I
love my job...
As a Personnel
Manager
Now,
I know that
you are imagining
all HR people
are power-mad,
and that the
thing we most
enjoy is sacking
people, so
I am going
to dispel
a few myths
here.
As an
HR Exec in
an agency
it’s part
of my job
to create
a good working
environment
for researchers,
both aesthetically
and emotionally
(i.e. maintaining
good morale).
This is a
worthy aim
and a challenging
one. There
are occasions
when life
is tough.
Research clients
as we all
know can be
so demanding
that it has
a demoralising
effect on
agency staff,
plus some
of the roles
involved in
my job are
by nature
unpleasant
– delivering
bad news to
people who
believe in
messenger-shooting
– or keeping
abreast of
Employment
Law and enforcing
it on people
who don’t
like it, of
whom there
are many in
market research.
So what
is it that
makes me love
my job? To
some extent
it's the obvious
things – careers
in personnel
mean interaction
with people
from all levels,
and staying
in touch with
the real world.
When you are
influencing
people’s careers
and their
acquisition
of skills
there is a
frequent feeling
of knowing
you have made
a real difference.
Being trusted
is also good
– people generally
believe that
what you say
is right.
MR is
a sector known
for its diversity
and challenges
and the HR
function is
no exception
– you are
dealing with
a wide variety
of people
on a wide
variety of
issues, and
that in itself
is a bonus.
But one thing
that researchers
generally
have in common
is that they're
almost all
terribly nice
– perhaps
linked to
the old adage
that they
are not good
at selling,
and even faintly
embarrassed
by the need
to occasionally
be ‘commercial’.
Taken to extremes,
this niceness
can mean that
people still
thank you
even when
you have had
to tell them
they have
been performing
poorly, or
even then
you have just
told them
they are being
made redundant!
... which
doesn’t make
it an enjoyable
task, but
compared to,
say, telling
a merchant
banker he’s
surplus to
requirements,
dishing the
bad news to
a researcher
is not so
dangerous
to life and
limb.
None of
this would
make the job
worthwhile
if one didn’t
have the chance
to develop
long-term
relationships
with staff.
Hiring and
firing is
all very exciting
(sic) but
the real satisfaction
comes from
seeing people’s
careers develop
and knowing
you have helped.
Here again
MR scores
well (assuming
my company
is not totally
atypical)
- people tend
to stay for
a long time,
especially
once they
have a few
years’ experience
under their
belt but also
sometimes
right from
JRE level.
The result
is a family
atmosphere,
and in a nutshell
that is why
I love my
job in HR
for an MR
agency – we
are in many
ways like
one big happy
family. So
your initial
premise was
wrong - I
mean, you
wouldn't enjoy
sacking a
member of
your family
would you?
Would you??
Now
there’s a
thought.
I
hate my job...
As a Personnel
Manager in
an MR Agency
Who’d
be an in-house
recruitment
manager?
If it wasn’t for the clients, of
course, any job would be pretty
good - but the internal clients for
this one are a particularly
desperate bunch:
- they set pay ceilings which
deter all the fabulous
candidates, that are suddenly
and recklessly disregarded
when a friend of a friend of
the Director comes in ‘for a
chat’. If I’d had 25% extra to
play with at the start I’m sure
I could have found someone
months ago ...
-
they give us wandering job
specs. ‘Well either an RE or an
SRE or perhaps, even if they
were really
good and a
real business-getter, we
might go to AD.
Or then again we might just
take another graduate trainee
instead’. Hmmm, OK, I’ll draft
you some punchy copy for that
one then ...
- at other times their job specs
are so exacting that there may
only be two or three individuals
in the whole of the Western
world who would fit them. Do
you really need advanced SPSS,
experience of pet food research
and fluent Portuguese?
- they are unable or unwilling
to find five minutes to give
you feedback on the candidate
you have finally found for
them. When you finally run
said Manager to ground they
come out with something
helpful like ‘oh he just wasn’t
really quite right’.
But I don’t want to appear to
blame everything on our bosses.
Some things, of course, are
the candidates’ fault.
Some of them, for example,
can only be interviewed at
times when any sane person
should be ingesting either
toast and coffee or a nice cold
Gin & Tonic - you get in early/
stay in late for the dears and
then they don’t arrive -
no explanation, no apology.
If only it were possible to cut out
the middle man/woman and
let them deal with each other.
But of course, the good thing
about being in HR is that you get
to meet lots of recruitment people
and hear about lots of vacancies,
so when you get to the end of
your tether you should find it
easier to move on. So where did
I put that address book ...?
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