If you say they must be "a people person" or that they must like people I'll choke. We all know that liking people is not on the top of the necessary attributes list for an HR professional. It should probably be more like a 'healthy respect for the bizarre nature of the human race'!
What about the need for a great HR person to have the CHRP designation? What about that? Many of us, even those that don't have an iota of experience in the HR trenches, have that designation. So that credential is questionable at best.
I had an insightful HR Director once who always looked for someone with "chutzpah" (a yiddish term - the quality of audacity for good or for bad; describing someone who has over-stepped the boundaries of accepted behaviour with no shame; pronounced a bit like "hootspah" but with a little more phlegm in the back of the throat!). Now, that's starting to sound a bit more like it.
I know that we all look for someone that has the same values as our own Company's values. But what else? What are the things you look for in a great HR person?
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One of the most effective HR people I know has a lot of common sense, and a sales background. She knows how to build relationships, and spends the first several months at an organization meeting people, building relationships and finds out who the real power-players of the organization are. She sets herself up to be a power-player by building relationships with the right people. The bottom line is, she sets herself up to get things done and have a marked impact on the business.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, she's also got chutzpah to spare.