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7 Essential Skills Employers Look for in an HR Manager
October 19, 2022

The most successful HR managers are the ones who can be flexible, adaptable, and show empathy. They have to be able to handle conflict professionally, listen well, and communicate clearly. Since they’re responsible for assessing and hiring new talents, their position is essential in every organization.

This is why many companies look for HR managers with specific skills. If you want to acquire the needed skillset for a successful HR manager, always aim to develop within your field by staying up to date on the industry requirements and taking training courses for you and your team.

The Skills Needed for HR Managers

1. Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others. 

Why is this important for an HR manager? To foster a healthy work environment, HR managers should be able to lead the team into believing and trusting their decisions. And that’s where emotional intelligence plays a big role.

According to a survey by OfficeTeam, more than 21% of employees believe emotional intelligence is more valuable in the workplace than IQ!

2. Listening Skills 

Active listening is a skill that creates a safe space between the HR manager and the team to minimize conflict. 

Active listening isn’t only the ability to have eyes and ears focused on the speakers. As an HR manager, you should genuinely be interested in your team members’ complaints and suggestions to think critically about these things and incorporate them into your organization’s systems.

3. Negotiation Skills

Open communication and negotiation are critical for a healthy work environment.

Still, when it comes down to hard conversations, such as negotiating a raise with a team member, it’s easy to get nervous and freeze up. That’s why you need to develop your negotiation skills as an HR manager.

4. Recruiting and Onboarding Skills

Strong knowledge of the company’s vision, mission, and structure are a must-have as an HR.

As an HR manager, you must also familiarize yourself with HR-industry best practices. One of the best ways to recruit the right employees and ensure their loyalty is by taking courses related to human resource management.

SkillUp MENA, for example, offers professional HR courses for recruitment and hiring. 

What’s notable is that companies that give training courses to their teams enjoy a 24% higher profit margin than those who spend less on training.

So as part of your hiring, you can plan out developmental training for each newcomer and the old team members, which minimizes your training costs and increases ROI.

To make your job easier, SkilllUp MENA offers courses on an organizational level. Once you work with SkillUp MENA, the consultants advise you on the kind of training you, and each individual, in different departments need.

The best part is that you don’t need to overwhelm yourself or your team with having to learn everything at the same time. The professional consultants at SkillUp MENA customize the learning path to each individual’s timeline and learning style. 

Specifically for your function as an HR manager, SkillUp MENA later assists you with onboarding new team members which reduces and organizes the workload for you.

5. Problem-solving Skills

This is the most important skill an HR manager must possess. You must resolve any work issues and problems brought forward by employees, managers, and executives. 

These problem-solving skills are essential to resolving these issues on time and with minimal disruption to your company’s business. 

6. Understanding and Knowledge of Law Processes 

You’ll be able to excel in your position as an HR manager when you have a working knowledge of all legal developments that concern your organization. This includes, but is not limited to,

  1. Employment law (e.g., discrimination and harassment)
  2. Business law (e.g., contracts)
  3. Corporate governance best practices (e.g., board composition, shareholder communications)

Not only do you have to know these laws, but you should also be able to integrate them into the organization’s practices.

7. Technological Know-how

Digital transformation has affected all job positions now in any organization. Specifically for HR managers, being tech-savvy will give you an edge in your position. Technological knowledge will ease your work with systems such as workforce management platforms, administrative automation tools, performance analytics, and much more.

In Conclusion 

With the right skills and experience, you can shine as an HR manager. If your goal is to become a successful HR manager, it’s important to develop your skills so that when an opportunity comes along, and it will, you’ll be ready for it. 

Having these skills will not only ensure you excel at your role as an HR manager but will also single you out as an expert in your field. 

Start your development program today, and choose the learning path that caters to your preferred learning style with SkillUp MENA.
Schedule a demo and discover how Skillup MENA will push you and your entire organization, up your professional ladder.

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