Is there more to HR than just hiring and firing?

YES! HR is much more than just hiring and firing. Compensation & Benefits, Operations, Talent Management, Industry/ University Engagement, etc. are all essential functions of a company's HR team. While small companies don't have to have a dedicated HR department, it is imperative that large companies do have an HR team to recruit, manage, retain, and develop talent.

What is the role of HR during recruitment interviews?

During interviews, while there is always a hiring manager to check if the candidate can fit into the role, the HR would evaluate whether the candidate fits into the company's culture or not. The company's culture refers to its personality or the way of things being done. For instance, some companies operate in a very strict, regimental setup, while some companies have a more laid back/ freestyle approach.

So what does an HRBP do?

As an HR Business Partner (BP) at an R&D company, I act as the bridge between the business units in a company (research, engineering, marketing and sales, accounts, etc.) and HR department (Compensation & Benefits, Operations, Talent Management, Industry/ University Engagement, etc.). I engage with the various business units and understand how many people they wish to recruit, how many people they want to retrench (dismiss), whether they have staff problems (attitude, aptitude, etc.), etc. and relay it back to my HR team. The respective sub-teams then get down to support the requests of the various business departments. The advantage of being an HRBP is that I get to understand the whole suite of HR functions.

Are there courses that one has to study to become an HR professional?

Human Resources Management (HRM) is a degree for those who are certain that they wish to pursue a career in HR. I, on the other hand, did my Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and specialised in HR. BBA degree gives you the opportunity to explore a few more careers beyond just HR upon graduation.

One of the considerations many of our students have is whether the job will go out of existence because of automation. Is HR as a career vulnerable to automation?

Yes and No. There are 100s to 1000s of candidates applying for certain coveted roles. It's virtually impossible for us to interview each one of them. So we use tools like online tools to engage with the candidates and assess the candidates as a preliminary screening mechanism. However, certain functions like employee engagement/ outreach cannot be done by a machine and will continue to need a living, talking, breathing individual who understands the company's business needs to do it.

What's your advice for students who wish to pursue a career in HR?

If you are passionate about talking to people, developing people and seeing them succeed, then HR is a career you should consider. Try doing an internship with an HR department of a company to see if the nature of job suits you before taking the plunge. If your people succeed, your company succeeds. If your company succeeds, you succeed - that should be the mantra of HR professional!