Is the real key to succeeding & getting ahead in the HR profession that you essentially need a certain blend of skills & the right type of personality?

From being an HR Advisor to an HR Manager, Senior HR Director or a Chief Executive Head of People, all of these roles call for a certain blend and combination of both soft people, hard business skills and other personal qualities. If one has either an in-balance of more than others, or some which do not come, can be freely articulated or flow entirely naturally, it can invariably make things more difficult and hence problematic in the workplace if you wish to be an effective operator as a practising practitioner.  

These are also the hidden personal qualities not always put or found in the job description or person specification.     

To get to the point, a successful and senior level HR professional often needs to wear many different hats, being a key area of business, such as being a Social Worker by caring for and looking after the employees, a Mediator by balancing the often competing interests of Managers and employees, a Diplomat when explaining that the organisation cannot provide the salary increases and career progression initially envisaged, but able to still keep people happy and motivated to work, but also being a level headed business decision maker when it comes to the bottom line when laying off employees in order to save the organisation. 

Although many of these things can be difficult for most people to demonstrate in all aspects and right measures at any given moment in time, so they come across naturally, if one has neurodiversity, you also do not automatically pick up on or accurately read them either, and they can be even more difficult to show on the right level. 

I feel that I have identified the key issue here, but are these skills and personal attributes that one is either born with or not, or can they indeed be learned and taught behaviours?      

   

      

Parents
  • Andre

    I was going to respond to your post by answering your question directly. But I'm not going to.

    You've posted numerous similar queries and observations, all seemingly related to your long struggle for employment and/or advancement in the field of HR. You obviously appear to have sufficient insight to see that the issue or difficulty you face is not just the system that works against people of differing neurodiversity, but is also a challenge for those people such as yourself, overcoming the lack of some of the social skills or social attributes you and others have and describe..

    What I see is the impression of an endless struggle and challenge - an uphill journey with the possibility of no end. I wonder have you ever thought of changing direction at all - doing something different with your life?

    A lesson from Portia Nelson:-

    I walk down the street.
    There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
    I fall in.
    I am lost... I am helpless.
    It isn't my fault.
    It takes forever to find a way out.

    I walk down the same street.
    There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
    I pretend I don't see it.
    I fall in again.
    I can't believe I am in the same place.
    But, it isn't my fault.
    It still takes me a long time to get out.

    I walk down the same street.
    There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
    I see it is there.
    I still fall in. It's a habit.
    My eyes are open.
    I know where I am.
    It is my fault. I get out immediately.

    walk down the same street.
    There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
    I walk around it.

    I walk down another street.”
Reply
  • Andre

    I was going to respond to your post by answering your question directly. But I'm not going to.

    You've posted numerous similar queries and observations, all seemingly related to your long struggle for employment and/or advancement in the field of HR. You obviously appear to have sufficient insight to see that the issue or difficulty you face is not just the system that works against people of differing neurodiversity, but is also a challenge for those people such as yourself, overcoming the lack of some of the social skills or social attributes you and others have and describe..

    What I see is the impression of an endless struggle and challenge - an uphill journey with the possibility of no end. I wonder have you ever thought of changing direction at all - doing something different with your life?

    A lesson from Portia Nelson:-

    I walk down the street.
    There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
    I fall in.
    I am lost... I am helpless.
    It isn't my fault.
    It takes forever to find a way out.

    I walk down the same street.
    There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
    I pretend I don't see it.
    I fall in again.
    I can't believe I am in the same place.
    But, it isn't my fault.
    It still takes me a long time to get out.

    I walk down the same street.
    There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
    I see it is there.
    I still fall in. It's a habit.
    My eyes are open.
    I know where I am.
    It is my fault. I get out immediately.

    walk down the same street.
    There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
    I walk around it.

    I walk down another street.”
Children
  • Hi David,

    An excellent idea in theory but here is where the real problem lies and where reality also bites accordingly to how the labour market thinks, works and the attitudes of the employers concerned:

    Although we have age discrimination legislation, in practice, no other profession is now going to suddenly take me into an entry level role, employ me as a graduate trainee or train me up at the age of 45 with no prior relevant experience. That is a virtual fact and I have already tried it with Marketing, Advertising, Estate Agency, Banking, Media, Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, Travel, Police, Recruitment and a host of many others that also interest me. The answers all came back to my applications and were all saying the same thing, namely 'No.' Other candidate's experience, background and existing track record to date had a better fit and match to their business needs and the position that they were recruiting for. They most likely wondered why I applied to them and I don't fit the employee stereotype as all the new staff were all in their 20s.       

    Their attitude will also understandably be that why aren't you working in HR, and if I tell them, they will then think that if HR did not want him, why would we? In addition, I cannot now start investing new time and new money into doing postgraduate professional courses with no eventual guarantee of work or doing unpaid internships / volunteering for many years to try and gain the necessary experience to break into an entry level role maybe at age 50. The CIPD 7 will also go to waste as well as I cannot use it in another profession.  

    That is therefore how the real world and job market works, there is no other path, I am where I am and I have now invested too much into HR (in terms of time, effort and money) to now pull out. What I do however need to do is to just stick it out and drive it home. All other professions also require the same soft skills as well and I am not the IT or STEM type either, although that will take the best part of 5-10 years to retrain for. I am simply over the age to now embark on a complete sector and career change and would not get in in anything else, as they all have clearly defined entry streams and pathways and only take in a certain number of people who fulfill certain criteria at particular times of the year.      

    In short, I can't get into another profession and cannot risk giving up a job to start retraining for something and then end up with no profession at all in my late 40s as you have no experience and they don't take people on the basis of courses alone. I also have monthly outgoings to cover.  


    With regard to neurodiversity, what I can however do is let people know about it in advance, so if things go a certain way, they know the reason(s) behind it.

    Any thoughts?

    Andre.