Human resource management (HRM) plays an important role in addressing the “human factors” in the organization. Since human capital is responsible for economic growth, it is reasonable to prioritize an efficient and effective approach to dealing with matters involving human resources.
In the past, business organizations have experienced hiccups in implementing business strategies that would have been advantageous for the company. Many have tried different tactics but failed miserably.
Guess what they did next?
They capitalize on human capital for competitive advantage. The best way to achieve them is by embracing a strategic human resource management approach. The competitive advantage that human capital brings to organizations can arise from combining business and HR strategy solutions.
Business strategies will only work with the competence and distinctive capabilities of its human resources. Similarly, human resources will only work with a robust business strategy. Several studies supported this theory, and we do too.
Since business operations (and everything else in life nowadays) breathe and feed on the Internet, it is high time for companies to utilize technological advancements and be in sync with the flow. They must adopt the latest professional trends to gain a competitive edge, such as e-HRM or electronic human resource management.
What is e-HRM?
e-HRM is a set of configurations involving computers, computer applications (or software solutions), and networking resources that enable HR practices, functions, and policies. It saves the organization and its employees the hassle of commutes, in-person meetings, and waiting periods. It simultaneously and instantaneously controls and coordinates different individuals from various levels and locations to obtain information and organizational progress.
But don’t get the wrong idea, IT alone cannot solve the HR issues, it remains dependent on the strength of HR strategies, policies, and practices before online processes become dominant.
In short, employee performance is evergreen. Collective employee productivity is essential to elevate organizational performance and promote growth.
Let’s check if e-HRM is helping your organization then.
Advantages of e-HRM
Automation of routine tasks speeds up processes
Increases the strategic role of the HR functions
Cost-efficient (reduces the cost of operation on a large scale)
Improves employee performance
Increases work efficiency and balance
Online and real-time coordination reduces redundancy and procedural errors
The advantages and benefits of e-HRM are undeniable. However, it is only as strong as the vertical and horizontal alignment of the HR strategy with the organizational goals.
As the employees meet the job expectations, they are likely to increase their effort and work efficiency. In turn, contributes to organizational performance, productivity gain, and growth.
The industry has gone a long way since the initial launch of e-HRM. Employees are now accustomed to the process and the convenience it brings. Still, HR executives must remain vigilant in monitoring the commitment and motivation of their employees amidst e-HRM implementation to ensure compliance and efficiency.
How HR consultancy works and functions have been an integral part of business operations nowadays. Due to the increasingly competitive business landscape, organizations face several challenges akin to effective human resource management. Therefore, HR consultancy can be a game-changer that can help businesses navigate operational complexities and optimize their human capital. Today, we will explore the functions of HR consultancy, its benefits, and its contributions to the success of organizations.
HR consultancy refers to engaging external experts or consultants who specialize in diverse aspects of human resources management. These consultants work closely with organizations to assess their HR needs, develop strategies, and provide tailored solutions to optimize workforce productivity and organizational performance.
2. Assessing Organizational Needs
The first step in HR consultancy is the assessment of the specific needs and challenges the organization currently faces. It includes a comprehensive analysis of the existing HR processes, policies, and systems. Consultants gather information through interviews, surveys, and data analysis to identify areas that require improvement or intervention.
3. How HR Consultancy Works on Strategies
Based on the needs assessment, HR consultants collaborate with organizational leaders to develop effective HR strategies aligned with the company’s goals and objectives. However, these strategies encompass vast areas, including talent acquisition, employee development, performance management, compensation and benefits, and employee relations.
4. Talent Acquisition and Recruitment
One of the vital functions of HR consultancy is assisting organizations in attracting and selecting top talents. Consultants pull their expertise to create comprehensive recruitment strategies, develop job descriptions, conduct candidate screening, and streamline the hiring process. They may also advise on employer branding and leveraging various recruitment channels.
5. How HR consultancy works on Employee Training and Development
To secure steady growth and organizational development, HR consultants focus on employee training and development initiatives. They identify skill gaps, design training programs, and facilitate learning opportunities that enhance employees’ knowledge and competencies. It enables organizations to build a competent and skilled workforce, ready to adapt to changing business needs.
6. Performance Management and Appraisals
HR consultants are vital in establishing performance management systems that drive employee productivity and align individual goals with organizational objectives. They develop performance appraisal frameworks, design key performance indicators (KPIs), and provide guidance on conducting fair and constructive performance evaluations.
7. Compensation and Benefits
Managing employee compensation and benefits is crucial for attracting and retaining top talent. HR consultants assist organizations in designing competitive and equitable compensation structures, including salary benchmarking, variable pay programs, and employee benefits packages. They ensure compliance with legal requirements and industry standards while balancing the organization’s budgetary constraints.
