Optimization of resources is one of the hardest tasks to achieve for a company. It is also the most important part of achieving a good level of productivity. If the inventory is well managed and the supply chain is functioning properly- deadlines should be met with proper margins and the business should indeed be profitable. Yet in this resource management endeavor, for the longest time, the most overlooked aspect was human resources. The men and women that drive the entire supply chain, the people that run the manufacturing plants, people that manage the production line, set the deadlines in the first place and virtually everyone in between. A company that can call an individual its employee has that person as a part of its human resources. Human resources are also the pivot for better management of other resources because, at the end of the day, people are still doing most of the work with mechanical and electronic tools to supplement them.
So how exactly are human resources optimized? There are levels to it, the company might need to hire new employees, lay off old ones, keep the performance of existing employees in check, or provide incentives to them for their good performance. Outsourcing of work via BPO (business process outsourcing) is also a crucial aspect largely handled by human resources. India is the second-most populous country in the world and while we don’t have the highest of employment rates or at least not the rates that we’d like to see in the country of our caliber- there is skilled labor available in India, the problem is it’s way more abundant than the opportunity is present for recruitment. HR or Human Resource Management is the final judge of whether the candidate being considered for a certain job profile is acceptable and fit for being a functioning unit of the company’s workforce.
A diploma course after the senior secondary schooling is over can be immediately joined- it has a standard duration of one to one and a half years. Another option is a bachelor’s of business management degree or BBA in HR, it’s average course duration is about three years. For further specialized studies, Master’s of Arts, Master’s in Business Administration and Post Graduate Diploma in Management from HR is also offered by many educational institutions in India. Human Resources is such a diverse and expansive field of study that doctoral degrees and research fellowships are all too common in the academic strata of the domain. Depending on the specific guidelines of the institution a doctoral degree can be completed in under four years of work.
CAT (Common Admission Test), AIMA-MAT (Management Aptitude Test), XAT (Xavier Aptitude Test), IIFT (Indian Institute Of Foreign Trade), SNAP (Symbiosis National Aptitude Test), NMAT By GMAC, CMAT (Common Management Admission Test), IBSAT (IBS Aptitude Test), MICAT (MICA Admission Test) and MAH – MBA/MMS CET (Maharashtra MBA Common Entrance Test) are National Level entrance examinations for the acceptance into an MBA program in one of the top tier colleges such the IIMs, Faculty of Management Studies and Xavier’s among others. UGC-NET is the equivalent of doctoral degrees.
Formal college-based education aside, human resources management jobs require good communication and supervisory skills are an intrinsic need for the type of work that is done in this field. The better the person is at building professional relationships the easier their path to success. Planning and Strategic skills can also uplift the potential HR managers to Administrative duties. The most common profiles available after getting the appropriate skills for the field and formal education are- HR Generalist, HR recruiter, HR specialist, Compensation Manager, Employee Relations Manager, Training and Development Manager, Change consultant and even Technical Recruiter if the candidate possesses the required prerequisite technical background for it.
Kelly Services, Adecco India, Ikya, Aon, ABC Consultants, Manpower Group, ICICI Bank, Deloitte, Cognizant, Infosys, Hudson Global, Inc., Wipro, Accenture, Tata Consultancy Services, Randstad India and CampusHunt.in are major League recruiters in HRM and hire in niche high paying as well as entry-level profiles. While based on pedigree (yes, it’s really really important here) an entry-level HR profile might fetch a person anywhere from 1.5 LPA to as high as 9 LPA right off the bat with mid-career average of 14LPA and late-career average of 24LPA- which clearly indicates that a steady career progression is not only possible it is very common in human resource management jobs.
