Job Seekers on LinkedIn Need to Know These 8 Things

HR has a bit of an image challenge and a reputation challenge. I think to add to that, what we are also seeing in this context is people don't know what HR does from an extended point of view. You know, there's the higher fire perspective, but people actually don't understand the breadth of opportunity that lies within HR. Hello, Ron, and welcome to HR Hot Topics. In this episode, we're going to talk about HR careers. And Dieter will kick us off, but before he does, don't forget to like this video, subscribe to our channel and hit that notification bell. Dieter, let's talk HR careers. Very exciting topic for me, Eric. And I think when we start thinking about HR careers, a couple of things to mention. Over the past two, three years, we've seen significant growth in terms of opportunities, vacancies, new roles that are coming into HR. And it poses the question, what does an HR career look like today? And I think that's vastly different the answer than a couple of years ago. Want to kickstart us, Eric? Why did you choose a career in HR? I think I'm the odd one out because I loved HR because there's a metric component to it. And I love the technology side of HR. But I think a lot of people dive into HR because, and that's the big reason that you always hear, I want to work with people and I want to help people. And I think that's often the wrong reason to go into HR, because if you really want to help people, you know, it's better to become a nurse. As an HR professional, you help the organization. And through helping the organization, you get to help a lot of people and make an impact, a positive impact on a lot of lives. But sometimes you also need to make hard choices and make choices that may be not fully in line with what people's motivations and interests are. And I think that is the difficult side of HR and also the shadow side of HR. And we should be very careful of branding ourselves fully as, you know, we help everyone and everything because our role goes beyond that. You and I have often spoken about the fact that HR has a bit of an image challenge and a reputation challenge. I think to add to that, what we are also seeing in this context is people don't know what HR does from an extended point of view. You know, there's the higher fire perspective, but people actually don't understand the breadth of opportunity that lies within HR. I mean, on our AIHR career map, we've mapped more than 90 possible careers within HR across all these different disciplines. Yet people still have a very limiting view, which means they get into HR completely for the wrong reasons. And we've got a role there to play to really give people a perspective of what does HR really do and what does value look like? And then to see whether you're a fit or not. Dieter, with so much choice, how do you know where you start? And I think our AIHR career map, and we'll link it in the description down below, is a very good place to start. And what we're seeing is that a lot of individuals are going there, you know, to map their careers themselves for themselves. And we also see a lot of organizations trying it out and coming to us and saying, you know, how can I implement this and help my team, you know, enable my team and build this career path in my organization? But to me, that's also a sign that those career paths are not set in stone and that as an individual, you should take charge of your own career and build your own path proactively and take charge yourself. I think there's this notion, Eric, that we have to be intentional and self-directed about our careers. And that's definitely true. What has been really interesting, and most people have a combination of careers over their lifetime, but there's five patterns that we're starting to see in the HR domain specifically that I think is really, really interesting. The first one is the traditional linear path that still exists. I'm a coordinator. I become an administrator. I become a consultant. I become a BP. So it's along the same track that I move up in seniority. Second one that we see there is really a cross-discipline type of move. I move between being a generalist into one of the specialist domains in and out there and try to have a broader perspective in terms of what my skill set is going to be. Third one we find really, really interesting. And I follow this path is the in and out of HR type of career development where you start somewhere completely different. You move into HR or you start in HR and then you move into business and you move around. And I started in IT. I moved to finance and then eventually find my way into HR as part of that career pattern. The other one we find is the experience pattern where I really love what I do, but I want to apply it in different contexts. So I'm in employee relations, but I want to jump industries to see what does this look like elsewhere or work on more complex situations or complex cases. And the last one, not a term that we have coined, but I really love it, the squiggly career path, which looks like there's no logic to it. But if you reflect upon it, it's driven by somebody's ambitions, the opportunities that come across their path. And they make decisions then to move across different industries and across different functions within an organization. I think that's really interesting to see. I did not know that Dieter was in IT. But next time my laptop is broken, I know where to find you, Dieter. For me, when, you know, when building a career, I think it's very important to follow the four E's. And the first one is explore, you know, get an understanding of what's out there. What are the different roles that you have in HR that, you know, connect with you? Because there is a lot of different roles in HR. The next one is experience, because you need to build experience in your current role, but also, you know, join projects that go beyond your scope. You already mentioned, you know, sometimes move out of HR, connect with people who have a different role from yourself and also craft your job and make sure that your job aligns with your interest and your personality. That's how you build those experiences. And through that, you equip