University HR Professional Development: Career Research Report MD4057

This report, submitted by a student, delves into the field of Human Resources, exploring various facets of career development. It begins by identifying the student's interest in the HR department, citing its growth potential and diverse opportunities. The report then outlines different career pathways within HR, such as Administrative Services, Compensation and Benefits, and HR Specialists, while also discussing salary expectations and entry-level positions. It examines the sectors that align with the student's interests and explains the importance of HR in attracting and retaining top talent. The report also addresses future trends shaping the sector, including the significance of soft skills and the impact of flexible work arrangements. Furthermore, it analyzes the connection between the student's interests, skills, and ambitions, emphasizing the importance of communication, decision-making, and leadership skills. Finally, it discusses the implications of these findings on the student's career growth, highlighting the roles of managers and the importance of continuous improvement in an organization. This report is available on Desklib, a platform offering study resources for students.

Human resource
Professional Development (Career Research)

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What job departments are you interested in and why?
It is not easy to choose a career option because choosing career options means deciding our
future and success story. There are huge number of people who are keen to start their career in
HR department and so do I. HR department is a fast growing field with large number of
opportunities. Human Resource Management aims at solving the issues regarding
compensation, performance management, organization development, safety and wellness,
benefits, employee motivation and many others. It also helps a company to manage workplace
and culture along with managing people (Mondy and Martocchio, 2016). There are other many
job titles for which one might be qualified enough if he/she opts HR as their career opportunity.
Source: Illinois State University President Al Bowman delivers the 2012 State of the University
address.
Jobs and opportunities in HR will be in demand in near future based on the establishment of
larger number of organizations and the work environment. This assists HR career exceptional
chances for those who thinks to start out in the similar workforce (Kooij et al., 2013). There are

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different roles and responsibilities of HR in an organisation from recruiting to finalizing
employees for the company. In between this entire process, the role of HR is vital and it helps
the company to choose among many which will be best suitable for the long term.
Source: Smart sheet, HR management, Matthew Burr, 2019.
According to the given diagram shown above, it can be concluded that HR Managers job facts
are quite visible and the number of positions in the year 2016 is 136,100 which can further be
increased in the near future. HR managers are also responsible for managing employee
relationships and controlling overall function of the company and match the company
objectives with that of employees working there. HR can manage to handle the large number of
areas and task at the same time. The word “HR” suggests to work with many people under a
common roof. If a person is not willing to work together then he/she must not opt HR as a
career (Noe et al., 2017). Thus, I would go for this career because I can see the pros are far
better than cons in this field and I will be able to enhance my skills in a better way. I am quite

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friendly in nature and fond of meeting new people and working with them which is a biggest
advantage for me if I opt for his career.
What are the different career pathways in growing within that department?
There are huge number of career pathways in the HR department such as Administrative
Services Managers, Compensation and Benefits Managers, Compensation, Benefits, and Job
Analysis Specialists, Human Resources Specialists, Labor Relations Specialists, Top Executives
and one can also opt for best job suited to them under this field. Job satisfaction, rewards, hike
in the salary, are the part of HR department. HR helps in managing several work under one
common organization and creating a high level of job satisfaction. There are majorly two main
section in this department i.e. higher positioned HR professionals and HR supervisors. HR
professionals aims at managing the overall activities of the organization while HR supervisors
helps in consulting individuals and assisting other departments as well (Reilly and Williams,
2016).
Today, the future of HR is found in a massive way. One can opt for HR department and there
can be availability of huge number of options along with this field. As shown in the diagram
below, the future of HR is categorized in 4 major sections i.e. LENS, MIND SET, ENABLERS and
FOCUS with many sub categories under it.

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The average salary for HR as per the job title is mentioned below which can help in getting a
better life with better working conditions as well. Several entry-level HR jobs needs a minimum
criterion of education and experience, such as HR specialists, which can be easily gained with
the help of internships, temporary positions and part time jobs. These positions aim at creating
an actual view of the profession and the organization and this may later create a platform for
permanent job offers as a HR assistant (Stewart and Brown, 2019).

