Future Career Planning for HR Assistant in Company Sector

This report discusses the future career planning and decisions for a recent graduate interested in working as an HR assistant in the Company sector. It explores the general trends in HR, the skills, knowledge, and experience required for the role, and evaluates a job advertisement for an HR assistant position in a primary school.

MG410 Career Viewpoint
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Analysis and Application.................................................................................................................3
General trends.............................................................................................................................3
Skills, knowledge and experience required.................................................................................4
Evaluation........................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8
Appendix..........................................................................................................................................9
Primary research.........................................................................................................................9
Job Advertisement.....................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
This report aims to undertake demonstration of future career planning and decisions for a
recent graduate in the wake of knowledge, skills and experience gained during academic period.
I aim to pursue my career as a human resource professional and is seeking a job as HR assistant
in a company to begin my career. This report includes a primary and secondary research to know
the likely future trends and key skills, knowledge and experience expected from a graduate
applicant interested in working in the human resources assistant. (Anthun and Innstrand, 2016).
Analysis and Application
General trends
Based on the primary and secondary research observed, below mentioned are general
trends that are being observed in company and are capable of impacting functions performed by
a HR professional:
 Advanced dependence on technology – Company has been observing a shift towards the
technology by promoting digital library and online classes. Technology has helped HR
professionals in optimising their recruitment processes and management of employee
life-cycle with right tools like artificial intelligence and data analytics (HR innovation in
the Education sector, 2020). For example, school now post their vacancy online on
employment websites and school website. This shift was given an additional push by
lockdown induced due to pandemic, leaving all the personnel management on the digital
medium as now all the processes from interview to orientation, motivation and employee
engagement are pursued over internet (Armstrong and Taylor, 2020).
 Increasing competition – company is increasingly moving towards consumerism which
has inadvertently increased the competition, fuelled by the globalisation (Five key trends
affecting the education sector, 2020). Even in the primary schools, there are teachers of
various races and ethnicity teaching together as globalisation has brought people from
different nationalities and races in UK to work. They have varied skills and accordingly
demand for benefits and are difficult to retain in the competitive world. As a HR
professional even of a primary school, employee management has become tough job and
requires innovative solutions to hire and retain employees so that best talent is teaching
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the students without putting extra burden over the finance of school in competitive times
(Sheehan and et.al., 2016).
Skills, knowledge and experience required
Skills expected from a recent HR graduate applicant are mentioned below:
 Communication skills – This is a must have skill for a HR professional as HR is the
supposed link between employees and management. HR needs to play a balancing role
between employee rights and management concerns therefore, it is imperative that a HR
professional must have skills like negotiation and influencing, problem solving, etc. (The
12 HR Skills Every HR Generalist Needs, 2020) For example, if there is some new
guidelines developed by management that is likely to get resistance from the staff, it is
the expected from the HR of the institution that they understand management point of
view first and then convey the information in a subtle tone that no discord arises in the
working environment. Also, it should raise employee concerns with management as well
to get them a resolution.
 Reporting skills – HR manager needs to be skilled in creating, analysing, reading and
interpreting different types of HR reports. In digital age, HR professionals must also
know the methods to mine data online from human resource information systems and
analyse them to develop suggestions and recommendations. These recommendations will
be further used to create strategies that are able to help Companyal institution in hiring
the most talented staff and retain them. It must also be able to help management of the
organisation in developing perfect payroll that is both lucrative to employees and pocket-
friendly to the organisation (7 Most Critical HR Skills and Competencies, 2021).
 Emotional Intelligence – HR professional must be felt approachable by employees so that
the function of employee engagement can be fulfilled successfully. Therefore, it is
expected from HR professionals to be compassionate, sympathetic and concerned. They
should also be unbiased. For example, there is a white HR manager in a school with some
conservative views and is not helpful to staff of Latino background disregarding the fact
the teaching staff of Latino background is very talented and popular among kids. This
will soon either result in staff leaving the school or the working environment of the
school being a political background of different people of different origins (Bennett and
et.al., 2018).
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 Proactive – It is more of a personality trait than a skill but however is highly expected
from HR professional. This can be developed over time while working as well. Being
proactive helps the identifying the problems that might arise in the course of employee
management and resolve them before they escalate to the point that it becomes ugly and
worse, or even arise. Therefore, a proactive HR professional is always preferred over
reactive HR professional ( Al-Musadieq and et.al., 2018).
 Advisory skills – HR professional of any organisation even in Companyal sector, for
example, school - does not get to deal with a single stakeholder. Rather, it needs to act as
the connecting link between multiple stakeholders as it is responsible for managing that
resource which channelise other resources. It needs to interact with all stakeholders and
advise and coach them wherever required regarding training needs, administration needs,
dealing issues like conflicts, etc. (The 9 Essential Skills of Human Resources
Management – How Many Do You Have?, 2021) For example, it needs to undertake
hiring activity and for that it needs to advise management as to what kind of job role it
should have, what kind of recruitment process they must undertake or what kind of job
advertisement must be posted and where.
