7 Keys to setting yourself apart as a HR Professional

Throughout the lifecycle of employment, your HR leader or team will play a pivotal role in representing company culture and maintaining that culture to candidates, vendors, stakeholders and of course employees. Whether a large organization is looking for a Chief Human Resources Officer or a smaller organization seeking a HR Department of One, Controller or Office Manager to handle HR duties, key competencies must be addressed. 

What Your HR Leader Should “Look” Like

HR is a profession.  Like any key member of the team, you should have a well-rounded candidate that has diverse experience in many aspects of human resources.  Ensure that the HR team walks in the door with the specific traits that will supplement the others on the leadership team and make a connection with employees.  Compliance is a critical component of human resources, and identifying knowledge in human resources is key.  This is where many organizations find certification helpful as was to differentiate basic HR knowledge.

Other key attributes to look for include:

1. Professional
2. Communicative
3. Decisive
4. Responsive
5. Business Savvy
6. Facilitator
7. Problem Solver

These seven characteristics and skill sets will set apart HR professional leaders from a paper-pushing administrator. The idea that the HR Leader also knows the basics of COBRA, FMLA, FLSA is almost given today!  There is no better way to show your HR leader status then the certifications provided by SHRM and HRCI.  Look for SPHR, SHRM-SCP, PHR and SHRM-CP as a way to differentiate yourself as someone that have made a substantial commitment to their career and is an expert.

Your HR department is the face of your business. Professional, communicative, decisive, responsive, business savvy, facilitator and problem solver—these should be the major adjectives used to describe your HR team!