8. Employee Relations and Conflict Resolution
Maintaining positive employee relations and resolving conflicts is essential for a harmonious work environment. Although HR consultants offer guidance on creating effective employee communication channels, they still need organizational collaboration in implementing grievance-handling procedures and fostering a culture of open dialogue and mutual respect. They mediate disputes and provide solutions that promote employee engagement and satisfaction.
9. HR Consultancy works on Compliance and Legalities
Navigating the complex landscape of employment laws and regulations can be challenging for organizations. Additionally, HR consultants stay up-to-date with the latest legal requirements and ensure that organizations comply with all applicable labor laws and regulations. They review HR policies and procedures to ensure legal compliance and minimize the risk of legal disputes or penalties. Consultants also guide ethical practices, diversity and inclusion initiatives, and data privacy to create a fair and inclusive work environment.
10. Continuous HR Improvement and Evaluation
HR consultancy is an ongoing process that emphasizes continuous improvement. Consultants regularly evaluate the effectiveness of HR strategies and initiatives by analyzing key metrics and gathering feedback from employees and stakeholders. They identify areas for refinement, implement necessary changes to optimize HR practices, and align them with the ever-evolving organizational needs.
Conclusion
To wrap up, how HR consultancy works is a valuable resource for organizations seeking to optimize their human resources management. By leveraging the expertise of HR consultants, businesses can address their specific HR challenges, develop effective strategies, and enhance workforce productivity and organizational performance. From talent acquisition and training to performance management and compliance, HR consultancy covers a broad area crucial to a thriving organization.
FAQs
1. What is the role of an HR consultant?
An HR consultant provides expert guidance and support to organizations in managing their human resources effectively. They assist in various areas, including talent acquisition, employee development, performance management, compensation, employee relations, and legal compliance.
2. How can HR consultancy benefit my organization?
One crucial role in how HR consultancy works is to bring specialized knowledge and experience to address HR challenges and improve organizational performance. It helps attract top talent, develop employees, ensure legal compliance, and create a positive work environment.
3. Are HR consultants only suitable for large organizations?
No, HR consultants cater to organizations of all sizes. Whether you’re a small startup or a large corporation, HR consultancy can provide tailored solutions that align with your specific needs and resources.
4. Can the HR consultancy’s role assist with cultural transformation within an organization?
Yes, HR consultants can play a vital role in cultural transformation initiatives. They can help organizations define and communicate desired values, facilitate change management, and foster a culture of innovation and collaboration.
5. How can I find the right HR consultancy for my organization?
When selecting effective HR and management consultants, consider how HR consultancy works on a broader picture, consider their expertise, track record, industry experience, and client testimonials. It’s essential to choose a consultancy firm that aligns with your organization’s values and understands your industry’s unique HR challenges.
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What do jobseekers want to know from a prospective employer?
As unemployment and underemployment soar globally, and employers continuously struggle to find a good fit for their job openings, hiring managers introduce different tactics to attract the best talents in the job market.
With technological advancement and environmental factors incessantly affecting the global job market, companies move alongside development to remain current. It helps them retain the best talent and attract a few more to stay highly competitive and growth-driven.
However, hiring managers and recruiters constantly face challenges with the latest trends of jumping ships and resignations. By now, you may have heard of “quiet quitting,” “the great reshuffle,” “the great resignation,” and the “great disruption?” Regardless of what you call it, it punishes most talent management approaches.
As the challenge escalates, the head-to-head or tug of war between applicants and employers never ceases.
Earlier, employment terms were uni-directional. Employers interview applicants and tell them what they want for an employee, period. If the employer meets the job requirements and agrees with the terms of the organization, then, “welcome aboard!”
Nowadays, the employer-employee relationship requires reciprocity from the initial stage until the stretch of tenure.
The interview works both ways, and more weight goes to the applicant’s scale. Though some companies provide “nice to have” perks, oftentimes, they are not enough for job seekers. Here is the list of “must-haves” for employees to consider working for your company, listen up:
what jobseekers want to know from employers
What jobseekers want from employers
Salary – remains the primary motivation for employees. New hires always negotiate as they want financial stability. Know your worth is one of the most famous lines that powers the minds of young professionals.
Working terms – Since the early onset of the pandemic, companies supported remote work, which eventually transformed into hybrid a year later. Although many organizations still prefer on-site work, many employees are not ready to go back to the office just yet. They want to skip hours of getting stuck in traffic. The comfort of working from home gave a different meaning to many professionals.