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What career sectors are you interested in and why?
While creating one’s ideal career path, it is very vital to be known about what one wants to do
and what one do not want to do in the next 10-20 years. Being prior known about the future
goals will help to choose the career path more wisely. I have chosen HR as a career because
they support the companies to remain viable by enticing top talent. Selecting the best among
many and helping employees to enhance their skills and knowledge for their own advantage
along with the company (Guest, 2011). HR is responsible to connect and build a value of human
capital with that of organisation’s bottom line. In this recent era, every successful business is
totally dependent on the careful and better management of whole resources along with the
human capital. HR management helps in maximizing employee’s contributions by wisely
overseeing recruitment process, hiring and benefits. HR managers can easily handle working
with people from different background and different levels of knowledge and skills. A
professional HR manage also have a good negotiation skills and communication skills (Kats et
al., 2010).

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Source: Why HR Analytics? Measure & HR / Talent, 2013.
Human resource is a kind of profession which I ranked as one of the best career option to be
chosen based on job growth, earning potential, creativity, flexibility and other many factors.
According to the news report published in U.S and World Report, HR specialists has been
ranked Number 14 on its 2014 list of best business jobs and Number 71 on its ranking of 100
best jobs overall. It also aimed at highlighting the HR duties which means duties of a HR can
vary day to day from recruiting new employees to managing questions related to benefits and
opportunities (DeCenzo, Robbins and Verhulst, 2016).
What are the future trends shaping this sector in the UK and outside the UK?

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Every employee required more if they want to remain competitive in the market. Predictions of
job creation is very uncertain and hands full of machines and automation has entered simply
into the world (Dickmann and Doherty, 2010). There are many trends which are beings shaped
under this sector which is most likely to affect the next coming years inside and outside the UK.
Source: World Economic Forum
Image: LinkedIn
The bitter reality of soft skills
The word “Soft skills” is comprised of empathy, emotional intelligence, creativity and capability
to communicate and collaborate. Soft skills are very vital in near future and according to the
LinkedIn, as surveyed it can be concluded that 80% are growing in significance to business
growth, meanwhile 89% focused a scarcity of soft skills among bad hiring in their company ( De
Vos and Meganck, 2009).

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Source: The hard facts about soft skills
Image: LinkedIn
Work: Your flexible friend
Working from home is quite common these days. “Work flexibility is becoming the norm,”
Jason Phillips, VP of Digital HR & Global Chief of Staff at Cisco says. “The challenge is how fast
can organizations provide it.” Technology is also responsible for this type pf Job department.
Right from mailing to sending instant messages via conference calls and social business areas,
remaining in touch with the co employees was quite difficult to manage. Changes seen in the
attitude of people and their mind set also plays a major role in this field. Location is also equally
important and balancing work life is also a great part of flexibility (Davis, 2015). Working flexibly
helps to reduce unnecessary cost involved in a company and retain more profit benefits.

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Source: Demands for flexibility are on the rise
Image: LinkedIn
Stamping out harassment and bullying
Employees working in an organization must be able to guide and protect their employees from
being bullied and harassed. In terms of people outside the UK, harassment and bullying has
become one of the major problems seen in the very near future. A professional HR manager
must be able to create a platform with supportive corporate culture and build anti-harassment
policies that must be succeeded. Sexual harassment is a blot seen in the workplace which is
visible in every industry in every country whether it is outside UK or inside UK. It affects people
from all income brackets and all levels of education (Cascio, 2015). Sometimes, it becomes

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quite difficult to speak out the levels of harassment seen in the workplace but it is the role of
HR manager to create a better harass free workplace where every employee will feel free to
work.
People are less afraid to share their stories of harassment.
Image: LinkedIn
In 2017, #metoo became a viral trend and women felt free to speak out about the harassment
cases which they have actually faced. Slowly, the number of women sharing their storied
increased and such stories were shared un workplace and other social media as well. This
helped employee working in an organization to be aware and work under zero pressure (Cascio,
2015).
According to the authors of the LinkedIn report: “Anti-harassment is an especially hot-button
issue in India, where 87% of talent professionals agree that harassment prevention is a very
important trend for the future of hiring and HR, compared to just 71% globally.”

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Source: Men and women don’t always see eye-to-eye on combating this issue.
Image: LinkedIn