Human Resources 10 soft skills

I am working and currently going to school to be a Human Resource Manager. This job requires special people skills that are all important, but on a scale of 1-10 not all are equal. A Human Resource Manager will need to start with the following 10 soft skills, in order from most important to least.

1. Listening - Without this skill you might as well not be dealing with people. This is the most vital skill and by taking the time to simply listen you can effectively manage a group of people.

2. Communication - We all need to communicate especially in a workplace, the fastest way to make people angry is to not tell them what's going on.

3. Meeting Management - Its also pretty important to be able to manage meetings so you can discuss ongoing issues or new ones.

4. Stress Management - In a high demand job for you and employees its good to be able to manage stress in a healthy way, this in turn can avoid conflict later.

5. Time Management - Time is a large factor in stress for you and employees, learning the skill of time management will make it easier to get tasks done.

6.Conflict Resolution - Conflict Resolution should be low on the list since the other skills should prevent much conflict, but it's always good to know how to deal with it when it arises.

7. Networking - Working with your employees is always a good thing but with Human Resources you're almost working for the employees.

8. Problem Solving - Hopefully not many problems arise but when they do it should be taken care of. Not that this skill isn't important, it just should be low on the list.

9. Collaboration - Collaboration again like networking is not too terribly vital for my career.

10.Self Awareness - I should be aware of what I do but I feel I am a good person and the other skills that are more important will hopefully keep me from getting into any situation where I have to be self aware.

Situational and Behavioral questions

Situational and Behavioral interview questions are questions that a future employer may ask you during the interview process. Behavioral questions are questions asked that involve you to give an example of a past behavior or scenario and how it played out based on your actions and behavior. Situational interview questions aren't too different from behavioral but they ask the question "What would you do if...". This is asking for your input in normally resolving a situation and how you would go about doing so, it's more hypothetical. For answering the behavioral questions, remember a moment where conflict came up and you settled it in a moral or correct way. For the situational question it's almost the same, don't tell the employer that you would resolve it in a morally ambiguous way just tell how you would take care of the scenario the right way.

Conventional Vs. Unconventional Resumes

Resumes are a vital step in the process of getting into a job or career, and without one your chance to the that job you want just sinks. Resumes are a formal presentation of your professional work, education and any other history that looks attractive to an employer. A resume can be done by the conventional means, on paper with a cover sheet. They can also be done through videos and submitted online. When you're speaking in terms of conventional resumes, paper is the way to go; many employers can appreciate a simple paper documented resume with a well put together cover sheet. There is nothing wrong with old fashioned and it seems to generally be the safe route. But going out on a limb and doing a resume the Unconventional way may prove to work in  your favor as well. If you are giving a video resume the employer may like to see a face behind all that information and history, it may be odd enough to work in your favor.

The pros and cons of PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint is a computer program that is designed to put together a virtual slideshow, great for business and school presentations. But some have now condemned the use of PowerPoint and making presentations using the software program. There are pros and cons to both using PowerPoint and not using PowerPoint.

Using PowerPoint Pros: The program itself is simple to use, quick and efficient, has a variety of custom options for presentations, can be used on nearly all computers and is overall user friendly.

Using PowerPoint Cons: Like all software it has bugs, can crash, if you are not tech savvy you may not prefer a computer for business, you have to have a computer available to show your work.

Not Using PowerPoint Pros: You won't need to rely on having a computer for a presentation, some people may appreciate old fashion presentations, not using powerpoint may feel more sincere to your audience.

Not Using PowerPoint Cons: PowerPoint gives great visual aid to audiences, your presentation may be more interesting with powerpoint effects and images, without powerpoint organization of topics may be harder.

