

Some practitioners choose to become HR generalists covering a broad range of the spectrum whilst others specialise in a specific area such as recruitment or learning and development.

Either way there are several proficiencies on the CIPD skills map that any good practitioner needs to display.

Our top five are below and why:

Being a decisive thinker.

An HR professional cannot shrink away from making decisions. They are always the right ones but not necessarily the popular one. Working in HR you are normally the one turned to as main decision maker in an organisation with regards to workforce strategy. Therefore the ability to think laterally is a must.

Top influencing and communication skills.

The old adage of listening and speaking skills is never truer than within HR as  you speak with so many different people from different back grounds. This can range from explaining such things as annual leave provisions to a new employee right up to calming a manager who wants to know why they can’t just get rid of employee xx who has been off sick for 6 months.

People skills.

This is a necessity especially as in human resources you work with people (the clue is in the job title) and empathy is a must.  What is important to one employee might seem insignificant to others but everyone’s issues are still problems that need solving. Being the mediator in the organisation is often a main role of an HR professional.

Organisation skills.

With so much paperwork from employee contracts, personnel files,  spreadsheets of figures, structure charts (you have to love a good structure chart) an HR professional needs top notch organisational skills to keep up to speed. It is also a job where no two days are the same so your to do list could be ever changing and never completed each day. The ability to manage time is a must.

Taking ownership of your own continuous professional development.

The world of HR is ever changing. Employment legislation can change seemingly weekly so its necessary to keep up to date and ensure workplace policies are amended accordingly.

Aligning your personal development against the CIPD skills map is important not just for career progression but also to ensure you have the  correct core knowledge for your current role.

It is very important to embrace new HR Technology, continuously learning, adding modern working methods to your arsenal.

HR truly is the people profession. It’s a challenging but rewarding career choice with so much room for growth. As the business world evolves so will HR and it’s role in the workplace. It’s exciting to see how HR practise will change in the future.