How to Recognise Quality Professionals When Recruiting to a Senior HR Role

The HR Manager role is central to the performance of the business.

The professional hired for the role has responsibility for connecting the performance of employees with the strategy of the business.

There is no doubt that hiring the right HR professional can give a business an edge over competitors.

For this reason, it’s important for a business to recognise high-quality attributes in candidates for an HR Manager position. There are several factors that a successful business takes into account during the hiring process.

Tried and tested organisational ability

HR professionals are a pivotal part of an organisation. They liaise between the board, managers and employers and manage multi-department projects. This responsibility necessitates the need to possess excellent organisational ability.

A business that has a successful hiring process looks for evidence of organisational skills in candidates. This can be done in a variety of ways such as:

• Talking about organisational methods and challenges with the candidate.
• Asking an individual to describe their organisational methods and how they work.
• Looking for evidence of how the candidate’s organisational systems have been beneficial to others.

Excellence in written and oral communication

HR Managers can put their communication skills to use in smoothing over potential issues in the business before they escalate. They do this by listening to employees and management and talking through a situation, using explanations where required. They also use precise and clear written communications to make sure that there is no misdirection regarding company policies.

Given the importance of communication in the HR role, it’s clear that an effective hiring process should include the measurement of these skills. This can be done by:

• Enquiring how the candidate builds rapport with others.
• Requesting how the individual has dealt with a breakdown in communications in order to benefit the business.
• Asking how the candidate deals with explaining complicated policies and procedures to others.

Proven dedication to confidentiality

Confidentiality is an essential element of HR, given the nature of the role. Businesses that hire quality HR professionals look for individuals that can show a dedication to discretion, ethics and confidentiality.

In order to ascertain whether an individual has this type of dedication, certain questions can be asked such as:

• Explain your ability to maintain confidentiality.
• Show how you are familiar with explaining and adhering to data privacy rules.
• Talk about your understanding of how ethics impact a business.

Evidence of adaptability

HR Managers are often at the centre of changes that are made in a business. They need to manage employees through these changes so a high level of adaptability and excellent change management skills are essential.

Businesses that make the right HR Management hiring decisions ensure that candidates have these abilities by:

• Asking for examples of how they adapt to change and help others to do the same.
• Requesting examples of how they have convinced others as to the positive aspects of a different process.
• Talking about how they adjust their own schedule to allow for unexpected changes.

The attributes covered here are all integral to the HR Manager role. Any business that wants to hire the right person needs to devise an interview process that helps to recognise these attributes in individuals.

If you are an employer looking to hire an HR director, manager, assistant or any other HR role, contact us.