What is HR consulting?
HR consulting is simply the consultation on human resources practices. This can range from requiring assistance with recruiting and hiring efforts, or it can be strategic integration of HR programs, processes, policies or practices.
The role of an HR Consultant is to assist the clients with identification of their HR needs, help them develop an action plan and establish policy and procedures to enhance the success of their organization. Typically these efforts break down into four core areas of focus.
4P's of HR consulting
1. Human Resources Plan / Programs – establishing an overall HR plan that your organization utilizes. This could include establishing or updating your company’s HR package. Redefining your HR program helps not only with staffing the organization, but also with retention and future recruitment. Your HR plan will consist of goals, targets and a strategic map for attaining these goals and targets.
2. Processes – creating the necessary protocol and documentation that are to be followed as part of your deploying HR programs. This could include instructions for mapping out interview process, the post interview process or
3. Policies – establishing “rules” and documentation around everything from orientation to codes of conduct, non-disclosure agreements etc
4. Practices – this might include things like developing job descriptions and determining the best avenues for sharing job postings. This would also include creating things like an Employee Handbook or Performance Appraisal forms.
Ten common areas that the clients demand from the HR consultants include:
Applicant Pre-screening
Offer Negotiations
Compensation & Recognition Statements
Creating & Implementing Guidelines
Conflict Management support
New Hire Orientation
Employee Handbook Development
Performance Evaluation
Documentation of HR Policies
Outplacement Services
HR Consulting is something that business owners should consider if they want to continue to grow their business. Whether you are a small business or a larger business with multiple locations, leveraging a recruiting agency that provides HR consulting may be just what you need to take your business to the next level.
These days, companies are growing increasingly complicated, and human resources departments are no exception. Enter the human resources consultant, an offshoot of the management consultant who charges companies a high hourly rate to impart much-needed services. Human resources consultants may specialize in a variety of fields, including benefits, employee incentives and rewards programs, company culture after mergers and acquisitions, employee motivation, retirement plans, recruiting and even the outsourcing of any of the many functions of an HR department. This high-level individual assesses a company’s current situation and offers and helps deploy systemic recommendations that will get the company to its desired goal. The HR consultant, meanwhile, gets to choose whom he or she works with, when that work is completed, and what to charge. It is the HR path where freedom meets money.
The career opportunities in HR consulting are growing at a rapid pace. The best way to begin in a career in HR consulting would be to attend the consulting course in some of the top tier MBA schools in the country which offer specialization in human resource management such as XLRI Jamshedpur and MDI Gurgaon.