The information generated in these job profiles are based on personal research and interviews with people working within this sector. We interviewed mostly people with vision impairment who are doing these jobs to gather accurate and pragmatic information about these jobs and how visually impaired can work within such sectors and resolve day to day problems. 

This article on Human Resources - Executives and Associates contains the following sections:

• Brief Description
• Functions and Skills Required
• Qualifications and Eligibility
• Salary and Conditions
• Working Conditions and Growth Opportunities
• How to travel to work
• Institutions
• How to find Vacancies
• Use of Technology
• Selection Procedure
• Tips on CV writing and preparing for Interview

Brief Description

This is a field that requires one to manage and recruit the workforce of an organization. Managing the workforce involves training, staffing, dealing with day to day employee problems like salary, benefits, health etc. The main focus is on improving the standard and productivity of the workforce, meet set business goals of the organization, and work towards organization development.
 
HR Executives or Associates manage all human resource functions such as recruitment, salary, performance appraisal, induction, at a junior level. Often they also have to deal with employee grievances, manage HR activities and policies in consolidation with the HR Manager. Their task involves assisting the HR Manager with their respective work tasks.

Functions and skills required

HR Executives have to manage all basic HR activities and functions mainly include:-

1. Creating and governing HR policies
2. Taking care of salary structure of the company and dealing with payroll processing
3. Taking care of leave and attendance
4. Employee engagement, handling employee grievances, assimilating data from feedback forms, survey forms given to the employees of the organization
5. Handling performance appraisals
6. Ensuring statutory compliance (compliance of organization with labor laws, bonus act, factories act, minimum wages act etc) and ISO documentation
7. Recruitment of candidates for different profiles - right from calling candidates as per requirements, to follow up of candidates till the interview stage
8. Taking care of training and development of workforce
9. Maintain human resource databases and computer software systems

Qualifications and eligibility

The undergraduate degree could be in field.

The postgraduate degree should be an MBA / PGDM in HR or Industrial Relations. This is a typical standard requirement that most organizations follow, however many organizations don’t necessarily demand such qualifications. Often one could apply for such posts despite not having a management degree and one could have post graduate degree in any field. Since the post of HR Executive lies at the bottom of the hierarchy of HR positions one can join with minimum work experience and eventually move up the ladder through the work experience they gain.

HR Executives need to possess certain personal skills such as communication skills, role management skills, ability to meet targets and deadlines.

The minimum work experience is anything between 0-2yrs.

One should also have adequate knowledge about HR policies and programs.

Salary and Benefits

The salary of HR Executives could range from anything between 1,00,000 per annum to 2,50,000 per annum along with other standard benefits like PF, Insurance, loans at low interest rate etc.

Working Conditions and Growth Opportunities

Our achievers have been at ease and satisfied with the working conditions and work atmosphere they are part of. Many organizations are willing to make amendments to make their workspaces comfortable and friendly for people with vision impairment or other disabilities by installing computer software which is VI friendly, or provision of accessible toilets etc.

However despite such attempts there are still certain problems that visually impaired people face at workplaces.

Acceptance - People with Vision impairment are often not valued for what they contribute to the organization on the professional front and their ideas are often seen with a lot of apprehension. Often other colleagues tend to take decisions on their behalf or consider them ineligible for certain tasks. In such situations one has to be firm and pushy and one should stand up for themselves and try and prove oneself as far as they can professionally. This helps break certain stereotypes that others attach to people with disabilities and allows one to change mindsets and attitudes. There are mainly two approaches that people tend to adopt towards you, either they are sympathetic / patronizing or they are indifferent. The solution is again to prove yourself professionally and make people value you for your work related skills and capabilities.

Accessibility and mobility - If one is working for the private sector then the organization may or may not provide travelling facilities and if needed one should be open about their requirements to the organization. On occasions these companies provide for pick and drop cab facilities as well. By and large one has to manage travelling to work independently. A smart way to go about this would be to plan your journey in advance. There is nothing wrong in taking assistance in this regard. One should ask for directions in advance, one should plan out beforehand how to get to desired location, means of transport, etc.

