10 Human Resource Management Basics Every HR Professional Should Know

1. Observational Skills

Observation is the ability to notice the slightest nuances in behavior, mood, and emotions. Therefore, it is necessary to ask yourself the following questions: “Why is the person acting this way? What emotions are they experiencing?” Analyze their causes, not their symptoms.

2. Not Only Listening But Also Hearing

The HR specialist should be able to feel the situation and build trust, be an excellent negotiator, listen carefully, clarify nuances and details, and recognize lies, pretenses, or flattery. Why are these aspects important? What is the basis for this statement? Personnel managers monitor opinions and the mood of personnel and develop professional and business connections, thereby building both their own and the corporate social capital. And without the skills of a good listener, there is no way to be a successful HR professional.

3. The Ability To Ask Questions

And a true professional can ask the right questions, not only of himself but also of others. It means that you should strive to identify the essence of the problem, its causes, and not just the consequences and results of the actions, decisions, and emotions that a person is experiencing at a particular moment in time. For example, why did this or that individual act this way? What result will the company get from this action?

4. The Ability To Cope With A Large Data Set

You should be able to find cause-and-effect connections, have a critical attitude to everything, check and recheck the facts, and sing out the most essential, sifting out the information garbage. And this is where the curiosity factor comes to the fore. It is the desire to learn new things and a thirst for new knowledge and emotions.

5. Knowledge And Skills Of Visual Psychodiagnostics

The highest level of mastering this tool is the ability to anticipate the behavior and decisions of the person even before he starts talking and acting. It is not only the deciphering of gestures and facial expressions but knowledge of psycho-types, characteristics of character, behavior, and the manifestation of different personality types.

6. Intergenerational Knowledge

Millennials have made up 50% of the workforce by 2020. At the same time, older generations retire later, and many move to freelance or work part-time when they reach old age. As a result, the workforce is becoming more educated and more globally experienced. Today’s challenges for human resources professionals are already understanding, seeking out, and motivating high-performing, intergenerational talent.

7. Cultural Intelligence

Cultural intelligence here means knowledge and understanding of the characteristics of different nations, cultures, and religions, the specifics of their labor relations, management, business etiquette, and interpersonal relationships.

8. Knowledge Of Leadership

Knowledge of theories and practices of leadership and the formation of highly productive teams is awareness of managers types, group formation, and their formal and informal leaders. For this purpose, HR specialists should constantly communicate with all employees of the organization, following feedback, take part in informal meetings of the staff members during team-building events and be able to resolve any conflicts within the group.

9. The Ability To Organize Communications

A good HR specialist should be able to select the latest information on the most relevant aspects of the organization, determine the best distribution channels, know the tools of marketing and HR branding, even deal with so-called reviews rated by students and can convey information to staff using various media: intranet, internal website, corporate newspapers, magazines, and social networks. Feedback is also an essential element in this process. Without it, all the HR manager’s efforts will be in vain.

10 . To Be An Intermediary In Complicated Issues

The HR manager acts as an intermediary between the interests of employees and top management, and in some cases, even the owner, the state, trade unions, and specialized associations. If you want to understand what difficult situations can arise in a team, order a finished paper on Trust My Paper custom writing so you don’t have to waste time searching for information.

3. Interviews: biographical, behavioral, situational, and projective

There are four types of interviews:

➔ Biographical. It helps to find out the candidate's work experience and what they have done and, based on the answers, to make your conclusions. In addition, the biographical interview helps to know the person's personal qualities and professional skills.

➔ Behavioral. It makes it possible to obtain answers to questions about a candidate's biography and his key competencies, approach to work, and methods he employs.

➔ Situational. You offer a candidate a particular situation and look at his reaction. Also, consider the ways to solve the problem he proposes.

➔ Projective. In projective questions, we ask the candidate about his attitude towards people and different situations. It helps determine a team member's attitude towards other people and motivation.

4. The Ranking Method

The basis of this method is the scaling of a team member’s personal qualities, used to understand how well they fit the position. Thus, it is essential to base the team member’s job description assessment on when conducting an evaluation using the ranking method. The team member’s work analysis considers the time spent on tasks, the quality of their performance, the speed of decision-making, and the number of material resources used.

5. Behavioral Observation Scale Method

In the case of the behavior observation scale method, only the team member’s specific behavior is evaluated and recorded on a questionnaire. The way is quite simple if you can observe the team member’s behavior. For example, when communicating with coworkers, you can analyze their relationships. Assessment by this method analyzes the behavior of the team member on various parameters, which is very convenient.

6. 360-Degree Feedback

360-Degree Feedback method helps the HR specialist carry out a comprehensive analysis of personnel. The team member is evaluated by his supervisor, colleagues, and customers (if the work involves communication with the last ones). Also, consider the candidate’s professionalism, communication skills, and behavior.

7. Independent Judges

It involves 5-7 judges who ask the team members about their professional performance. If the team member gives a correct answer, the judges mark it on their questionnaires; if wrong, the team member receives a minus. At the end of the interview, the judges provide an opinion. During the evaluation with this method, it is possible to ask comprehensive questions about the team member’s professional skills.

8. Business Games

You can use it to determine the team's current state: how the team members interact and solve complex tasks. Moreover, it's an excellent opportunity to assess each participant's contribution to the work. However, before conducting an assessment using the method of business games, it is essential to prepare all materials.

9. Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

With the help of this method, you can determine the specialist's productivity. How does it work? Some criteria determine the weight of the indicators as a percentage for a team member. For example, the performance criterion for an HR manager may be the number of jobs closed or the rate of job closures. When using this method, the goals set for the team member must be clear.

10 . Management By Objectives (MBO)

Here all the goals and objectives of the company are broken down from top to bottom. In other words, first, there is a global objective, second is the company's aim, third is the department's aim, and then the team's aim descends to the employees' goals. With this method, you can clearly understand and form plans for each department.

Summing Up

A good HR professional is a natural-born networker who doesn't get tired of communication and enjoys it. His primary tool is not a database but a network of business contacts and knowledge of human resource management basics, including the criteria and personnel evaluation methods.

Biography

Anna likes writing from her university years. When she graduated from the Interpreters Department, she realized that translation was not so interesting, as writing was. She trains her skills now working as a freelance writer on different topics. Always she does her best in the posts and articles.