As HR continues to strengthen its strategic focus across Asia, HR professionals will have to showcase a broader range of strategic skills, a spokesperson from Careerbuilder told
HRD.
To advance further up the modern day HR career ladder, there are four key qualities that HR leaders must have on their resumes.
1) Clarity in vision
“HR leaders must be able to hold a holistic view of the entire organisation and promote growth in all aspects,” the spokesperson said.
To reflect this, she added, resumes should include past achievements which showcase the ability to construct and shape a range of HR processes and policies in areas such as training, compensation & benefits, and new-employee orientation.
2) Business acumen and innovation
“Part of being holistic, HR leaders must be able to join the dots of the external business environment with the awareness of how to enhance profitability and execute an effective strategy to deliver results,” the spokesperson said.
In today’s turbulent economy, she noted that there was a constant struggle between business and HR professionals over bringing in short-term quick fixes or longer-term approaches.
HR should demonstrate the ability to create more sustainable, long-term solutions which ultimately benefit the company and employees.
“An example of what could be included in the resume would be co-developing the company's first-ever standardised disciplinary procedures and tracking system that ensured consistent and fair discipline processes,” she said.
Additionally, the advent of modern technology such as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) has streamlined elaborate processes into simple tasks, she added.
In this vein, a senior HR resume should also include how the individual has been able to take the initiative and use these platforms for business development.
“For instance, you might have adopted best practices on talent sourcing, gathered business forecasts, and provided upper management with practical growth recommendations,” she said.
3) Negotiation ability
Because of HR’s consultative nature, HR leaders are typically faced with situations involving negotiation and mediation, the spokesperson noted. Senior leaders looking for a new job should showcase all skills and achievements in this area.
“An example of what could be included in the resume would be negotiated salary offers and sign-on bonuses/relocation packages annually.”
It is also a good idea for HR professionals to include specific details about past negotiations, she said. This includes details like negotiating 100 salary offers and 30 sign-on bonuses/relocation packages, so that all successes are properly quantified in the CV.
4) Commitment to corporate/employee balance
As risk taking is an important part of any business, it is essential for HR leaders to include examples of this within the CV, the spokesperson said. Include examples where calculated risks have been taken to improve corporate profitability or human relations.
One excellent addition would be fostering an open door environment across the organisation, she added.
“This would be quite an interesting introduction for the organisation because an open-door policy can provide a conducive environment for positive feedback that ultimately facilitates the overall growth of the company.”
It is also helpful to mention how your initiatives affected employee retention by saying it increased by a considerable percentage when compared to industry norms or previous yearly retention rates, she added.
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