360 Degrees Profile of an HR Professional

At the outset, let me say this is meant to be a lighthearted expose` of the consummate HR professional. Take it with a grain of salt! Any resemblance to the real thing may or may not be true :-). Sometimes it’s nice to step back from our ‘oh so serious selves’ and have some fun in the HR world. There are just too many things happening with people, people and more people…..

So here’s a 360 degrees profile of an HR professional.

The Good

• It’s a terrific career. If you are a people person, the satisfaction you get from seeing a happy employee is tremendous, especially when you’ve just called someone with a job offer. Yay….
• You can be an agent of real change through policies and programs you help to implement, within limitations of course.
• You have power! You make decisions that impact people. You can influence people for the greater good.
• Management likes you!
• HR is a positive place to be.
• Your day is never the same. Unexpected, unpredictable are adjectives that describe your job.

The Bad

• People are unpredictable and you have to deal with some unpleasantness, especially when you are involved in disciplinary meetings, conflict resolution or terminations.
• You can be underappreciated. Work and more work awaits you and some employees are just not appreciative of your efforts. People are never satisfied!
• All that power can go to your head. You can become arrogant or smug. And the human resources department can be perceived as the ‘in-human department’.
• Burn-out happens. You get tired of dealing with cranky employees.
• You have to listen to everyone even if you are having a bad day!
• HR people can be quite skeptical. You’ve seen it all and heard it all.

And the Ugly….

• Employees tend to associate HR with unpleasant or unpopular decisions.
• HR people are sometimes scapegoats for management decisions and can become the ‘hated’ department.

But…in spite of it all, I wouldn’t change my career for the world!

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Brenda Fernandes is a Certified Human Resources Leader (CHRL) who has been in the human resources field for more than 10 years. She has a Masters’ degree in Business Administration and a Diploma in Human Resources Management from Sheridan College, Ontario. She has worked in various roles, including start-ups, in the oil, automotive, aerospace, distribution and manufacturing industries. This includes the range of small, medium and big businesses. Brenda is also a licenced Realtor with Keller Williams Real Estate Associates and enjoys helping her clients in buying, selling or investing in real estate.