Human Resource Management Plan, Essay Example

Executive Summary

HR Training and Development Specialist

The position being discussed and reviewed is for the role of Human Resources Training and Development Specialist.  This role encompasses a specialist to attract, sustain, motivate and develop employees throughout the business functions.  They are also in command and control of administrative functions such as benefits, recruiting, interviewing and hiring of candidates.  The HR Training and Development Specialist is the lifeline between the employees and the strategic vision and goals of senior leadership throughout the organization.  The areas of focus for the HR specialist are job analysis, selection, orientation and training.

Job Analysis

Job analysis is a process for identifying the details that are required for a particular job function.  This is the process of defining the job requirements and duties as well the overall purpose for the position.  The importance of fit and function are measurable performance objectives of the HR Training and Development Specialist.  Although the title of the HR specialist refers to training and development it is important for the human resource function to act as one symbiotic unit when developing positions, people and business objectives.  When a job function is defined regarding the duties, goals and objectives the determination of training, compensation and selection procedure also need to be defied.

There are multiple methods for job analysis that will facilitate with determining the form, fit and function of the role that will be presented for fulfillment.  These methods include but are not limited to cross-functional job research, incumbent interview, supervisor interview, peer interview, work history logs, questionnaires, leadership interviews and observation of the role (U.S. OPM 2012).

Training is fairly strait forward but is entirely dependent upon the type of function of the role being filled.  The training content, medium, method and assessment procedure are a few variables in the training portion of employee training.  Each position requires a differing level of compensation and a different mixture of benefits depending on the hierarchical breakdown of the positions role, command and responsibility.  Variables in compensation include skill level, job factors (hazardous duty pay, flight pay, etc.), responsibility (management incentive pay) and educational requirements.

The overall goal of the selection process is to ensure that the candidate fits into the teams, objectives which leads to the operating units objectives and ultimately ties in to the Business’ strategic vision.  By selecting the proper candidate the goals of the team are going to have the greatest opportunity of being met which in turn flows up the chain of command to the senior leadership’s vision of what the business must accomplish.  Having the right employees allows the business to have the right technical and soft skills available to provide a competitive advantage among competitors.

Selection

Selection procedures come both in art and science function.  There is a fine correlation between function/technical ability and fit into the organization.  The art of selecting a candidate focus on obtaining the hard and soft skills related to a specific position as well as matching specific levels of those skills to the function of the business operating unit and team function in which the role resides.  These areas can be measured by evaluating a person’s previous experience through a resume and interview process.  This would require definition of resume questions functionally focused on specific duties and experiences as well as soft skills as interpersonal relationships and measuring the immeasurable such as leadership and followership skills which are normally demonstrated during integral parts of the business function.  Minimum educational and experience requirements are also established for certain roles within a corporation.  This ensures that candidates have a certain level of job awareness and knowledge.

Certifications are also a great way to establish a metric/measurable on education and experience.  Many professional certifications require an extensive application process to define their experience and mastery of certain functions.  The Project Management Professional certification is an example of providing background information on job function as well as mastery skills through the application process as well as a final test to verify mastery.  For selection after the skills, knowledge, experience and background are reviewed a fit test should be accomplished.  The individual must fit into the organization and team for them to be successful.  Group interviews are normally conducted among the current team members where the opening resides.

This is the point of no return where the Human Resource Training and Development Specialist will have the candidate that will fill the position and the future development and training needs will need to fit for the strategic goals of the corporation to be met.  As the HR Training and Development specialist an orientation and training plan must be established prior to the onboarding of the candidate to establish a solid framework as well as level set the expectations regarding continual improvement, training and adherence to corporate training and development policy and procedures.

The selection process also differs from internal candidates and external candidates.  Internal selection and hiring must adhere to the HR recruitment processes to ensure the proper candidates fill the correct roles within the organization.  This particularly important for internal candidates because they are already within the organization and could potentially bypass certain qualification toll gates through the established process.  It is already known that since an employee is part of the corporation they meet certain minimum requirements for their respective functions.  The key to this area is strong succession planning on each level of the organization so that each function can be reviewed for the best fit for each position.  External recruiting allows the company to build on the existing skills internal to the company by hiring new talent to fill their employment needs.  This method requires extensive effort to provide an unproven candidate to fit a job function.  One method of internal recruitment would be posting an internal job posting and allowing the hiring manager to define the needs of the position as well as pull from a potential pool of current employee looking to broaden their skill set or take on more responsibility or leadership within the organization.  On the flip side to that, an external fulfillment can post an open position on local professional websites requesting talent in specific talent pools such as project management, engineering, accounting or technology.  This would pull in new talent and skill sets from differing functions outside of the corporation.

During the interview process certain questions could be asked regarding the Human Resource Training and Development Specialist:

• What training and development goals did manage and how did you meet those objectives?
• How were you successful?
• What were some challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?
• If a candidate was hired and required additional training to meet the minimum requirements how would you handle the situation?
• Provide an example of how you created a training and development program? Who was your target audience?
• Have you worked with cross-functional teams in regard to development?

Once a candidate is selected compensation is provided to the candidate. The following is a compensation package:

Base salary: 48,000USD per year

Vacation-10 days per year

Sick leave-8 hours per 160 hours worked

Health benefits (Health, vision, dental)

401K

Educational Benefits

Flexible Work schedule (awarded based on role and management)

Orientation

Orientation is a large part of getting the employee off on the right foot.  Below is an example of an orientation script used for new employees:

We, in HR, feel that it is important to address some sensitive issues during your early employment with our company.  The ultimate goal of the company is to provide wealth to our shareholders which now include you.  In order to be the best at what we do it is imperative that our employees maintain a high degree of professionalism based on courtesy and ethical behavior.  Discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin will not be tolerated and are grounds for immediate dismissal.  If you feel that discrimination is occurring or has occurred it is your responsibility to bring that to the attention to your supervisor or human resource manager.

The elimination of the potential for a hostile work environment is the goal of leadership in our organization and this relates to but not limited to right of privacy, sexual harassment a degradation of human character. This orientation allows all of our employees understand the gravity of the situation and provide an environment for each employee to perform to the best of their ability without the threat or impedance on their conscience.

Training

Training for the HR Training and Development Specialist is on a continual basis in order to stay abreast of the changes in each of the career bands/fields as well as new ways to make our training and development more effective.

Within the first month the employee is required to go through a company on-boarding session that gives the introduction of the company’s culture and way of doing business.  This also gives insight to the employee on all aspects of the HR, Finance, Benefits sections.  Within the first year, on-the-job training occurs for specific job function as well as requirements set forth for policy training.  This is also a crucial time to establish development plans for the employee so move and progress within the company.  Each section will include in-person, computer based and self-paced training sessions.

References

HR Certification Institute. HR certification, Professional in human resources (PHR). Retrieved http://www.hrci.org/HRCertification.aspx?id=65

Routledge. (2012). The international journal of human resource management. (Vol 22). Retrieved from http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/0958-5192.asp

U.S. Office of Personnel Management (2012). Assessment decision guide. Retrieved from http://apps.opm.gov/ADT/Content.aspx?page=TOC