求助：关于HR的职业抉择！

lpdeng

我是理工科背景。 硕士毕业之后作的也基本是实验室的工作。 因为从高中开始就对心理学感兴趣， 一直想向相关方向发展。 中途也想过砖专业， 但一直由于各种各样的原因（家庭的不支持， 自己价值观的动摇， 因为没有系统了解所以确定不下来具体的方向等）作罢。  最近半年多以来觉得物质条件有提升，但自己精神心情方面之一直很压抑。 曾经经常劝说自己， 要慢慢的转行（父母和ld也这么劝说我）。 但我现在觉得，不能这样一直过在说服压抑后悔的循环中。 所以想要下定决心把自己的理想付诸于行动。

在这看了很多大家关于human resource的讨论。 但毕竟因为我又没有知识背景（只是上过职业心理学， OB和OI的课， 看过一些人力资源管理的书）也没有经验背景， 总觉得自己对HR还是没有直观的概念，在下这个决定的时候很是畏畏缩缩的。  所以想看看大家有没什么建议，让我这种无任何HR背景的人能更了解HR相关情况（读书的课程安排？ MBA-HR 和 Master of Human resource相同相异性？ 毕业后就业方向？ HR职业生涯可能遇到的难题？）。 另外，我现在在想要不要去读一个part-time的社区大学的HR课程。 一是可以让自己有系统的知识构架并对HR有更直观的了解， 二是也为以后申请相关MASTER打下基础。

预先谢谢大家的回复！ 让建议和批评都来得更猛烈些吧！

[此贴子已经被作者于2008-6-17 2:58:06编辑过]

lpdeng

期待回复

deborahchow

首先，我个人感觉hr专业即便在商科里也是相对技术含量比较低的工作，职业方面的成功与否更多取决于性格和对企业的了解以及基本的素质。当然我这么讲是针对entry或者middle level的工作的，大部分的HR VP都是MBA背景或者HR。
第二，美国的HR项目其实是有Labor relation 和human resources两个方向，学校不同专业侧重也不同，但是labor relation方面一定会有涉及。这就有了一个很有趣的问题，如果回国做实务，collective bargaining一定不会用到；如果美国工作，labor relation的职位又会尽量绕过，因为文化法律语言方面我们是有劣势的。
第三，HR在美国的master项目并不普遍，社区大学我就更不了解，但是以你纯工科的背景，即便在社区大学的学分完全承认，另外补充的学分我想也不会少，具体要看具体学校和导师的意见。有一点我想提醒，我有朋友是从EE转到会计，注册之后才知道自己要修72个学分，时间和学费上都超过了自己的预期。
第四，学费的问题。因为商科的奖学金几乎没有，大量修学分意味着你要有比较好的精神和经济承受力。
第五，至于剩下的问题，很抱歉我个人能力有限，不能给出建设性建议。很敬佩你向着自己目标坚持不懈努力的勇气和意念，愿主保守你。

pepper3344

 I have a science background and recently transferred into the HR department in the same company (fortune 500 in the U.S.). 

 First of all, it is not an easy transfer as I don't have any HR background. In addition, there are not many non-Americans(let alone Chinese) in  HR. However, I still got in. So it is not impossible. It really depends on your ability, fit for the team and luck. 

  

 My impression of the HR profession is: it is an ART, not science. The daily work depends a lot on your experience, or EQ, rather than your degree. I have quite a few coworkers who came from sales background - they really know how to 'sweet talk'. This is a big plus for HR professionals.  The work also is all about building relationships, with coworkers, customers etc. Think back about the kind of  ppl you know who are a really good fit for working in 人事科 in China, same here. You've got to enjoy working with people (some nice, many times not so nice) and be comfortable with ambiguity and politics. 

If you fit the profile I described above, I think you would really enjoy the HR work. It is very interesting - again, you are dealing with people, not machines. There is never a dull day - you never know what you are going to encounter on any given day. Good luck with your career search!

pepper3344

Forgot to address your questions about which degree to pursue. In the U.S.,for internal transfers, you don't have to have a degree. In fact, many experienced HR professionals don't have HR degree. Many ppl get SHRM (society of human resource management) certification on the job. For external hires, you probably do. As I don't have experience with that, I'd suggest you talk with HR ppl in your current company and see how did they got into HR.

Best of luck!

pig2009

以下是引用pepper3344在2008-7-1 10:24:00的发言：
 I have a science background and recently transferred into the HR department in the same company (fortune 500 in the U.S.). 

 First of all, it is not an easy transfer as I don't have any HR background. In addition, there are not many non-Americans(let alone Chinese) in  HR. However, I still got in. So it is not impossible. It really depends on your ability, fit for the team and luck. 

  

 My impression of the HR profession is: it is an ART, not science. The daily work depends a lot on your experience, or EQ, rather than your degree. I have quite a few coworkers who came from sales background - they really know how to 'sweet talk'. This is a big plus for HR professionals.  The work also is all about building relationships, with coworkers, customers etc. Think back about the kind of  ppl you know who are a really good fit for working in 人事科 in China, same here. You've got to enjoy working with people (some nice, many times not so nice) and be comfortable with ambiguity and politics. 

If you fit the profile I described above, I think you would really enjoy the HR work. It is very interesting - again, you are dealing with people, not machines. There is never a dull day - you never know what you are going to encounter on any given day. Good luck with your career search!

I can not agree with you at all. I think HR is both science and art. Your understanding about HR may come from your experience, but i have to say, it is too superficial and simple. People is the most important resource for any organization, how to arrange and how to distribute this kind of resource can affect the success of the oranization greatly, or, we can say the effect is most crucial.

Do not try to consider the HR work to be equal to the recruiters'. The later is only a small part of the former. Do not try to describe the HR work to be talking with people sicne you have to know how to manage people.

Your experience is just limited in traditional Chinese people deprtment, so when talken about HR, you come back to the past——not scientific hr, not modern management concept. It will be bad direction since some one who want to join HR may recede rather than continue learn more about real HR.

yolanda3

Very interesting discussion here!

You have come to the basic definition of HR. I majored in HRM when in University and once was HR officer in a foreign corp. in China. According to my knowledge and experiences, there're various levels and functions of HR. In short, as my conclusion, there're 3 different positions:

1/HR Generalist. You work for a biz unit, deal with ppl, which means you have to build up very good relationship with your biz partner and employees. You have to learn a lot in this position, however, many HR has learnt through on-job training. To be a good HRG depends on the experiences you dealt with ppl, instead of any HR knowledge.

2/HR Specialist, such as the Compensation & Benefits Specialist and the Training Specialist. In this position, you absolutely have to gain as much knowledge as you can. Especially, C&B specialist, you have to spend much more time on “things” than on “ppl”. HR degree may help.

3/HR Consultant. Obviously, it’s a kind of management consultants. Ppl in this position need to have the sense of “consulting” and super learning ability. MBA education may help.
        

eilmar

Nice point for all the above. It might be a great guide for HR new comers.