Required skills

There are a lot of things about HR that drive me crazy.

One is HR people whining about not getting appropriate amounts of respect. And then I see HR people doing things that I, as a fellow HR and business professional, couldn’t respect. Like not figuring out how what you’re doing affects the bottom line. Or being so ambiguous and unspecific about your contribution that it’s impossible to define or defend. Or taking the easy way out and not clarifying what it is you’re looking for in a job posting. Here’s an example.

I just saw an ad, written by a recruiter (at an agency) for a recruiter. Here are the required skills:

Skills/Qualifications:
Recruiting, Maintaining Employee Files, Building Relationships, People Skills, Organizational Astuteness, Verbal Communication, Listening, General Office Experience, Scheduling, Technical Understanding, Judgment

Can you believe this?

Can you imagine that you’d be asked to find someone with this skill set for any other job? Where are the specifics? Where is the connection to what the business is actually doing? Where are the outputs? This is nothing but a list of undefined activities and generic characteristics. I doubt that this recruiter would be this cavalier, even slipshod, when recruiting for any other function. But when it comes to HR, well, they just need to be a good listener with good judgement. And it doesn’t even say “good judgment”, it merely says “Judgment”. Why not just say you’re looking for a “people person”?

How can anyone in HR expect to be taken seriously if we don’t show the same amount of professionalism when recruiting for our own function. You want to earn that coveted “seat at the table?” Well you’re not going to earn it if you behave the way this person did.

Make sure you know why you’re doing what you’re doing every step of the way.
Make sure that your contribution is aligned with the bottom line of the organization.
Make sure senior management knows and understands what you’re doing that supports and advances the business.

That’s how you change the perception of HR from a “cost center” to a “profit center”.

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