An Insight into Careers in Human Resource Management

By

Abhijeet Singh
Executive - Support Operation
Standard Chartered Bank
Bangalore

S. Saiganesh
Facutly
Department of Management Studies
Adhiyamaan College of Engineering
Hosur
 

INTRODUCTION

In the globalized era, organizations have realized that the need of the hour is to have skilled, well- trained & highly motivated staff to help the growth of the company. Organizations invest time & money in the welfare & benefit of the employees because they see merit in such activities. All this & more has led this part of an organization's activity to be called Human Resource Management. However there is more to HRM than just being the internal function of a corporate. Some options open for professionals interested in career in Human Resource are given below.

CORPORATE HRM

The role of a HR manager in the corporate sector is to search, select & recruit suitable& qualified staff for his organization. It is also concerned with the development, motivation & training of this staff in order to maximize their satisfaction & minimize turnover.

Increasingly the role of the HRM has future been empowered by their involvement in strategic issue revolving around organizational change, statutory compliance & industrial matters. Typically a bachelor's degree in management allows entry into a junior cadre of HRM, or an MBA is usually the norm for entry into mid level/senior position into HR department of large organization.

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

There are some companies that specialized in T & D as a business. Their jobs is broadly to "Train  the Trainer" or in the other words, train HR managers to , in turn, train employees of their organization & equip them with certain skill sets. They often hold work shops on "behavioral skills" etc. They also facilitate highly specialized workshops on "how to price high end derivatives" in which case they act as a link with specialized trainers. Most training firm employ people who have done their masters with either management or psychology or those who have pursued a diploma course in psychology after their bachelors in the same.

RECRUITMENT CONSULTING

The job market is a buzz right now. MNCS are setting up base in India. Many are shifting their back end operations to Indian Cities. The retail sector is booming & every possible foreign bank is also setting foot here. Poaching is no longer a bad word and is, in fact, synonymous with hiring. Thus recruitment consulting is actually a very lucrative & fruitful field to join at this stage.

There are several recruitment consulting firms in India. In some the business & business responsibilities are split by industries & in others, they are split by functions. The general requirement to become a recruitment consultant is an MBA with specialization in HR.

HR CONSULTING

This is the upcoming field, where in organizations employ the services of HR consultants to either find solutions or help tide over issues relating to people in the organization. For instance, when 2 companies are merging to form a common entity, they often hire HR consultant to figure out a way to smoothly integrate the people & culture of the organizations. In the case of organizations that need to re-structure, HR consultant decide on those who need to be retained, fired or promoted. In public sector companies when voluntary retirement schemes are announced, HR consultants are hired to make the process smoother.

HR consultants are often employed by organizations for compensation, benefit analysis $ review. A bachelor's degree in management or a specialized master's degree in HR would be good entry points at several levels of HR consulting.

CAREER COUNSELLING

One of the most prominent facts of career counselling is the one that caters to the youth. This field includes the paid services of private organizations & also schools & colleges that provide career counselling to their students. To be eligible for this field, a PG diploma in counselling is required.

A related field is that of conducting behavioural test, which are carried out in order to analyze personality traits of individuals, through which the type of education & career profile that is best suited to them can be determined. This is a specialized field & requires a degree in clinical psychology. "Several schools & colleges hire counselors to conduct behavioural test for students who are the verge of choosing a career stream. They conduct behavioural tests which help students ascertain their skills set & the field that would be ideal for them to join. An increasing number of institutions understand the advantage of catching children while they are young to detect any odd behavioural pattern by conducting this test.

ACADEMICS

If a person is interested in academics & is keen to take up HR, then a MBA with a specialization in HR or OB is the best option. This followed by doctorate in the same field would make you eligible to teach HR or OB at any institution.

HR is a fast developing field, which until a few decades ago, was considered the domain of women. However due to the variety of roles available to day & the increasing relevance of this field, finds more & more men & women pursuing HR as a viable career option.
 

Abhijeet Singh
Executive - Support Operation
Standard Chartered Bank
Bangalore

S. Saiganesh
Facutly
Department of Management Studies
Adhiyamaan College of Engineering
Hosur
 

Source: E-mail November 5, 2007

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