If you were looking to hire an HR professional, what key skills would you look for? And how many of them would you have? We'll share our top nine skills below. We'd be most interested to hear if you agree or disagree. Here you go:



HR Key Skill #1: Organization

HR management requires an orderly approach. Organized files, strong time management skills, and personal efficiency are key to successful HR function. As readers well know, there's a heavy load of regular work and that's to say nothing of the "emergencies." You have to make time and you can't be sloppy.



HR Key Skill #2: Multitasking

On any day, an HR professional will deal with an employee's personal issue one minute, a benefit claim the next, and a recruiting strategy for a hard-to-fill job the minute after. Priorities and business needs move fast and change fast, and colleague A who needs something doesn't much care if you're already helping colleague B. You need to be able to handle it all, all at once.



HR Key Skill #3: Discretion and Business Ethics

HR professionals are the conscience of the company, as well as the keepers of confidential information. You are the corporate watchdogs, and you need the strength to push back when things aren't right. You have to be absolute in guarding the confidentiality of documents and information entrusted to you.



HR Key Skill #4: Dual Focus

HR professionals need to consider the needs of both employees and management. There are times you must make decisions to protect the individual, and other times when you protect the organization, its culture, and values. Going in either direction, you may have information you can't share. It's part of the territory.



HR Key Skill #5: Employee Trust

Employees expect HR professionals to advocate for their concerns, yet you must also enforce top management's policies. The HR professional who can pull off this delicate balancing act wins trust from all concerned.



HR Key Skill #6: Fairness

Successful HR professionals demonstrate fairness. This means that communication is clear, that peoples' voices are heard, that laws and policies are followed consistently, and that privacy and respect is maintained.



HR Key Skill #7: Dedication to Continuous Improvement

HR professionals help managers coach and develop their employees. The goal is continued improvement and innovation as well as remediation. And looking to their own houses, HR professionals also use technology and other means to continuously improve the HR function itself.



HR Key Skill #8: Team Orientation

Once, companies were organized into hierarchies. Today, the team is king. HR managers must consequently understand team dynamics and find ways to bring disparate personalities together to make the employer's teams work together.



HR Key Skill #9: Strategic Orientation

Forward-thinking HR professionals take a leadership role and influence management's strategic path. In gauging and filling the labor needs of the company, devising compensation schemes, improving engagement and retention, and bringing on board new skill sets leading to business growth, they provide the proof for the often-heard management comment, "People are our most important asset."



"HR is a creature of, and serves the business strategy," "It's important for HR people to know what that strategy is and what makes the business tick so the approach to HR can be tailored accordingly."Never think of HR in isolation," "Because if HR professionals think of themselves as ‘just HR,' that's what the rest of the organization will think too."



What do you think? Did we get it right? What essential skill did we miss? Which one would you take off the list? Let me know at hr@neevinternational.org or use the Comments link below.