Workplace diversity – Global talents are getting aggressive in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion as one of the indicators of forward-thinking culture in an organization. In 2022 statistics, 57% of hiring managers look for diverse employees as they increase productivity in the workplace.
Well-defined career path – people come to work for a company to help the company achieve its goals. In return, jobseekers want to know if the organization is willing to help them achieve their individual and professional goals too.
Work-life balance – mental health issue has been an increasingly alarming topic of discussion in the corporate world in the past decade. Applicants want to know if the employer cares about their employees by creating an environment and work system that prevents burnout and stress, such as providing work flexibility and day offs and allowing employees to work remotely, hybrid or on-site. However, remote setup is not available for some roles.
Culture of appreciation – during the interview process, jobseekers want to know if and how the company expresses its appreciation. It is a human need to get a tap on the shoulder when they are performing well. It is essential for the company to create a culture that values its employees.
As the hiring process evolves, so should the hiring process. Hiring managers, recruiters, and employers must learn to cope with the ever-changing trends in the corporate world to find excellent talents they can retain.
Have you ever wondered what happens to all the CVs you send to hiring managers and recruiters who ghosted you?
How about the ones you uploaded on various job portals?
The recruitment process and screening trend in 2022 has been so competitive that jobseekers are competing for the first fifteen to thirty seconds of the recruiter’s attention. And if you are lucky, maybe you can get a shot at an interview.
It’s all about capturing the attention of the hiring managers at the first glance. Gone were the days when recruiters and HR managers meticulously scan 4-5 pages of CV to know everything you had to say. Nowadays, you have to present only valuable information, with no fluff and outdated details.
The truth is, many companies use the Application Tracking System (ATS). ATS is a screening tool that hiring managers, recruiters, and employers use to collect job applications, scan, sort, and rank them according to relevance to their job openings. It speeds up the screening process and prevents potential biases from equal employment opportunities. If your CV is not optimized, ATS may not recognize it, which equates to outright rejection.
If you haven’t done it yet, maybe it’s high time you start doing it.
Optimized CV that matters
How to optimize your CV to make it matter?
There is no substitute for an updated CV when applying for a job. If you have not updated your CV for more than a year, consider these tips for CV optimization.
Focus Area
If you are re-entering the job market after years of sabbatical or just shifting jobs, it is necessary to revisit your old CV and analyze what will be your new focus area. You might want to use relevant keywords to make your CV searchable online by highlighting your expertise. But don’t overstuff it with irrelevant keywords that have nothing to do with your career goal or skills
Highlight your recent accomplishments
Add your latest accomplishments, new courses you have completed, recent promotions, or awards received. However, make sure it is relevant to your focus area and the position you are applying for. It’s all about consistency.
You can also add ongoing projects as long as it adds value to your current skill set.
Humanize your CV
Humanize your CV according to the position you are applying for. After all, you have to impress the hiring managers and recruiters. ATS are just gatekeepers. Humans will still decide if your job application will move forward or not.
No PDFs
Make sure that your CV format is not in pdf. ATS is not compatible with pdf format.
Optimize your CV by using hierarchy
Format your CV using a simple yet organized hierarchy of information. It is easier to follow your work history and accomplishments if they are well presented.
Are they still relevant?
Scan all the information you included in your CV to see if the experiences and achievements are still relevant to the position you are aiming for. For example, you don’t have to include your first job as a telephone operator if you are applying for a marketing manager position.
Check your CV for spelling and grammatical errors
Read and reread your CV loudly. If it doesn’t sound right, maybe it is not right. It’s always good to have a professional-sounding CV. There is no room for spelling and grammar errors when you are applying for a job.
Remember to update your CV regularly and apply for the position that fulfills your career goals. Don’t lie. Put only relevant and legit information.
You may trick ATS at some point, but it won’t pass through the hiring managers and recruiters. Besides, who would want to hire someone untruthful?
Optimized CV that matters is the well-thought, well-designed, and neatly executed.
So, the next time you plan on sending out CVs, make sure to follow these guidelines.
If you are a candidate, you must be familiar with and prepared for the commonly-used interview questions most hiring managers, recruiters, and HR professionals use during the initial interviews.
If not, then this must be the right time to start brushing up on your skills.
The first impression lasts a long time (if not forever), and the interview is the first point of contact between the company and future employees. The initial impression works both ways for employers and employees, a stage in the recruitment cycle where both sides try to create a positive impact.
Interviewing is an essential step of the hiring process that employers can’t afford to fail in. It is the foundation for strengthening the talent management effort of an organization. Interviewing is not exclusively for the benefit of prospective employers alone. During this stage of the hiring process, employers and employees will decide if their values, culture, skills, and needs are parallel with their respective goals. You must keep in mind that a workplace should be a nurturing place that encourages partnership and similar growth on either side.