Areas of knowledge expected from a recent HR graduate are mentioned below:
 Laws and regulations – HR professionals are expected to have a knowledge related to
employment laws applicable on the organisation such as laws related to wages, working
time, holidays, employment rights, etc. such as Equal Pay Act, Employment Rights Act,
1996. Other than these, an institution should also have guidelines against harassment,
disability management, holidays, etc. according to the government directives and
guidelines applicable on it. (6 Areas of HR that every organisation should manage, 2017)
 Employee relations – HR professional must have a knowledge about aspects related to
the employee relations and the intent with which they must be pursued. For example, HR
professional of an Company should have knowledge about codes of conduct, staff
attendance, absenteeism, dispute and conflict resolution mechanism, counselling, dress
code, performance appraisal, prevention of harassment, internal job movements like
demotion, transfer and promotion, etc. (HR Disciplines Area of Expertise, 2020)
 Organisational development – Other than knowledge of employment laws and matters
related to employee relations, HR professional must have a knowledge of the
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organisational and its structure, culture and values, for which they will be performing
functions related to personnel. For example, pursuing knowledge about career planning
under organisation, communication channels, training and development policies, team
groups, virtual teams, employee orientation and retention under the cases of mergers and
acquisitions, etc. (Woo, 2018)
Evaluation
Based on my aim and interest to pursue a career as a human resource professional in
Company sector, I had searched for appropriate job vacancy and came across an advertisement,
which was placed by Maruti engagor Services for a hiring a HR Assistant to work full-time at a
primary school in Ealing (HR Assistant Job Advertisement, 2021). It engaged me in the first go
as it had all the elements that I was seeking to start my career post turning an undergraduate.
Under this post, it was required that applicant must administer duties which include assisting the
Office Manager with administrative tasks and assist HR manager in performing HR duties. It
also required recording data using internal system of school and covering reception duties.
Further, job profile requires the person to communicate effectively with the students, staff and
parents. For performing all these jobs, they were not seeking a person who had recorded
experience of few years rather someone who has earlier some kind of working experience in a
school and passion to work in Company sector. For all this, they are paying the person equivalent
to a permanent employee in line with the Agency Worker Regulations. Engage Company
Services was also providing a consultant who would oversee any kind of support and guidance
required in the discharge of professional duties. Further, an option to earn £150 more has been
provided as a mode of referral bonus by referring friends who can work at least 10 days with
Engage. However, it was not pay that attracted me, it was the job profile that attracted me. I’m
interested in working in Company sector and it does not require me much of prior working
experience, just the passion is required which I have. I have worked with an Companyal
institution as an intern during my college Company and this would suffice for the experience
required. I prefer this job opportunity over others as this allowed me to communicate with others
in addition to all the back-end HR work all other job opportunities were offering. I like
interacting with others as it helps me develop my personality as well as build network. This is
not a new job but an ideal start in my eyes as this would help me earn experience which will help
me build network so that I can pursue my career in future in some big and more reputed
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institutions. In addition, with this job, I’ll be able to get time to learn new skills that would help
me further in future.
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References
Books and Journal
Al-Musadieq, M. and et.al., 2018. The mediating effect of work motivation on the influence of
job design and organizational culture against HR performance. Journal of Management
Development.Woo, H.R., 2018. Personality traits and intrapreneurship: the mediating
effect of career adaptability. Career Development International.
Anthun, K.S. and Innstrand, S.T., 2016. The predictive value of job demands and resources on
the meaning of work and organisational commitment across different age groups in the
higher Company sector. Journal of Higher Company Policy and Management, 38(1),
pp.53-67.
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2020. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice.
Bennett, D. and et.al., 2018. What is required to develop career pathways for teaching
academics?. Higher Company, 75(2), pp.271-286.
Sheehan, C. and et.al., 2016. Strategic implications of HR role management in a dynamic
environment. Personnel Review.
Online
6 Areas of HR that every organisation should manage, 2017. [Online]. Available through:<
https://thethrivingsmallbusiness.com/human-resource-management-in-small-business/>
7 Most Critical HR Skills and Competencies, 2021. [Online]. Available through:<
https://blog.vantagecircle.com/hr-skills-and-competencies/>
Five key trends affecting the Company sector, 2020. [Online]. Available through:<
https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/public-sector/articles/trends-affecting-
Company-sector.html>
HR Assistant Job Advertisement, Ealing, London. 2021. [Online]. Available through:<
https://engage-Company.com/vacancy/hr-assistant-ealing_jn-032020-267993/#!>
HR Disciplines Area of Expertise, 2020. [Online]. Available through:<
https://www.shrm.org/membership/volunteers/special-expertise-panels/pages/
hrdisciplinesareaexpertise.aspx>
HR innovation in the Company sector, 2020. [Online]. Available through:<
https://www.glocalthinking.com/en/hr-innovation-in-the-Company-sector>
The 12 HR Skills Every HR Generalist Needs, 2020. [Online]. Available through:<
https://www.digitalhrtech.com/hr-skills/>
The 9 Essential Skills of Human Resources Management – How Many Do You Have?, 2021.
[Online]. Available through:< https://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2006/07/18/the-9-essential-
skills-of-human-resources-management-how-many-do-you-have-2/>
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Appendix
Primary research
Name of contact Tyla Denton
Company Maruti engager
Job title Hr assistant
Date of contact 20th January 2021
Mode of contact Tele-phonic conversation
Questions asked  What are the recent trends in HR professionals?
 What skills, knowledge and behaviour are expected from a
recent HR graduate interested to work as HR professional in a
company?
 How career satisfying growth can HR professional find in
Company sector while working as HR assistant in a company?
Summary of response Ms. Tyla Denton told that HR practices in even Companyal sector
these days are developing like in other sectors but at a slower pace, as
still the most important task is taken as the strategy to recruit teaching
staff and retain best talent for a longer period of time. Pandemic has
thrusted the use of digital media in both recruitment and maintaining
employee relations. It is believed by her that automation and AI would
rule even HR practises in Company sector in future. Skills like
communication skills and reporting skills are much expected from HR
professionals while behaviour which is proactive and high in
combination of IQ and EQ is appreciated. Further, knowledges related
to employment relations, laws applicable, HR budgeting and financial
modelling are required. In a primary school, HR assistant can see this
role as a first learning step to the bigger roles that can be taken up in
the future.
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Job Advertisement
Figure 1HR Assistant Job Advertisement, Ealing, London
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