I remember that the first thing people told me when I said I want to be an HR was whether I wanted to do so because it's an easy job. Others supported my decision saying HR is good for me because I'm a girl and yet others advised against it because they felt that there's no future in HR.
Today as I eagerly wait to convert my HRM calls, I can see many others around me wondering whether this field is good for them. Well I'm no expert when it comes to an MBA since I'm an aspirant myself, but this article is for all those who are doubtful if they should go for a career in Human Resources.
These are few of the reasons why I chose to apply only for colleges offering a specialised HRM programme:
- Leadership: I have always enjoyed taking over responsibilities that required me to manage my peers. When I was in my final year of engineering, I was the Secretary of our Student Association. Conflict management between the employer and the employees is one of the major duties of an HR. As the Secretary, I was doing the same by resolving the issues of the students by consulting with the college management.
- Past experiences: Most undergraduate colleges these days have placement cells and I was a part of one. This helped me interact with a lot of recruiters and HRs. I was fascinated by the fact that an HR is usually the first person that you interact with in any organisation. I was also lucky enough to do an internship in Human Resources right after college before working as an IT professional for a year.
- Communication skills: Now, there are many people who say that they want to become HR managers because they love to talk. Well that's not just what an HR does. They do need to be precise and effective when communicating with employees but they are also expected to motivate the employees to do great work. I would definitely enjoy being able to hold such a powerful position in an organisation.
- Problem-solving: HRs are responsible for structuring the organisation. An organisation is stable only when the employees are happy. The HR makes sure that the concerns of the employees reach the upper management. They are the chain that binds the organisation tight. If you are someone who is expecting every day to be different and consider every new issue to be a challenge, then you may as well become a good HR.
- Job flexibility: An HR is responsible for an array of jobs like recruitment, compensation and benefits, labor relations, employee information system handling, etc. All these domains are vastly different and an HR can explore each domain to find out what's best for them.
These are just few of the reasons why I decided to apply for only HRM programmes. If you still feel that perhaps you would be more interested in other domains like Marketing or Finance, then look up what skills do these domains require and whether you have these in you.
If you too are like me and feel that you are ready to become a people manager, do not think any further and join that HRM programme that you were able to convert.