Technology and company applications -Within the private sector as already mentioned a common workplace problem that could arise for people with vision impairment could be using company software. Often these firms do not use screen reading and other VI friendly software because of a lack of visually impaired people in their workforce. In such situations one has to ask the firm/organization to provide for such software and not be hesitant about it. As a person with vision impairment one has certain pragmatic concerns that one should be open about and take assistance if required.

At such workspaces growth opportunities are immense. If you prove yourself professionally and you are confident and assertive then there is no stopping you. Such professional growth invariably leads to personal growth.

How does one travel to work

The organization may or may not provide for travelling facilities and if needed one should be open about their requirements to the organization. On occasions these companies provide pick and drop cab facilities as well. HR jobs often involve a lot of travelling out of station and those aspiring for such jobs should be willing and ready to travel.

Institutions

A wide variety of institutions and colleges provide MBA degrees and other management related degrees required to become an HR manager. The best institutions to pursue such courses are IIMS (Indian Institute of Management), XLRI, TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences), Narsee Monjee, FMS(Faculty of Management Studies) and Symbiosis.

One can also pursue MBA through distant learning programs provided by IGNOU and Osmania University (Hyderabad). Some IIM’S like IIM Kolkata have also started distant learning programs which one can pursue.

How to find out about vacancies

One can find out about these job vacancies easily through newspaper advertisements and through the internet. One should keep checking company / organization specific sites for job vacancies. These sites have the Careers tab which generally comprises of all the relevant information pertaining to job vacancies.

Apart from that one can log onto sites like www.naukri.com and www.monster.com. One should keep updating resumes posted on these sites every week because organizations using these sites check only the first ten / fifteen resumes and don’t go beyond that.

Making a profile on www.linkedin.com could also be helpful because one gets to know about various job opportunities through such sites.

Use of Technology

These jobs require one to be very computer friendly and anybody aspiring for an HR job has to be very comfortable with working on MS Office software. A thorough understanding of Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint is a must and one should be open to working with new and more advanced technology and software.

HR jobs require a good understanding of numbers, graphs, charts, etc and the ability to implement and interpret them.

Working with HRIS/HRMS (human resources management system)

Most organizations do not use visually impaired friendly software like JAWS which is mainly due to the absence of people with visual impairment among their workforce. However if a person with visual disability asks the organization to install/buy such software and asserts himself/herself more strongly it shouldn’t be very difficult to get them to do so.

Selection Procedure

While applying for the post of an HR manager the selection procedure varies from one organization to another. However by and large the procedure comprises a written test and those short listed candidates then qualify for an interview. The written test comprises of questions related to logical reasoning, language skills, mathematics, etc. At some organizations psychometric tests are also carried out, which are preferential aptitude tests such as NDTI, PATI etc.

In certain organizations there are different levels of interviews depending on the post one is applying for and these levels of interview may involve first group discussions, and then finally face to face interview.

Tips on Writing ones CV and preparing for Interviews

Ones resume / CV is crucial as far as first impression is concerned and in order for it to leave its mark it is important to keep in mind some basic tips.

1. The CV should be short, crisp and not longer than a page or so.
2. One should highlight their academic and professional accomplishments and ensure that the time duration of working or studying are accurately specified.
3. One should avoid using colorful fonts etc and try making it as professional, factual and simple as possible with the emphasis being on relevant work and academic achievements.
4. Remember to put in your address as well as email id and not the latter alone. Avoid including details like hobbies etc.
5. As far as preparing for interviews is concerned some of our achievers in this sector suggested that one should prepare certain commonly asked questions prior to the interview. Some of the most frequently asked questions are-what are your strengths and weaknesses, the interviewee may often ask you to describe yourself, your greatest achievement, the greatest setback of your life etc.
6. Most of our achievers have pointed out how the interview may often pertain largely to questions about your disability and the interviewer may often ask you questions related to the same. The intelligent thing to do in such situations is to be enduring and try and bring people to terms with your disability by acting at ease with it yourself .One should try and give them the confidence that you can work and are as able as any other candidate. Another strategy could be to completely take them away from your disability and try and focus more on your professional ability and skills.