Introduction: Learn about the Mentality of your Enemies!

HR employees are not your enemies, unless you made them so. Or if you do something to make you their enemy. Whatever the case, once the employee learns about the mentality of his/her colleagues, they will be able to maintain better communication, thus a better connection, and eventually a better product.

Learning the science of HR is part of the mentality of HR employees, and learning its secrets will allow you to put yourself in their shoes, and see the company through their eyes, and thus answer many questions that you might have been wondering about.

1. Pass Interviews Perfectly

Surely an interviewee who studied the mentality of the HR recruitment process would become exceedingly fluent than the average interviewee. When you are asked all those sneaky and indirect questions, you will understand why they are asked, and most importantly you will know what kind of answers they are looking for. This isn’t being unethical or sly. On the contrary, you are helping the interviewer find what they are looking for. Many interviewees can misunderstand questions and give misleading answers that highlight unwanted qualifications.

But beware! Do not outsmart the interviewer. This can be more negative than answering a question in a non-efficient way. The interviewer may happen to take it personally. Do not overpower the interviewer because HR managers like to feel they are in control and handling the people well. They will not hire a future rebel!

2. Know Your Rights

Knowing your rights is one of the basic things any employee should be provided with. But in this section I do not mean your company rights. HR managers may put their own regulations, which can be far from what contemporary HR books say. When you learn about HR you will know how to stand up for your rights because you have the knowledge. Thus such HR manager(s) in the company will be exposed. They will realize that their employees understand HR norms and protocols. Accordingly, HR managers will start applying the contemporary HR protocols, or else they will be rightfully accused of illiteracy, to say the least!

3. Apply HR Principles to Your Job

The spirit of Human Resources is mainly about considering employees as customers. It’s about caring about the physical and mental welfare of the employee, while at the same time helping them to develop both professionally and personally.

Any employee who works for the sake of another employee is considered an HR member, even if he/she does not work in the HR department. For instance, I can be a company librarian who is always keen to provide the readers (the employees) with books about their career path, health tips, financial plans, personal interests, and books that are directly related to their careers. Our librarian here is purely doing an HR job from A to Z. Another example can be a company chef who offers customized meals for the employees, while informing them about new diet and nutrition methods. Also a company driver who keeps extra maps of the roads and subways in the backseats for employees. A fourth example would be the company accountant who always cares to create better deals with banks for employees, and seeks to find better financial services for them, and perhaps methods on how to save and spend their money.

As a manager of a non-HR department you can apply your own motivation techniques and training programs for your employees, apart from what the HR department will offer. This way your team will become more visible and they will all be extra motivated.

4. A Chance to Switch Your Career

At some point in our lives, one can be forced to switch careers. As employees, we should be always ready and have a backup plan. Indeed our main goal would focus on developing what we are good at, but this should not be the only goal. Life is also a journey of self-discovery. You can discover capabilities that make your career blossom whether in the direction it already is on or towards a new direction, and these discoveries can happen at any age, as long as we are capable of learning and working.

Many non-HR employees are curious and adventurous enough to switch their careers and work in the HR department of their company or any other department. Some HR directors welcome this idea of having a non-experienced HR employee, rather than having an experienced one. The reason is some non-HR employees have the out-of-the-box ability to spot the common HR mistakes and breaches, and they want to work in the HR to provide better services and ideas to their colleagues and others. If you are in this situation, make sure to highlight the reason why you want to work in the HR department in your C.V. and interview.

5. Scoring Better Grades on the Performance Appraisal

Have you ever been a good employee, but when you receive the grades of your performance appraisal you find them inadequate? Well your terms of “good” can be different from what your manager thinks, which could be also different from what the HR department thinks.

If you are a “good” employee according to your personal terms, then you will be a “better” employee when you read about the HR performance appraisal methods. You will not change yourself or your work method; however you will only stress on what counts according to HR standards.

6. Learn How to Report a Problem

Many employees face problems at work, but not all of them actually have the courage to report their problems. Some employees take the initiative but they do not know how to write the report. They end up writing the problem in a very personal rather than professional way. It is best to bear in mind that in some places HR departments care more about the “practical” side rather than the “personal”.

Learn how the HR members perceive “problems”, learn how they deal with reports, and then you will know how to write one.

7. Learning How to Write a Proper CV

Last but not least, there could be dozens or maybe hundreds of articles written on how to write a proper C.V. HR recruiters are not stupid. They know what is written on the internet, and they know when someone has copied from one of those articles. It’s okay to learn from the articles but it’s not okay to just copy what is written. If you do not have the patience to write a respectable C.V. then how will you have the chance and patience to work?

The best way for writing an efficient C.V. is knowing what the recruiter has in mind through studying HR. The next step is to match your capabilities, vision, talents, history, and dreams with what is sought by the recruiter.

I am sure that when you start learning more about HR you will find much more than those seven reasons. Please do not forget to write them down too, and share them.

Mahmoud Mansi

Photography: Mahmoud Mansi

EDITORS: Sarah Shalaby & Nada Adel Sobhi