Crucial HR Skills Employers are Looking for in 2021
The concept of Human Resources involves two versions: one more restricted and the other lighter and more human, in the best sense of the word. The first encompasses the fact that the human resources department is necessary to manage people to obtain value and take advantage of the work they offer. In contrast, it is also the HR professional who is concerned with treating employees and their values in the best possible way, extracting commitment and quality from them, also aiming at their adaptation and self-realization. The good Human Resources professional knows that it is necessary to mix these two versions daily, in his work, and with that, achieve better results.
Gone are the days when Human Resources was responsible only for bureaucratic tasks related to the company’s staff. In the current scenario, the sector has assumed a strategic role within organizations and has come to be considered fundamental for the success of any business. With this change, the Human Resources professional needs to develop new professional skills, linked to managerial skills. In this post, we list and explain the 12 crucial HR skills employers are looking out for in 2021.
What are the skills a Human Resources professional needs?
For the function, one must be attentive to all the characteristics of the professional who searches for a vacancy in the HR sector. For that, we will show some attributes that the person must have.
1. Communication Skills
A good HR professional knows that communication is the key to making results happen. Any noise between the parties can lead to misunderstandings and situations that do not contribute to the employee’s professional life or the company.
It is worth remembering that there are several forms of communication and these skills are not limited to “speaking well.” Listening, understanding, looking for ways to reach the employee, and getting in tune with him are essential actions for the good development of the work. Communication error is one of the main causes of organizational problems. Therefore, it is crucial for the manager who seeks to stand out to use the oratory well to expose his ideas with transparency and in a clear way, so that his communication is well understood, both by his clients, by his co-workers, and other people with which have a professional relationship.
2. Time Management
As with any other function, there are daily tasks to be completed and they all have their deadline. However, it is normal for the day’s schedule to be interrupted by unforeseen incidents and situations.
Again, they can be simple things that are easy to solve, but they can also be tasks that take up the rest of the day and working hours. Knowing how to manage one’s agenda to handle everything, separating time bands for essential jobs is a very important characteristic for the professional, who needs to be disciplined in this regard.
3. Reliability
One of the main qualities for those working in Human Resources is to be reliable. Employees will only feel comfortable talking and opening up to someone they feel they can trust.
Along with trust comes the power to maintain confidentiality. The collaborator needs to be sure that what he is commenting and asking for directions about will not be passed on to other people. This is how credibility is gained.
4. Open-mindedness
Keeping up with the news in your area is essential for good career development. Enjoying learning, participating in training and mentoring processes, taking courses, and reading a lot are some requirements.
Also, one must have a strong knowledge base. Whoever wishes to work in this area must be aware that they need to have total control and knowledge of all the areas it covers and exercise their function in the best possible way. Preferably quickly and effectively.
5. Mediation skills
It is often the HR professional who finds himself faced with situations between employees and who needs to be mediated. Knowing how to manage the time that each one exposes their doubts or complaints, listening to both parties, and not allowing disrespect between them is paramount in these moments.
6. Organisation skills
To keep everything in place, it is necessary for the human resources professional to have excellent notions of organization. While dealing with people is almost always abstract, “real life” work is often bureaucratic. Knowing how to deal with spreadsheets, e-mails, documents, contracts, and other systems is essential to develop your work in the best possible way.
7. Leadership skills
HR is in daily contact with employees at all levels of the company, organizing training, events, and other activities that train and engage employees. For all of this to bring results, leadership skills are one of the most important competencies for professionals in this sector.
Also, a good leader knows how to communicate, work as a team and inspire employees to do their best for a common purpose. Imagine, for example, trying to implement a change in organizational culture without having these skills? It would hardly work because such a project requires a lot of care and credibility. Therefore, it is essential to awaken the leader that exists in every Human Resources manager.
8. Strategic vision
A good human resources professional needs to see beyond the obvious. For acting in a strategic area, it is necessary to observe the smallest details of any situation, because the information that no one has noticed can be the key to improve the company’s results.
For example: if a team is producing less than expected, how to act? It is necessary to collect data on the daily performance of professionals and observe their failures and successes. In this way, it will be possible to set up a training program that empowers these employees and increases their productivity.
Another situation that requires strategic vision is the hiring of new talents. When HR observes only the curriculum and technical skills, it risks bringing someone with a lot of experience to the company, but who does not have the necessary behavioral skills for the organization’s culture.
9. Compliance management
It is also the role of Human Resources to ensure that both the law and internal regulations are complied with by all employees. For this, it is necessary to work together with the legal area and create campaigns to disseminate the organization’s guidelines to all employees. This includes, for example, security standards, confidential information, and protocols that need to be followed in the organization’s processes.
10. Emotional intelligence
Because it deals with people management, HR is an area that faces several types of problems every day. There may be adversities in recruitment processes, employee evaluation, or relationship crises between bosses and subordinates, among other examples. Therefore, having emotional intelligence and persistence to overcome each of these obstacles is essential.
Understand that a company is a living organism, full of paradoxes. With that in mind, it becomes easier to take it easy and be able to deal with all the structural changes and personal differences that will certainly arise in everyday life.
11. Administration of rewards
Knowing how to reward employees, financially or not, is extremely important for the HR professional. It takes a thorough job of market analysis and internal research to put together a compensation and benefits package that is attractive to employees.
Rewarding good performance is also necessary, as it values employees and increases their engagement with the company. Salary bonuses, travel, or even public recognition are great ways to give extra motivation to those who have generated good results.
12. Risk management
The Human Resources Manager has two roles in risk management. First, knowing that people are a source of risk, for example missing employees, others who do sloppy work, an employee who refuses to take on additional responsibilities, or a key employee leaving the company two months after completing a job. one-year training program. With all this, it is necessary to know how to find an immediate solution for each situation.
Second, it must be recognized that employees are important in dealing with risks. For example, professionals can use their ingenuity to solve unexpected problems, a key employee can redesign their work to avoid unnecessary delays, or a collaborator can convince a talented friend to apply for a position in the business.
13. Flexibility
It involves imagining different ways to solve the problems that arise in the company. The skill comprises spreading professional and personal interests, relating to people who challenge their worldviews, and leaving the comfort zone.
Therefore, the more flexible an HR manager is, the more easily he will be able to see new patterns and make unique associations between ideas. In summary, it is this type of attitude that companies are eagerly looking for.
14. Creativity
This is one of the professional qualities through which the employee shows his capacity for innovation to propose solutions, create opportunities and dare to do differently. Creative people can identify alternatives and resolutions for deadlocks that may occur within the company, in addition to having the talent to develop new working methods and even new services or products, which can be offered to customers as an increasingly adequate response to their needs. wants and needs.
15. Team spirit
Although team building activities may seem cliché, they are still a very popular and effective way to improve your organization’s team spirit, define team roles and encourage collaboration and cooperation among your employees. Thus, the qualified and qualified professional will know how to work for his team well and one will work for the other.
The types of team building activities that a good employee can consider consolidating his team:
- Problem-solving activities: your team is a challenge, how to build a survival shelter with limited resources, and must work together to develop a plan and achieve the goal together.
- Goal setting activities: team members are asked to plan a project, including defining results and measures of success, to promote the importance of clear team goals.
- role-based activities: each employee is given a clearly defined role in a team-based challenge, to emphasize the importance of focusing on their role in achieving a team goal.
- Communication-based activities: employees are challenged to achieve a team goal through communication, such as designing and making a group presentation, to emphasize the importance of interpersonal skills.
In this way, your team will feel more useful when they get to know the company’s policy better and know that they all work towards one common goal.
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