yourself. The third, you equip yourself with transferable skills like communication skills, project management skills, but also business acumen, data literacy. Essentially, all the skills that we mentioned in our T-Shape HR professional framework, they are crucial because they help you, you know, be fit in your current role, but also be ready for next roles. And finally, you have evolved because you shouldn't sit still for too long. You know, if you get stuck in one organization or in one role for too long, that's not good for you either. So you want to evolve. You know, after mastering a job, you want to go to the next job and get that next challenge, because that's, again, how you build new experiences and build your own value as an individual as well. So those for me are really important. When you manage your own career, the four E's. I agree, Eric, and I think we almost point back towards the point that it has to be self-directed. It has to be alive. It's a continuous process. And for me, there's something a little bit deeper here as well, where people have to ask the question around what is career success for me look like? Because I think very often we compare to others, but our interests, our situations, all those types of things are vastly different. And I think we have to start taking that into account, especially in a world where career management is going to become really interesting on how you build that over time. Dieter, we talk about the T-shaped HR professional, and that's, you know, the horizontal part of the T. Those are the core skills that you need. And then the vertical part, those are the functional or in-depth skills that you need. And I really strongly believe that everyone in HR should have at least a couple of core skills. And I think those are the transferable skills that apply in any role in HR. So that's, first of all, business acumen. I already mentioned that one. You need to understand where the business is going, because then you know where to add value. It means data literacy. So the ability to read and interpret data and communicate data and set KPIs. It's also digital agility. You know, can you deliver value in HR through digital? Because most of HR's value delivery is happening through digital technology. Then there's people advocacy. So now the understanding of people being able to communicate effectively and, you know, build a culture. And finally, is the ability to execute, so to create impact as an HR professional. Those, you know, and we've specified all the different behaviors that are relevant. If you're interested in that framework, you can check out the link in the description as well to see our T-shaped HR professional framework. But those on a high level, I think, are the five big competencies that will translate to any role in HR. Those are the transferable skills that are really important for an HR professional. I like that, Eric. And I think it's going to really make a difference for people to start just thinking beyond the role title, because I think sometimes that's a bit limiting. I think I am an HR business partner. So these are the things that I should be able to do. My personal view over time is that I think the generalist versus specialist divide is going to look very different in the next couple of years. We'll move a lot closer together. And I think this transferability of skill set is going to become even more important to remain relevant, especially with the newer type of opportunities in HR. So think about something like an HR scrum manager, not something that existed a couple of years ago. Yet there's a great opportunity for somebody that is able to do project planning, for somebody that is able to do planning and organizing. And I think those are some of the things that we will really see. I think also what we are starting to see just from a skills point of view also in the T-shape is really this acknowledgement that HR in their own right also requires leadership skills. And I think we really need to start thinking about what does that look like? HR as the people leader. It's often neglected where, you know, we enable the business to lead other people. But we never think about the fact that an HR individual will also have a team. They also need to guide a team. They also need to lead a team. And I think that's also going to become really, really important when teams become more fluid and start moving around and leadership becomes a little bit flatter in structure. I also want to ask that question to the audience, you know, leave in the comments. What does the next step for your HR career look like? Because I think that's also a place where we can learn from each other. And for inspiration, you can go to the HR career map where you can also plot your own career and also see the salary ranges. You know, for some of us, that's also quite interesting. We've learned, I think, a couple of things. I think the main take home is, you know, take charge of your own career. Yes, you work together with the organization, but you can't wait for the organization to help you. It is really taking charge and managing, self-managing your career. It's being also really intentional about the opportunities in your career. I think oftentimes we feel like, you know, a career is something that happens and we'll see what comes along. I think we can be more intentional about the actions that we take and the skills that we build in our own career. And remember the four E's. We said explore new opportunities, build experience, equip yourself with the transferable skills that we spoke about. And then finally evolve. Don't sit still for too long, but, you know, take on that new opportunity. Maybe even if you're not fully ready for it, you know, that's why you go to a new opportunity also to learn. So let us know in the comments down below. What is the next step for your HR career? Or maybe you're just starting off in HR. So let us know where you're starting off in. And if you haven't done it already, don't forget to like this video. Subscribe to the HR channel and hit that notification bell down below. That's it from our side of the desk. Just want to wish you an absolutely brilliant day and a lot of good luck in your HR career. Bye bye.