Why is no one interested in HR?

I study Business Management at Surrey University and the majority of people I have spoken to from my course are taking the Entrepreneurship or Marketing pathway and no one seems to be interested in Human Resource Management? Why do you think this may be?

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Anyone?

HR doesn't pay much yet requires many of the skills of a manager...

Reply 3

Skyewoods

It is not a prestigious career or attractive to people

Reply 4

bossun

HR is pretty cool, I did work experience in it at a big company. I believe they don't know what the practical working environment is like that's why

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Reply 5

AnimeCatsMemes

Original post by bossun

HR is pretty cool, I did work experience in it at a big company. I believe they don't know what the practical working environment is like that's why

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Oooh that sounds nice. Is HR still something you would want to do? Or was it just for the experience?

Reply 6

Excellence2000

Original post by Skyewoods

It is not a prestigious career or attractive to people

Why do you say this?

Reply 7

silent ninja

From an employees perspective, HR is one of the most corrupt and possibly incompetent functions I have come across in my working life - no matter where I go.

They will do tick-box exercises for hiring people, not looking beyond the CV and not really understanding the job being advertised. They just want to control the process without adding real value.

They are there to protect the organisation rather than the employee. This is corruption. How many times have you heard about a worker complaining about a manager, only for them to close ranks and constructively dismiss the person? Incompetent managers protect themselves through cliques and unfortunately HR enable them when it is their responsibility to empower the organisation with skills and talent, and an open yet progressive culture.

I've seen HR fire a guy for wanting a £10k raise to £70k, only to hire 3 guys to do the same job at a sub-par level - whilst of course paying 3 times as much. Was anyone held responsible for making such a poor decision? Of course not, they looked after each other.

The real values of a company are described by who gets promoted and rewarded. This is the true culture of an organisation, not those useless posters and plaques in the reception foyer.
If you're interested in this, Netflix's culture deck was revelatory a few years back and is still often referred to today. I don't agree with all of it (especially the fact they don't seem to want to invest in people through training, but would rather fire them) but at least it's ballsy and goes back to the routes of what HR should do:
https://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664/36-Brilliant_Jerks_Some_companies_tolerate

Anyway, going back to Human Resource Management. The people in an organisation are the most important asset by far. You can take all the tools and processes out, but the company will still run. You can't take the people out. If you have the best teams, you have the best organisation. It's as simple as that. So yes HR is very important, and the underlying problem it tries to address is very important, but it's lost its way over the last couple of decades.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 8

Skyewoods

Original post by Excellence2000

Why do you say this?

Prestigious jobs are competitive ones. Competitive jobs are one where there are a lot of people apply for the few jobs available. This is not the case for HR

Reply 9

Duncan2012

There’s little room for creativity or doing new things in HRM, unlike other areas of business. HRM is often about resolving people problems, which isn’t seen as glamorous or exciting. Nobody grows up thinking ‘when I’m older I want to be a HR Director’.

Reply 10

Excellence2000

Original post by J-SP

I did when I left uni. Then I realised what generalist HR was like 😂.

Fortunately I found my specialism within HR early on and actually got to avoid most of the “HR” stuff. Also got to do more of the creative side of it.

What is your specialism?

Reply 11

Excellence2000

For those who don't think HR is a great career choice, what alternatives would you suggest?

Reply 12

username738914

Original post by J-SP

Student recruitment - apprenticeship/intern/grads. It’s generally the more lively and positive side of HR.

Hah. Laughing at our misery.

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(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 13

username738914

Original post by J-SP

🤨

Huh?

Was a jab at how on your side of the table it's fun but on the candidate's side it's usually hell haha.

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Reply 14

ajj2000

Original post by AnimeCatsMemes

Anyone?

As said above HR tends to pay less than other fields at the same level in an organisation. Still a great thing to study as the knowledge is applicable at any level of management.

Reply 15

gjd800

Because it is ****ing dull.

Reply 16

username738914

Unless you're in HR consulting or recruiting or headhunting/executive search.

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Reply 17

adamantacademic

Original post by AnimeCatsMemes

I would think Entrepreneurship is easier than HR

Reply 18

username738914

Original post by J-SP

Some of the specialist HR consultancy work is incredibly lucrative too.

Coaching, psychology led work, as well as strategic HR consultancy can earn crazy amounts. Even more general things like pay/benefits consultancy, or data analytics I have seen bill crazy amounts.