HR Managers are mainly responsible for managing the routine functions of the Human Resources of the organization. Effective utilization of human resources depends very much on the working style and skills of HR Manager.
Human Resource Manager responsibilities include recruiting, hiring, retaining, compensation, benefits, and enforcing company policies and practices.
Basically, human resource managers do everything a business needs to thrive.
If we talk about today’s corporate world, it is essential that HR managers must have all the qualities and core skills of Human Resource Management. HR managers require certain skills and competencies to be excellent contributors to their organization.
In this article, we have discussed the 7 most important skills of HR Manager that most employers look for in a good HR Manager.
7 Skills of HR Manager
- Communication
- Organizing
- Multi-tasking
- Negotiation
- Decision Making
- Training and Development
- Discretion and Ethics
Before we start, let us make this clear that we have already shared types of managerial skills in our previous article. There we learned about 3 types of managerial skills; Conceptual, Interpersonal, and Technical skills.
Read More ➜ Types of Managerial Skills
Here we are talking about only Human Resource (HR) Managerial Skills. So let’s discuss all these HR manager skills one by one in detail;
1. Communication
Communication is one of the most important skills a human resource manager must-have. HR managers act as a link between the business and employees.
The HR managers or HR executives must be capable of verbal and written communication to handle daily tasks in the human resource department.
From raising the employee’s issues to management to explaining organization policies to employees in an effective way, there are various other responsibilities that require effective communication skills.
Communication skills required while interviewing candidates, managing conflict, company presentations, salary negotiation, and writing business emails.
2. Organizing
HR Manager manages lots of functions such as recruitment, training, performance appraisal, individual development plans, employee relation, compensation, and termination.
Human Resource managers overseas all these functions and must have a systematic way of going through all the process. It is only possible if an HR manager has excellent organizational skills and leadership qualities.
HR managers organize a lot of information which includes maintaining files and documents, HR deals in a lot of paperwork online and offline which must be filed systematically.
3. Multitasking skills for HR manager
HR manager deals with a lot of problems simultaneously while dealing with employee personal issues, hiring of new candidates, proper training, and development of effective employees performing all the tasks.
HR department reports the overall performance of the employees to the top-level management. The HR manager has to make new strategies and policies for the organization.
Human Resource Managers are experts in forecasting the future needs of the organization. This is the reason top management always takes suggestions from the human resource department in important decisions.
The HR manager must be swift in making any decision and handling all the situations in the proper way.
Multi-tasking skills of hr management improve coordination between other departments like marketing, finance, production, and operation department.
4. Negotiation
The HR manager must have all the tactics to deals with all problems and know how to negotiate efficiently.
The employee often comes to HR Managers with an issue like salary hike, benefits, job hours, leave, conflicts with subordinates, work pressure, and other problems.
In this case, the employee thinks he is right and others are wrong. So they want HR to involve in the matter and help them.
And if the issues are not solved, then the organization would lose an effective employee as the employee threatens to quit.
So HR manager negotiates in a way that benefits the organization as well as the employee.
Therefore, Human resource management plays an important role as a disturbance handler and negotiator in an organization.
Must Read ➜ 14 Principles of Management
5. Decision-Making skills for HR manager
The human resource department is involved in a lot of decision-making situations.
For example, organizations need high skill mindset to cope up with any changes from time to time. The HR manager has sole responsibility to decide that applicants are the right ones for the role of post they are looking for.
In the recruitment and selection process, recognition of good talent among a pool of candidates is a key area of HR managers.
The job market or labour market changes frequently. Thus, HR managers must have the capability of making quick decisions and strategies for the organization.
They have to be aware of the knowledge of trends, changes in the laws, and new technologies in human resources management.
6. Training and Development
One of the major functions and skills of an HR manager to observe the need for training and development in the organization.
HR manager is responsible for giving development opportunities for the employees to maximize the performance and productivity in the organization.
This will lead to employee personal growth and an increase in the value of the company.
The human resource department conducts training and development programs for their new and existing employees.
These programs enhance Organizational goodwill because employees get opportunities for career growth. Motivation and Moral of the employee increase after T & D activities.
Hence, it is HR’s responsibility to make these sessions fruitful by getting involve in the process and use his art and skills of designing training and development programs.
7. Discretion & Ethics
Human Resource managers have access to a significant amount of sensitive information related to the personal and professional life of the employees and candidates.
Information such as phone numbers, personal details mentioned in resumes of thousands of candidates, weakness, and strength of every employee working in the organization.
As an HR manager have all the information of the employee so must be revealed to the authorized persons only while keeping the employee’s best interests in mind.
HR managers must be capable of handling sensitive information regarding employees as their information leak can lead to compliance issues and even legal repercussions.
All 7 skills that we have discussed above are enough to call a person a good HR Manager.
But remember, one should always carry some soft skills along with his hard skills to get an extra edge over others in this competitive world.
Must Read ➜ Management by Objectives (MBO)
Hard Skills and Soft Skills of HR Manager
Hard skills for HR Managers are related to specific technical knowledge and training. It refers to those skills which are required to perform daily work at job, duties, and responsibilities.
These skills are job-specific and can be learned through training. Some important Hard skills of HR Manager are as follows;
- A degree or Qualification
- Knowledge of HRM Softwares
- Knowledge of Laws, Rules & Regulations
- Doing Employees Paperwork
- Operating Tools and Machinery
Soft skills for HR Managers are personality traits such as communication, and emotional intelligence, and creativity. Some important soft skills of HR Manager are as follows;
- Empathy,
- Problem Solving,
- Emotional Intelligence,
- Leadership,
- Effective Communication,
- Teamwork,
- Time Management,
- Adaptability,
- Active listening
- Conflict resolution
