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Human Resources Manager - Specialists

Tue, 10/22/2013 - 15:35 -- deepti.gahrotra

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 Manager - Specialists contains the following sections:

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Brief Description

Within the posts of managers, it branches out further into HR generalists and HR specialists whose functions vary.

The HR specialist is also an HR manager who takes smaller units of HR like recruitment, or salary, and specializes in them. HR specialists bridge the gap between the organization and employee and largely deal with issues related to staffing and recruitment, but their work tasks could involve more as well. Specialists dealing with recruitment have to handle the paperwork involving termination or resignation.

HR specialists could specialise in training and development or compensation and benefits, or recruitment and labour relations.

Compensation and Benefits Specialists

Compensation and Benefits Specialists decide on the compensation structure of the company and about the salary packages of different employees. They also have to design the structure of bonus, performance bonus, benefits administration etc. that the company decides to provide its employees with.

Functions and skills required

Compensation and Benefits specialists have to broadly speaking carry out the following roles:-

  1. Create efficient pay structures
  2. Understand benefits programs and implement effective benefits and compensation programs within the organization.

Learning and Development Specialist

Learning and Development specialists have to carry out behavioral training of the workforce. The training focuses on everything that one needs to become a good business professional like role management skills, communication skills, etc.

Functions and Skills required

The job mainly requires one to:-

  1. Identify the training needs of the organization and plan the training calendar for the year.
  2. Develop the training content for business communications, leadership programs, customer relations etc. and conduct behavioral skills training sessions.
  3. Implement learning evaluation methods (1-4 level)
  4. Work towards organizational development involving exercises like mentoring and assessment centers.
  5. In some organizations one also has to conduct research on HR and management related topics and a learning and development specialist should be willing and prepared to do a good amount of reading for the same. The job also involves writing and reading reviews relevant to the field of human resource management.
  6. Induction and orientation of new joiners
  7. Knowledge of suggestion and of TS/ISO standards. (TS is a normative document representing the technical consensus within an ISO committee)

Qualifications and eligibility

The undergraduate degree could be in any 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. In such cases work experience becomes extremely important and if one has relevant work experience one could apply for such jobs.

A lot also depends on certain personal qualities such as communication skills, people management skills, etc. 

The minimum work experience required could range from anything between 2 yrs to 10years.

In a large number of cases many professionals handling other jobs in the same company for many years like sales and marketing get transferred to HR posts. This is because the company always prefers people who already have a fair idea and experience of how the company functions. Besides the company in this case already have established ties with the person concerned.

Often companies also hire and demand people with a postgraduate degree in psychology for the post of an HR generalist who normally perform functions like grievance handling, conducting psychometric tests, implementing policy designed by HR specialist etc. Such people are also hired only when they have relevant work experience (3-5yrs minimum).

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

Apart from such qualifications there are certain personal skills which are a must when it comes to applying for jobs in this sector. One needs to have good communication skills and planning skills.

Salary and benefits

The salary of an HR Manager (Generalist and Specialist) could range from anything between 6 lakhs -15 lakhs per annum depending on the organization you’re working for.

The standard set of benefits provided by the organization to an HR Manager include PF, Insurance (coverage for self mostly, may eventually move to family), facility of loans at 0% 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 for 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 about using company software. Often these firms do not use screen reading and other VI friendly software because of 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 and 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 for 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 as much.

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 the 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 naukri.com and monster.com. One should keep updating the 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 etc which is mainly to do with 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 of 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 extremely 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.

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