A successful HR professional understands how important is the interview process to support the organizational objectives. That’s why, during the initial screening, they can freely use a structured or unstructured set of questions to extract the information they need from each candidate.
commonly asked interview questionsJob Interview
Commonly used interview questions – what do they aim to achieve?
Excellent source of information for the organization – by speaking with candidates from various backgrounds and industries, the company gets valuable information about employee expectations, needs, and short and long-term goals that allow them to improve their strategies for talent retention and career development plans.
Provide insights – allows the HR to learn about the candidates and gather insights on their areas of improvement and perceived weaknesses as managers. These insights can guide them to improve their leadership style and align with the organization’s talent management efforts.
Transparent assessment – in addition to what’s written in the resume or cv, the in-person or virtual interviews allow the recruiting officer to gather in-depth information about the potential employees’ skills and technical knowledge. In the same way, the applicant assesses the potential employer if they are a good fit.
Learn from the candidates – Hiring officers do not know everything. During the interview, candidates may try to impress the manager and provide additional information that may help HR in the selection process.
Get to know your future colleagues – an interview can be the first among many interactions and collaborations with your future colleagues. If the vibes are good and the working conditions meet the expectations, then an interview can be a good start to something productive.
Finding the perfect candidate for a job can be daunting for an HR professional. Repeatedly doing the process day in and day out can put a lot of pressure on hiring managers, especially if they cannot find the ideal candidate they are looking for. This is the (necessary) downside of the hiring process.
Tedious – HR professionals spend a lot of time interviewing candidates that do not match their requirements and expectations. Some professionals view the lengthy hiring procedure as a waste of time.
Difficult to gauge the validity of information – since both sides of the interview table try to impress each other, there is a certain level of unspoken distrust that prevents either of them to trust the exchange of information.
Personal bias and preconceived notion – unbiased comparison between candidates is one of the struggles among HR practitioners. Stereotyping and preconceived notions about one’s race, religion, and culture sometimes distort the assessment procedure for talent acquisition.
The right answers to commonly asked interview questions every job seeker should prepare for
Each organization is unique, and though some commonly asked interview questions may be the same, their desired answers differ.
Can you tell me something about yourself?
This can be a tricky question. The prospective employer wants to get acquainted with their employees, but not in a boring way. Candidates must be good storytellers of their life experiences, struggles, triumphs, and goals. However, the story should justify why you are a good fit for the job.
How did find out about this job opening?
Be specific. They want to know if you are actively or casually looking for employment. It reflects how interested you are to work with their company, or they are (merely) one of your choices.
What is your preferred company setup or company culture?
It is heartwarming to know if the applicants conduct a little research about the company they want to work for. This question deserves an answer that favors the future employer’s work culture and core values. It pays to stalk them a little before your scheduled interview.
How do you handle work pressure?
Employers want employees who don’t succumb to work-related pressures such as deadlines and efficiency. Work pressure always comes and goes. Reassuring the employer that you can deal with stress gracefully and calmly gives you an edge to bag that role.
Are you comfortable working alone or with a team?
It is a plus factor if an employee can work independently and deliver the task effectively. However, at some point, you should be comfortable collaborating and cooperating with other team members to improve productivity and promote a positive work environment and teamwork.
How do you balance your time at work and home? Are you the “by the number kind of person, or do you deal with the pressure as they come?
The company wants to know if you are organized and responsible on the personal and professional front. These are the same traits an efficient and reliable employee possesses.
What is your opinion about continuous learning?
It helps impress the employer if you are particularly concerned about brushing up on your skills every now and then. It indicates your seriousness about your goals and career development.
How much do you draw right now, and what are your salary expectations from this company?
Employers want to know if your asking rate is within their budget for the job role. This is one of the times when you must hold your ground and not compromise on your worth. Justify why you deserve your asking rate.
Do you have other pending applications with other companies? If you do, how far have you gone in their hiring process?
Be honest. However, this question tests your sincerity in applying for their company. The HR manager wants to confirm your position to your answer to the second question if you are casually looking for a job or if your intention to join their company is sincere.
How soon can you join if you get selected for the position?
Be specific and transparent. If you have a non-negotiable 30-days notice period (if currently employed) after submitting your resignation, feel free to talk about it. Remember, for the company to trust you, you must give them a reason to do so, transparency is one of them.
Not all interviews end up with onboarding, but each conversation with an HR professional must be a learning experience you can utilize as you move along. Familiarize and prepare yourself with the commonly used interview questions and nail that interview.
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