How to become HR Manager and what are HR Manager’s responsibilities?

Human Resources has a quite simple career path for its employees. The new university graduate starts at the junior job position in Human Resources and when the skills of HR are developed, he or she becomes the HR Specialist responsible for the management of the specific HR Process. In this moment, the HR Specialist has to focus on people management skills development to become the HR Manager. Generally, it is not that easy.

The HR Manager is a top job position in Human Resources and it usually takes years before you can become the HR Manager responsible for the specific HR Processes (like Training and Development, Talent Management or Compensation and Benefits) or you get the responsibility for the relationship with the internal clients (and you become the HR Front Office Manager).

Before you can become the HR Manager, you have to clearly understand the role and the responsibilities of the HR Manager as you can sharply focus your development effort to the right targets. Without a clear focus on developing the right skills and competencies, your journey to become the HR Manager will be much longer.

HR Manager’s Responsibilities

The HR Manager has a tough job position as the HR Manager is responsible for several conflicting areas. As Human Resources is partly a support function, but it has specific goals in the area of developing the sustainable competitive advantage, the HR Manager cannot fulfill all the requests and wishes of the line management.

The main responsibility of the HR Manager is managing the client’s satisfaction. The client’s satisfaction is the key success factor for Human Resources as it depends on the satisfaction of the managers in the business units and the satisfaction of other support units. The management of the clients’ satisfaction needs many negotiations and building the common approaches and it is the role and responsibility of the HR Manager to find the best way to increase the satisfaction.

The other extremely important responsibility of the HR Manager is in the management and development of the subordinates. The HR Manager is fully responsible for the development of the team, building the HR Team spirit and developing the successor, who can takeover the job position of the HR Manager within a given timeframe. The HR Manager is responsible for building the better HR team on a daily basis, developing the competencies and skills of the individual team members and teaching the team members to co-operate better.

The HR Manager is responsible for the process management in the HR area. The HR Manager is responsible for monitoring of the performance of processes, monitoring the external market for the best practices and designing constant improvements into the processes as Human Resources work more efficiently.

The responsibility for the HR Project Management and finding the complex HR Solutions is quickly growing. The top management does not ask to deliver the isolated HR processes, but they ask for the complex HR solutions, which connect several HR Processes into the simple solution to be used by the line management. It is the future of HR and it requires the HR Managers to find the resources in different small units in HR, to manage the resources globally and finding the right needs of the internal clients organization-wide.

How to become the HR Manager?

The promotion to the HR Manager job position is a huge career step and you have to be prepared for the takeover of the new job position as you can succeed. Today, the career is not just about the skills and competencies, but it includes your visibility and the influence on the whole organization.

First, you have to focus on your HR Skills and Competencies. You have to identify the gaps between your current status and the minimum requests to be promoted to the managerial job position in Human Resources. You have to demonstrate your willingness to be promoted and the steps you want to make to be really promoted. Have the regular discussions with your manager and ask for the regular feedback about the progress of your development program.

The development of your skills and competencies is not enough, when the people in the organization do not know you. You have to work on your visibility. You have to reach your goals, you have to participate in the organization-wide projects and you have to participate in useful team meetings. Demonstrate you are able to solve a complex issue and you are able to find the right partners across the organization to build a joint team. Be responsible for your results and do not hide yourself behind your manager in tough situations.

You have to focus on building the network inside Human Resources and in the whole organization. The networking is a key to the promotion process today as the managers want to see your ability to build new relationships in the organization and influencing the others. The networking is not about chatting in corridors, it is about building the network of useful friends as you can help them and they can help you, when you have to solve some issue. Focus on constant building the network in your organization and with the friends outside the organization. Participate at specialized HR conferences and have presentations on useful topics. Demonstrate your willingness to help and really help others.

The promotion to the HR Manager’s job position will be your reward.