A Day In The Life Of An HR Professional

We are over and done with the stereotypical portrayal of the Human resource department that is feared because their primary job is firing employees and cutting costs in the organization. Now things have changed and people understand that HR is a valuable asset for a company

A good Human resource professional plays an important role in the success of a business in every way possible by taking care of all employee-centric needs and developing a company’s strategy. Some of their basic tasks include business budget control, employee conflict resolution, training and the list goes on.

Therefore an HR is called an unofficial psychologist, event planner, peacemaker, lawyer and teacher. Over the years the role of the HR professional has evolved and they are in a powerful position to take various important business decisions. They play an important part in bringing a positive change in an employee’s life by supporting them and assisting them through various hurdles.

If you love taking care of people and assisting them, then the HR profession is a perfect fit for you. The life of an HR professional is exciting if you are ready to take up challenges as no two days are going to be the same.

There is a lot to learn every day and you can upgrade your skills over time. If you are someone who would like to make a career in HR then the first thing you must know is the responsibilities of HR. If you find these responsibilities appealing and you are ready to do justice to them, then the HR profession is the right choice for you.

Let’s have a look at some of the key responsibilities of HR:

• Recruiting – Recruiting is one of the basic HR professional responsibility. Recruiting involves various processes like posting job ads, responding to calls or emails, Screening resumes, scheduling interviews, employee assessment etc. An HR needs to understand the requirement of the company and select the right candidate for further rounds of interviews.

• Employee onboarding – Onboarding is an important process as it gives the employee an overview of the company’s culture and company’s expectations from the employee. It also engages the employee and makes them feel more valued. It has also been noticed that a company that provides a great onboarding experience to their employees have a higher employee retention rate. HR plays a major role in a great employee onboarding process.

• Payroll – Payroll processing is a hectic job for HR. Calculating taxes, paid leaves, attendance, reimbursement etc. are some of the processes involved in payroll. So if you think an HR’s job is a cakewalk then think again.

• Training – An HR professional has to conduct or arrange training sessions for employees to upgrade their skills. Companies benefit from this training as their employees become more efficient in their work.

• Time and attendance management – Earlier attendance management was a tedious and time-consuming job for the HR department. But now with the advancement in technology attendance management has been automated and companies use an Attendance management system to track each employee’s attendance. Though this process has been automated and has reduced the tedious work of HR, they still have to be in the loop and manage this process.

• Improve company image – HR plays a major role in improving the company’s reputation and maintaining a good image. Recruiting the best employees and retaining them, helps in the company’s growth and the company receives recognition.

Here’s why a career in HR is a good choice for you:

Fast-growing field – With the right skill set and specialisation, there is ample room for growth in this field. Pursuing a career in this field also increases your earning potential. This results in a high level of job satisfaction.

Challenging but interesting – If you think the life of an HR professional is as easy as pie, then you have to reconsider your thoughts. This doesn’t mean HR is a stressful career option. Finding the right talent, recruiting and retaining them to help the business grow is an art. If you think you can handle this then no doubt this career is a perfect fit for you. Each day involves interacting with new people, handling new tasks, learn etc. Therefore this job is far more interesting than you think.

Help in the success of an organization – HR plays a huge role in employee engagement, retention and creating training strategies. Retaining the best employees and developing new strategies for the business, impacts the growth and success of the business to a whole new level. Therefore there are no second thoughts that HR’s role in the success of an organization is huge.

Influence Company culture – HR helps to shape the company culture in more than one way. Having a good company culture is the key to a successful business. Having frequent communications with the employees, gathering their feedback, taking proactive steps, engaging and retaining employees etc. are some of the HR professional responsibility that impacts the company culture.

Make a difference – In today’s world, it is very important to retain the best employees for the success of the business. HR helps in employee retention by motivating them and giving them good guidance.

There are instances when employees have to face harassment in an organization or get into a dispute with other employees. HR plays a direct role in handling such situations and helps in maintaining a safe and positive work environment. Having open communications and solving employees’ problems bring a smile to employees’ faces. Therefore as an HR, you feel a sense of contentment.

Now, as you got an overview of the jobs and responsibilities of an HR, let’s see how a typical day in the life of an HR professional looks like:

As an HR, you have the responsibility of handling 3 departments – Recruitment, operation and administration.

• A typical day in the life of an HR professional starts by checking the mail for any queries, requirements or responses.

• It is then time to sit with the team and discuss the day’s schedule and distribute the tasks among the team.

• Then comes the time to schedule interviews and follow up on the interviews that are already lined up.

• An HR may also have to post job ads if there are any current openings in the organization and have an endless number of calls to select the desired candidate for the next round of interviews.

• The first half of the day is usually hectic for HR as this is the time when interviews are conducted. It may even stretch till evening depending upon the number of candidates lined up for the interview. Even the onboarding process of a new candidate takes place during the first half of the day.

• If post-lunch the recruitment process is done, this is the time when HR can concentrate on other administrative tasks like going through employee feedback, conducting appraisal meetings, creating strategies, processing expense reports, filing employee documents, exit interviews, employee training, payroll processing and many other tasks.

• HR has also other tasks like making sure the meeting room is ready before the next meeting, making sure employees are not facing any issues, maintaining a safe and secure work environment etc.

• Lastly, by the end of the day, HR has to make a point of any pending task so that it can be completed without fail the next day. HR managers can also have a quick meeting with the team to plan strategies or help the team if they are facing an issue.

This is how a typical day in the life of an HR professional looks like. No doubt it has challenges like any other job but it is an exciting profession. Every day you get to learn new things as you have to interact with new people.

This is a field that is very rewarding for people who are hardworking, empathetic and care for others’ needs. If the above job role of HR is something that you found exciting then wait no longer and kick-start a career in Human resources.

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