The Human Resources (HR) industry has undergone tremendous changes over the past decades. Several innovations have happened but many issues have also emerged throughout the years that required immediate adaptability and dynamism resulting in a great evolution of in-demand skills among the professionals. 

Aspiring candidates in the HR industry must take on the challenge and go through continuous professional development to keep up with the great competition. 

Here are the necessary skills that will bolster the performance of an HR professional this 2024.

1. Communication Skills

This is a classic soft skill (a non-technical skill of how you do your work. This includes how you interact with your co-workers, time management, empathy, etc.)  needed in an employee. 

Regardless of the type of work you are in, excellent verbal and non-verbal communication skills are expected from a potential employee. No matter the position, whether you’re a rank-in-file or a manager, one must be able to effectively communicate. But how up-to-date is your way of communicating to the fast-changing world you are in?

In order to adapt to the overwhelming changes, the present generation poses, the way of communicating must also adhere to these changes so as to reap favorable results.

2. HR Technical Skills

Technical skills are essential for success not only in the HR industry but almost in every job, though technical skills may vary depending on the job at hand, or in the area of specialization. 

Possessing the right skills are the tools for success in human resources and they give you the confidence to fulfill your tasks as HR professionals. These are some of the technical skills one must have to be thoroughly equipped as an HR professional

• HR Software
• Talent Management Systems
• Recruitment
• Onboarding
• Interviewing
• Compensation and benefits management
• Scheduling
• Budgeting
• Employee Relations
• Corporate Law

3. Digital Skills

The whole world is increasingly going digital, therefore HR people must have the ability to use the new technology to their advantage. From managing and organizing information through online storages such as cloud, google drive, etc. to engage with people through social media sites and platforms– in this whole new generation, one is expected to do and achieve more in a short period of time. 

That is the power of going digital, time and space is not an invincible enemy. In fact, they are the most powerful allies as one seized the momentum of technological advancement.  

Here is a list of Human Resource technological skills that can be used as an edge: 

• HR Information Software Efficiency
• Social Media Mastery
• Applicant Tracking System 
• Online Storage Technology
• Gamification tools and techniques for Healthy Competition
• Talent Management Software and Learning Management Systems

Today technological skills are no longer an additional requirement in an applicant but a necessary tool for every Human Resource Professional. 

Almost every day, we encounter improvements and advances in technology which calls us to be more agile, adaptable, and dynamic in our approaches as HR. 

4. Analytical Skills

Analytical skills are crucial in any field. It involves skill sets that go beyond traditional thinking. HR processes from recruitment to compensation demands analytical skills that emanate from an aggregate of processed data to ensure long-term employee retainment with efficiency. 

Nonetheless, HR Professionals usually have difficulties reaching expected outcomes due to a lack of skills required to apply advanced analytical skills which cover statistical and data analytical techniques, mathematical modeling, and more.

5. Conflict Resolution Skills

HR professionals aid in solving varied work issues may it be between two employees or employee-employer conflict. 

Soft skills like negotiation and mediation are needed as HR professionals must keenly listen to both sides without any touch of personal biases and furthermore resolve the issue in a peaceful, respectful, and appropriate way. 

Thus advising different stakeholders ranging from employees, line managers, and senior managers or even the owner itself about personnel issues is crucial for the advantage of the company as a whole. 

After all, people are the best a company can have. 

6.  People Management Skills

People Management is a broad field. It is a collection of experiences and practices that comprised an overall system of talent acquisition, optimization, and retention. At the same time, it renders ongoing support for the company and counsel for its employees. 

People management entails understanding your people, their capabilities, and areas of improvement. Culture sensitivity is also a great asset in managing people. A fundamental understanding of how people feel about their work is very much needed in this soft skill. 

Human Resource professionals must be well aware of every employee’s health and total well-being to establish a balanced work-life system. 

7.  Organizational Skills

Any business or company needs to master organizational skills. 

This skill is very much useful especially during the season wherein the company or business is soaring and gradually gearing towards achieving its ultimate goal. 

One cannot transcend when it cannot balance and put into order the appointments and deadlines which need to be accomplished. The key points of this valuable skill include well-balanced scheduling, self or time management, planning, and prioritizing. 

8. Time Management Skills

In order to succeed one must know the value of time. Those who waste their precious time are the people who failed to carve self-identity or those who wander and go with the flow not knowing where to go. 

A simple way of saying it refers to optimizing the time you have because time is never unlimited. Managing time effectively for you to allocate it to the right activity. In this way, it urges people to assign a specific time to things depending on their level of importance. 

Time management involves the following activities.

• Efficient planning
• Setting specific goals and objectives
• Creating reasonable deadlines
• Fair delegation of responsibilities
• Appropriate prioritizing of activities

You have to bear in mind that for time management be effective one must be focused enough to avoid unnecessary counterproductive activities. Yet fair enough to maintain balance and avoid unnecessary burnout due to overwork. 

Be constantly organized. Keep away from stacks of files and heaps of paper at your desks. Do this by trashing useless and unnecessary papers. Organized important files by arranging them in folders may it be in alphabetical, numeral order depending on your preference. Create a system that will make your work easy, fast and efficient. 

Remember not to misuse your valuable asset—time. Stay focused until the job is done. Yet do not also forget to reward yourself once a task has been completed.  Using planners, organizers, calendars, schedulers can aid time management.

Human resource (HR) professionals possess the vital responsibility for the entire workforce and the wisdom to use the suitable kind of skills at the right moment. Empowering the workforce from bottom to top and vice versa is the main agenda.