MG410 Career Viewpoint: A Research Report on the HR Associate

This career research report provides an in-depth analysis of the HR Associate role, focusing on the skills, knowledge, and experience required for recent graduates. It examines general trends impacting the HR profession through both secondary and primary research, highlighting the importance of technology, globalization, diversity and inclusion, and employee wellness programs. The report identifies key skills such as communication, teamwork, counseling, recruitment, and conflict resolution, as well as essential software and conceptual knowledge. Ultimately, the report evaluates the HR profession, concluding that it demands a high skill set and offers significant opportunities for personal and professional growth. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wealth of study resources for students.

Career Research
Report

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
ANALYSIS AND APPLICATION.................................................................................................3
General trends which will impact HR profession (Secondary research)................................3
General trends which impacts HR profession (Primary research).........................................5
The skills, knowledge and experience required.....................................................................5
EVALUATION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
APPENDIX 1: PRIMARY RESEARCH EVIDENCE...................................................................9
APPENDIX 2: JOB ADVERTISEMENT.....................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
In the current research I am going to provide information in respect of the profession and its
scope which is related with HR. I am willing to pursue career in HR field on the position of HR
associate. As according to my experience there is great scope for HR associate in terms of
learning and opportunities. Within an organisation HR associate is having role to manage people
and their skills in such a way that optimal benefits can be provided to the organisation and
employees in personal manner (Lanier, 2017). In the current time this has been analysed that
huge number of youngsters are pursuing their career in the field of HR as this field helps in
connecting with people and understand their needs. This investigation is intended to recognise
different skills and qualities which are developed in me and could be helpful in making my
career as a successful HR associate. On the other hand the report is also going to highlight
different trends which are accepted by HR department of an organisation so that to stay align the
market developments. There are different sources which are being used under the current
research such as primary and secondary. In context of primary research using interview
information is collected and open ended questions are asked from the respondents whereas for
secondary information books and general in different articles are used.
ANALYSIS AND APPLICATION
General trends which will impact HR profession (Secondary research)
There are number of different factors that have vital importance in the HR Profession.
People are asset for every organization and their management is done by and responsibility of
human resource management (Angrave and et. al., 2016). It is necessary for an organization to be
successful to make sure that skillset of its resources is enhanced in timely manner and is in
alignment with latest trends of industry. With the fast advancement in technologies, the human
resource departments of organization are changing eventually over the years.
Technology: Technology is the key changing trend in today’s world, and which keeps on
changing with improved technologies and customers’ expectations from industry. It’s key trend
for the human resource department of organization as its way for them to make their life easy
and convenient (Boon, Den Hartog and Lepak, 2019). They use various software to track their
recruitment processes for application tracking and cloud computing of recruitment process for
the vacant job positions. These advanced tools are way of eliminating any form of biasness by

making sure merit-based selection process. Apart from these, human resource management also
uses various tools of technology to assist them in processes such as boarding, orientation,
trainings, and payroll upload. These tools are important to make sure that they overcome hectic
workload and able to do their activities in simpler way. These improved processes enhance the
strength of relationship between the employee and HR. All the persons having aspiration of
making future out of HR profession should ensure that he possesses the adequate knowledge of
these trending technologies associated with HR activities and various software are used by HR
since organisations are now looking towards combination of advanced technologies and artificial
intelligence skillset.
Globalization: Globalization is a way of expanding the boundaries of business and its
activities to the global level. Today, every organization recruit employee from all over the world
from different countries. This trend of modern world has provided business with option to
expand their business and brand over the world. It has great impact over HR professionals who
are working across various HR posts across the world as they get experience of managing the
employees globally (Al Ariss and Sidani, 2016). It is the responsibility of HR management to
form various strategies to recruit and attract resource talent from all over the world to fill in the
vacant job positions and provide their services to the organization. They should recruit
employees who had effective communication and interaction skills to effectively manage
international clients that would lead business to grow and expand. The skills possessed by
graduates should be dynamic that can be applied across globe. Therefore, companies need
employees who respect the culture of different countries and helps business to grow.
Diversity and Inclusion: The culture of every organization shows the way that organization
operates. It plays a pivotal role in offering positive experience to its workforce. HR personnel are
responsible for rooting the seeds of affiliation and inclusion out of which employees build
confidence for expressing their idea and equity (Pattanayak, 2020). To simplify, HR
professionals establish cohesive work culture which can help to boost employee performance and
decrease employee turnover. This is the trend that has an equal impact and importance for new
graduates as well since they must be capable of recruiting candidates with diverse background
and make them to work under one common roof. This is only possible if the person provided
with responsibility of recruiting have equal respect for all the cultures, religions, diversities,
caste, gender etc. to make sure there is no discrimination. Due to this importance companies are

