Navigating the hiring process is a tricky thing. You have likely spent what feels like an
eternity perfecting your resume and cover letter and tirelessly spent hours
applying online. You’re eager, and
hopefully excited, but feel like you've been waiting a lifetime to hear
something…..anything! You may feel HR
makes the process more difficult rather than better for you and wonder what
they could be doing all day and why you haven’t heard anything. Understanding what a typical day is like for
an HR professional may help shed some light into the job seeking process for
you. Here’s a pretty typical day in the
life of an HR professional:
8:00 – 9:00; Begin and plan the day
In today’s world, emails saturate our in-boxes (and also our
time). Typically, a significant portion
of the morning is spent going through the emails that have built up and responding
to internal clients. Some matters an HR
professional must respond to require deeper research or in depth decision
making. These items may require us to
consult another party or take additional time to mull over issues that are less
than cookie-cutter. Most HR
professionals have a variety of responsibilities and tasks they must
complete. This also requires significant
planning to ensure proper time management which needs to be done early in the
day.
9:00 – 10:00; Meetings
Like other business professionals, there are various
stakeholders that require our regular attention and meetings are a common fact
of life in most businesses. Many of the
meetings may also require substantial preparation on our part. “People” matters are rarely black and white,
and we dedicate time and resources to every decision and recommendation we
make.
10:00 – 11:30; Paperwork
HR is at the core of much of the administrative work in an
organization. We spend a substantial
portion of each day dedicated to our administrative and transactional responsibilities
(FMLA, unemployment, worker’s compensation, employee and benefits paperwork,
etc). We’re always trying to become more
efficient in this area to reduce this portion of our jobs, but it remains a
necessary evil.
11:30 – 12:00; Emails
We’re back to the emails in an attempt to make the evening
load easier to manage.
12:00 – 12:30; Lunch
You’ll find many HR professionals eating lunch alone at
their desk. This is for a variety of
reasons. It’s difficult for HR to
regularly eat with employees in other departments. We’re often privy to information that can
inadvertently put us in uncomfortable situations with other employees. Additionally, it is HR’s job to remain an
unbiased and consistent presence in the organization.
12:30 – 3:00; Recruiting
We will spend a significant portion of our day dedicated to
finding talent. Despite how plentiful
you think the candidate pool is for a position, I guarantee that finding
qualified people for that job is not easy.
Whether the qualifications high or low, it’s always difficult to find
great people. Please keep in mind that
during this time, we write job descriptions, post jobs, review resumes, conduct
interviews, administer testing, run background checks, and send offer &
rejection letters. That’s a heck of a lot
to do in a relatively short amount of time.
3:00 – 3:30; Vendor communication
In HR, people are regularly trying to sell you things
(consultancy, benefits, technology, staffing services, etc). Many of these conversations include HR
politely declining, as most products and services are a dream and a tease on
our tight budgets. Managing vendor
relationships is an important part of our jobs.
3:30 – 4:30; Manager/Employee Advising
Our advice is regularly sought from employees about personal
matters as related to their job. In the
past I’ve had a “therapy chair” available in HR for these types of
conversations. Additionally, managers
regularly seek our guidance relating to employment matters. We must be available to speak with both about
their respective matters. After all, in
HR, your most regular clients are internal.
4:30 – 5:30; Wrap Up
Like other professionals, our day often requires us to wind
down and wrap up. There are often
outstanding items that we must address before the end of the day. People matters can rarely “wait until
tomorrow”, and this is often the time we’re working very hard behind the scenes
to keep things running smoothly for all employees.
Understanding what an HR professional’s day is like may help
you gain some insight as you deal with HR through the hiring process. I encourage you to remain positive and
persistent and to aim high!
