Human Resource departments have three simple objectives. While Employee Acquisition entails recruiting the most effective people for the job, Resource Retention makes sure existing employees continue with the company and Productivity Tracking help strain new resources to improve their performance and productivity.

The key to a successful career in this sector is to develop the skillsets required to efficiently execute these core objectives. While careers in HR are rife with hurdles and challenges, success in the domain is easy through perseverance and commitment to hard work.

When it comes to education, people opting for HR usually require an associate’s degree or a certificate, while those with bachelor’s degrees may also be eligible for management positions.

People with master’s degrees can move on to work in directorial and senior-level management positions. There are two options when pursuing a master’s degree: the Master of Business Administration with a specialisation in HR, and a general master’s degree, i.e. an MA or MSc in Human Resources, both of which have advantages and disadvantages over the other. Here are the skills that some key HR roles entail:

Training and development manager: Training and Development Managers require a bachelor’s degree, and comprises professionals who plan and coordinate the skill development courses and programmes for the employees of an organisation.

They ensure that every employee, especially new recruits, are well acquainted with their job roles, and properly equipped to deal with them, as per the organisation’s mandates.

Skills required: The ability to explain complex procedures and protocols in a fun, interactive manner is essential for this role. Besides, coming up with new, engaging ways to train employees is important to ensure they retain what they’ve been taught.

Training and Development Managers must have strong people skills and outgoing personalities to better engage with trainees. Being able to properly understand the problems plaguing an organisation and creating training modules to counteract them is vital for success in this field.

Non-Profit HR professional: Nearly half of all non-profit organisations and NGOs employ teams of HR professionals to manage services ranging from the arts and education, to healthcare and human services.

This makes them irresistible full-time careers, requiring a bachelor’s degree, for those who are passionate about social work. In order to excel in this field, one needs to be genuinely passionate about helping other human beings and working for a greater good.

NGOs lack the resources of corporates, and as a result, HR professionals need to know how to work with smaller budgets and make every rupee count.

HR IT recruiting specialist: Information technology is an extremely essential component of any organisation, as well as its greatest vulnerability, with regard to fraud, data leaks, and espionage.

It’s for these reasons that recruiting the most qualified IT professionals is crucial to avoid any catastrophic and compromising incidents that could impact the company.

Recruitments of this nature require the services of highly specialised HR executives, called IT Recruiting Specialists, who must possess a bachelor’s degree in the domain.

Interviewing IT professionals involves gauging their competence and understanding of IT processes. This is why IT Recruiting Professionals must also be well acquainted with technical terms and applications.

A proficient interviewer must have strong communication skills and an ability to summarise a candidate’s entire personality, attitude, competence, and honesty.

Global HR specialist: Global HR Specialists need to have a bachelor’s degree, and manage company activities at an international level, recruiting, interviewing, and placing employees overseas. They must be able to interact with individuals around the globe, while furthering the company’s objectives.

He must be able to effectively communicate with people from all around the globe, which requires the ability to quickly pick up foreign languages.

The ability to execute the company’s objectives at an international level forms an essential part of this role. It requires an understanding of both tactical business decisions that impact the organisation at a strategic, global level.

Executive recruiter: Executive recruiters, also called head-hunters, are the recruiting specialists who focus on filling high level management positions in companies. This role requires the minimum of a bachelor’s degree.

They must effectively be able to negotiate terms and conditions, salaries, and bonuses, in a manner that best benefits the company, must have strong industry connections, and the ability to develop large networks which can serve as a resource pool of talent whenever the company requires.

HR is a challenging, exciting, lucrative, and dynamic career that draws some of the finest people of the workforce.

If you’re ready and willing to work hard and commit to excellence, there are no limits to what an occupation in human resources can help you achieve.

The writer is president, SecUR Credentials.