People’s person

HR managers have to look after the recruitment, learning, development and welfare of a company’s human resources.

The lowdown
HR managers have to look after the recruitment, learning, development and welfare of a company’s human resources. Their key focus is on recruiting, training, team-building, performance updates, salary, benefits and increments, employee health , safety and amenities. The manager is also responsible for mobilising the workforce to achieve the company’s objectives. Roles can change from organisation to organisation. A manager might be dealing with all HR issues in a small organisation and handling certain responsibilities in a bigger company.

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Clock Work
9-10am: Plan the day with special focus on priority tasks
10-11am: Attend to priority tasks / crisis if any
11am-12pm: Focus on process setting systems
12-1pm: Meeting with consultants, vendors and agencies
2-4pm: Progress meeting with the team
4-6.30pm: Closing on executional / operational plans
6.30-7pm: Closing on updates and daily task list
8pm: Head for home

The payoff
The starting salary of a management trainee with a PG diploma in HR can range from Rs2 lakh to Rs2.3 lakh a year
With three years’ experience as HR manager, one can expect to take home Rs9 lakh a year
At the director level, salaries can be in the range of Rs1 lakh and above a month. With more experience one can rake in as much as Rs27 lakh a year, for managing a team of around 6 - 10 people

Skills/TRAITS
. Ability to understand human relations
. Leadership skills
. Negotiation skills
. Should have good knowledge of the industry
. Being a people’s person helps – and some counselling skills can also come handy
. Understanding of different cultures
. Excellent communication skills
. Ability to take a hard call, tocreate a win-win situation for the organisation and staff

Getting there
One can obtain a bachelor’s degree in human resources administration and management. One could opt for other disciplines as well, such as psychology. Follow this up with a master’s or MBA programme in human resources. A summer internship in a company’s HR department will stand you in good stead. Education and experience both count equally for succeeding in this profession

Institutes
. XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, Jamshedpur
www.xlri.ac.in
. Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
www.tiss.edu
. Management Development Institute, Gurgaon
www.mdi.ac.in
. Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development, Pune
www.scmhrd.edu
. International Management Institute, Delhi
www.imi.edu
. Loyola Institute of Business Admistration, Chennai
www.liba.edu
. Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad
www.imt.edu
. Faculty of Management Studies, New Delhi
www.fms.edu

Pros and cons
. Being part of the recruitment process, one can get great satisfaction in outfitting an organisation with the right
people
. You are responsible for nurturing and helping people develop in the organisation and doing good by lend a helping
hand to others
. Playing the mediator between the management and employees can be stressful
. Sometimes one needs to put personal feelings aside and make hard decisions based on facts