Oh dear. It seems that schoolchildren and students don’t “hanker for a career in HR”, and the profession has an image problem. HR Magazine says you’re unlikely to hear a child say “I want to work in HR”, because they’re all dreaming of becoming train drivers, footballers and singers.
Hardly the most shocking revelation of the year, you’ll forgive me if I’m not picking myself up off the floor right now.
This all stems from research carried out by the CIPD, which found that most of its members didn’t consider HR as a career option while growing up. In fact, only 4% first considered it while at school or college. This may be true of their current membership, but there is evidence, albeit anecdotal, that people are viewing a career in HR as ‘solid and robust’. Not sexy, not edgy, but solid and robust. Five years of an economic downturn have potentially altered the way people think about their careers.
HR Magazine is wondering whether HR can find itself a media figurehead – someone young, edgy and sexy, perhaps. Someone who will entice young hopefuls into the profession. Someone who can break that image of an ‘admin function’ with a rulebook, and make the kids say “you know what, I don’t want to be a pop star, I want to be a HR star.”
So how can HR attract young talent? Is there a messianic figure waiting in the wings? Here are two ideas on how to ‘sex up’ HR.
Stop beating around the bush
Over in the US, HR does have its icons – Laurie Ruetimann is a former HR Director who blogs candidly and speaks regularly. Kris Dunn’s HR Capitalist blog is witty, to the point, and best of all, helpful. FistfulofTalent, which they both contribute to, is forthright, and makes for good reading – and as a non-HR practitioner, I read it FOR FUN. I actually enjoy it.
In the UK, there are a handful of bloggers, like Flip Chart Fairy Tales, but no Ruetimann-like figurehead. HR needs to stop being so English and reserved, and stop beating around the bush.
What it has to say is interesting – it’s of value to the business world – and it can still be edgy. Ask around – does anyone you know outside of HR actually read a HR blog?
It’s time to stop talking internally (and stop using the word leverage, for example), and talk to the wider world about the issues we all face in the workplace, using the language real people speak. Demonstrate that people can grow, learn & be challenged in HR… Only then will people sit up and take notice of the real changes that have taken place in HR.
Rebrand the CIPD
HR doesn’t need a rebrand – but the fusty old CIPD does. What HR can do for a business today is vastly different from the perception. HR can add to the bottom line by influencing engagement and productivity. HR can demonstrate its value in pounds and pence to the board, and is therefore strategic. Isn’t all of this worth shouting about?
That’s what’s changed. But the CIPD? “Championing better work and working lives” is a nice, worthy strapline, but it’s not “Just do it”, is it.
A browse through the CIPD site reveals a world of internal debates about “engaging with engagement”, TUPE regulations, maternity pay and policy. No wonder young people see HR as a bunch of matrons with a rulebook. Brushing aside the irony that it was the CIPD themselves who carried out this research, you start to get to the heart of the problem – HR isn’t selling itself, and the CIPD, as the leading body, is responsible for that.
So while I don’t necessarily think we need an organisation called “HR With Balls” (HRWB), I do think we need a movement that says “you know what, we do the big things in business, and we do them well.” A movement that demonstrates the full spectrum of capabilities and possibilities within the profession.
HR needs to think big if it’s going to be seen as a career choice by talented graduates. Instead of being seen as a sturdy, reliable choice, it needs to be seen as an aspirational choice. One where you can make the same kind of bottom-line difference that marketing and sales can visibly demonstrate. Sell the sizzle, not the sausage.