 

Plagiarism

Plagiarism in simple terms is a form of dishonesty and even a form of theft, when you complete a paper for school or publish a work of literature the work you submit is intended to be your own. Plagiarism is when someone turns in a paper or publishes someone else's work as their own, and is something that can be committed on accident. Plagiarism can even be using a quote out of something for your own story or paper and not giving proper citation or credit to that author. It is something that again you might not even realize you are doing or did. One of the best ways to make sure that you do not commit plagiarism is to never copy and paste whole articles or stories from the internet and use them as your own story or article. The other very easy way to get away with using a quote or excerpt from someone else's work is to use citation. Give credit where credit is due and don't steal someone else's work, even if it was by accident.

Technology and Business

Technology in this day in time makes life easy when typing papers, blogs and creating important documents. There are many programs and software out there to make the process of creating documents much more simple and fast. Technology today is moving forward and it is not slowing down and when it comes to creating business reports and the delivery of reports I believe that there will be a simple outcome. In the not so distant future the technology that we use today will grow so, so much that the format for standard business reports will be in the digital document form rather than physical paper. I would think that the method for delivery will also become purely digital. One day paper may become a thing of the past and that day may not be too far away.

Business Reports

I believe that technology will only progress the way that we conduct and deliver our business reports in the future. The purpose of a business report is to inform the audience of the information that they need to make the decisions for the business.  Technology will be able to help us gather that information faster and more accurate for our business reports.  We will be able to reach the audience at a quicker pace than before and have a better delivery method for doing so.  We will also be able to reach a broader audience with the information as well. Technology has already helped us in so many ways from the start of using fax machines to deliver documents quicker than mail to using email to deliver messages at faster pace than making phone calls or sending direct mail. Technology will always help us keep improving our businesses for the future.

Direct mail Sales Messages vs Email Sales Messages

The purpose of a direct-mail sales message and an email sales message both have the same purpose of getting a message to the customer or a future customer.  There are many differences between the two of them though.  The direct-mail approach gives the customer something to hold in their hand and sort thru. I am more likely to hit the delete button on my computer when dealing with junk mail but when I have letters or flyers I am more apt to actually read it. I don’t get a lot of direct-mail and it is almost a little bit exciting to receive a letter even it is junk mail.  The direct-mail approach can be on the expensive side for a business instead of using email which is at no cost to send.  The direct-mail is also not good for the planet with all the waste that it produces, so I would lean toward the email approach for a more go green for Mother Earth.  Emails are usually kept pretty short and it’s hard to get the customers attention. The direct-mail approach lets the sender have more room to grab the customer’s attention. The two might have the same purpose but have many different characteristics of getting it done.

Indirect Approach

I believe that using an indirect strategy when preparing a message to someone can be a more effective and probably more appropriate than a direct approach. I don’t believe that when writing an indirect that it’s being manipulative to the receiver of the message. If the recipient is not aware of the bad news that they are about to receive then using the indirect approach is best.  It allows the writer to deliver the bad news a little at a time and allows the reader to process the news gradually as they read the message.  The indirect approach also allows the reader and writer to keep a good relationship between each other. The best way to do this is to start out with positive introduction and the give the bad news and give reasons and resolutions to the problem and end with a positive closure to the message. It is important to know your audience or recipient and know how they are going to react to receiving the bad news. You want to be respectful of them when delivering bad news.

Adjustment Message

An adjustment message is when a company receives a claim on a product or service and they decide to respond to that claim favorably.  A company will do things for a customer like refunding money or giving them a credit to remedy the situation. The most important thing in an adjustment message is maintaining a positive attitude and keeping your information organized in the message to the customer.  You want that customer to be satisfied with the remedy but you want them to maintain trust in your company so they will continue to use your products or service in the future. You want to get right to the point in an adjustment message and by following the direct strategy method will help insure you do this.  First you will want to include the customer’s name in the salutation and be formal about it.  The next part of the message you will want to let the customer know the good news right up front and remain positive. In the next part of the message you will want to give details on how you are fixing the problem and you also trying to regain their trust and confidence in this part.  I believe that most customers know that accidents or mistakes happen but the most important thing is how a company solves those incidents. In the closing of the message you will want to again remain positive and end with a positive reflection on your company. You want the customer to know how much you respect and depend on their business and want to them to remain a customer in the future.