looking for graduates who can easily engage with employees from different backgrounds and
provide organization with strong organizational performance.
Employee Wellness Programs: with the increase in the global competition and competitive
race and fast paced work culture, the stress level of employee in the organisation has been on the
rise. Therefore, to keep employee’s mental health intact and good, HR practitioners are expected
to provide and formulate advanced workplace wellness programs from strengthening well-being
of every employee to make sure they have proper work life balance in place in their life. They
build and form engaged, loyal and motivated workforce so that the employees can be cared and
enhanced for the growth of organisation (Shah, Irani and Sharif 2017). Companies are looking
for those graduates who can form such programs and strategies for the welfare and growth of the
employee and way to handle various mental issues such as anxiety, depression and stress and
various ways to handle them.
General trends which impacts HR profession (Primary research)
According to the gather information using primary research this is being concluded that the
job of HR associate is interesting as it includes stages and interaction with different employees
which are from different backgrounds. From the information collected by HR professional this is
analysed that machine learning and artificial intelligence are regarded as two greatest trends
which are being followed within HR department (DeCenzo, Robbins and Verhulst, 2016). With
the help of artificial Intelligence recruitment and selection procedure can we made easier and the
responsibilities of filling position by HR associate can be managed in efficient manner. Different
training programs which are used by HR professional to train there new employees so that proper
skill set can be developed. Current advanced world trainings can also be provided using internet
and web providing videos and live sessions to employees. This would be helpful for HR
associate in saving their crucial time and devoting the same in developing the organisation to its
new heights. Therefore this can be concluded through using primary sources that artificial
intelligence is considered as one of the biggest trend which is followed within the profession of
HR for making the job rule of HR associate easier.
The skills, knowledge and experience required
Different skills knowledge and experience is which are required to manage any job role.
Skins and expertise helps the individual to perform their given rules and responsibilities in more

appropriate manner. Executing the role of HR associate there are different skills and marriage
which are required to be possessed by a recent graduate and these are elaborated as under:
Key skills
Communication skills: A graduate who is willing to pursue their career in HR associate
is required communication skills in effective manner. An individual who is having appropriate
communication skills will easily establish linkage between employees and the organisation. HR
is having role to communicate with people so that their grievances can be solved.
Communication skills are of different types such as oral digital and written (McCartney, Murphy
and Mccarthy, 2020).
Teamwork skill: Another essential skill needed by HR associate is appropriate teamwork
skills. Human resource management is having role to provide resolution of conflicts between
people and departments so with the help of teamwork skills these conflicts can be eradicated in
easy manner (Athamneh, 2018). Recent graduates are required to have team management skills
so that better coordination between employees can be made by them.
Counselling skills: The other needed skill within HR associate is counselling skill. HR
associate is having duty to advise people and stakeholders that are having relation with the
organisation so with the help of counselling skill different managerial issues can be governed
(Reilly and Williams, 2016).
Recruitment skills: The main role of HR associate is to recruit people in the organisation
so that needs of the organisation can be fulfilled. For HR associate this is significant that they
understanding of the organisation and then appoint people accordingly. By having this skill right
candidate can be identified by them which are aligned with organisational needs.
Conflict resolution skill: The others needed skill by HR associate is conflict resolution.
HR should have the skill that they can provide resolution to their employees related to different
issues such as employee harassment, employee health and safety and many others (Meister and
Brown, 2020).
Key knowledge
Software skill: HR associate is required to have in-depth knowledge in context of
computer and software (Ulrich and et. al., 2017). This includes understanding of organisational
database and office programs so that appropriate scheduling can be given to each task.

Conceptual skill: A recent graduate is required to have apt knowledge in respect of
theories and models which can be used by them to manage efficiency in their working.
EVALUATION
From the above collected information this can be concluded that HR is the profession which
needs high skill set and knowledge. For me the job of HR associate is of high interest as this is
directly related with working employees and this would provide them welfare as well. I believe
by undertaking my entire skills and capabilities that I am having ability to communicate with
people and convince them. As per my experience I prefer job of HR associate as this field has
more opportunities than others.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Al Ariss, A. and Sidani, Y., 2016. Comparative international human resource management:
Future research directions. Human Resource Management Review, 26(4), pp.352-358.
Angrave and et. al., 2016. HR and analytics: why HR is set to fail the big data challenge. Human
Resource Management Journal, 26(1), pp.1-11.
Athamneh, S., 2018. HR planning for crisis management. In Human resource planning for the
21st century. IntechOpen.
Boon, C., Den Hartog, D.N. and Lepak, D.P., 2019. A systematic review of human resource
management systems and their measurement. Journal of management, 45(6), pp.2498-
2537.
DeCenzo, D.A., Robbins, S.P. and Verhulst, S.L., 2016. Fundamentals of human resource
management. John Wiley & Sons.
Lanier, K., 2017. 5 Things HR professionals need to know about generation Z: thought leaders
share their views on the HR profession and its direction for the future. Strategic HR
review.
McCartney, S., Murphy, C. and Mccarthy, J., 2020. 21st century HR: a competency model for
the emerging role of HR Analysts. Personnel review.
Meister, J.C. and Brown, R.H., 2020. 21 HR jobs of the future. Harvard Business Review.
Pattanayak, B., 2020. Human resource management. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..
Reilly, P. and Williams, T., 2016. Strategic HR: Building the capability to deliver. Routledge.
Shah, N., Irani, Z. and Sharif, A.M., 2017. Big data in an HR context: Exploring organizational
change readiness, employee attitudes and behaviors. Journal of Business Research, 70,
pp.366-378.
Ulrich and et. al., 2017. Competencies for HR professionals who deliver outcomes.’

APPENDIX 1: PRIMARY RESEARCH EVIDENCE
Name of contact Amar sagoo
Company Euro Foods Group Limited
Job title Human resource manager
Date of contact
How did you contact them?
Questions asked &
summary of their answers
As per your analysis what are the main trends within the job
role of HR associate?
There are different trends within HR such as adoption of
artificial intelligence and globalisation. These are the trends
which helps the industry to grow and manage their workings
in easy manner.

APPENDIX 2: JOB ADVERTISEMENT