Insight into the Human Resources Executive profession
Almost every company / business out there has someone who is appointed as a Human Resources Executive (or Manager). These persons play very important roles in their respective companies. Today I’m providing you with insight into this profession.
What exactly does a Human Resources Executive do?
Human Resources (or HR) Executives make the final decisions when it comes to the recruitment and hiring of new employees within the company. It’s their duty to inform their human resources staff that the company must expand or fill empty spots other employees have left. It’s the human resources staff’s responsibility to find and interview potential candidates and to narrow down the list of potential candidates to a manageable number for the executive. The HR Executive selects the candidate who they feel best fits the criteria for the available position.
HR Executives are also responsible for identifying failing company policies and finalizing and implementing policy changes at companies that will help to make the company function better and ensure a better working environment for their employees. They are also responsible for approving training programs for employees and for recommending and implementing necessary changes to them.
HR Executives also create the salary and benefits packages that are offered to existing and new employees (based on the budget that is made available to them in a year). If there is no oversight on salaries, a company could end up spending all of its income on overhead costs. It’s an HR Executive’s job to create a salary range for new recruits and direct their staff to stay in that range.
Which skills do you need to be a HR Executive?
To be a HR Executive you need to be able to take initiative, have human relations handling and leadership skills, a professional knowledge of HR, ability to add value through people development, practice continuous learning, a strategic thinking capability, great influencing, negotiating skills and interpersonal skills, practice business / cultural awareness, ability to focus on service delivery, have good communication skills (verbal and written) as well as presentation skills. It’s a very demanding profession.
In Layman’s terms: If you’re not good with people, used to working in an organized manner and comfortable dealing with stress, then this may not be the profession for you.
Do you need to study to become a Human Resources Executive?
It’s advisable that you study business administration, labor relations or human resources if you want to get into this field. Degrees and Courses for these fields are available at the majority of South Africa’s tertiary institutions. Doing short courses in accounting and management will also prove to be useful.
We recently spoke to Grace. She’s a Human Resources Executive in the Retail industry. She offers some useful tips and advice for getting into this field. This video is part of our #YouWantMyJob series of videos on YouTube.
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Check out the latest listings for Human Resources jobs on Job Mail. If this is not your field, remember to keep your CV updated and browse for jobs in your field and apply for them on our website.
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