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A gamut of applications has replaced the responsibilities of HR professionals. The replaced tasks include payroll management, benefits management, candidate sourcing, people analytics, advanced compensation management, business intelligence, and more. This has created a new role in the HR industry called HR tech jobs.
These applications have grown fast, such that the HR technology market today amounts to $400 billion.
The birth of HR tech jobs
In the early 2000s, a few technologists noticed that the number of employees across multinational corporations was growing. It made managing employee operations difficult for HR professionals. Technologists took the cue and knew it was time for them to move from managing people on Excel sheets to scalable, but complex applications which grew as the number of employees grew in the organization, marking the birth of HR jobs.
Gradually, a pool of jobs was flooding the HR industry. Some jobs include HRIS software implementation consultant, HRIS Analyst, HR Data Analyst, and more.
Soon the HR operations looked like complex systems of multiple integrations and data feeds. Complete HR department activity moved onto enterprise software, which more or less handles all aspects of administration and employee-related activities. Application of technology in HR has transformed all functions of HR including talent management, diversity, and inclusion, learning, and development, employee relations, which so far have been considered jobs that can’t be automatized.
Major HR tech jobs
HR tech jobs can be divided into primarily three categories –
1.HR Systems Implementation Jobs
2.HR Systems Support Jobs
3.HR & People Analytics Jobs
Large tech companies moved fast to build complex solutions that resulted in the creation of a new class of jobs. These jobs handle the implementation of HCM for enterprises. Some popular software vendors that offer workforce management solutions and emerged in the last decade are PeopleSoft, Workday, Oracle, SAP, ADP. Each software has individualistic offerings and complex architecture which are not easy for a comprehend and equally complex to configure for a human resources process. The new class of jobs requires a multi-disciplinary set of skills business analysts, consultants, and more. This unique multi-disciplinary set of skills increased the demand for these roles.
After the implementation of a system, maintenance comes into play. The complexity of the system makes it difficult for regular HR professionals to manage a workforce management system. The transition from payroll to Excel sheets might have been easier, but working on an HCM is altogether a new game. This is one reason why technology people are hired to provide support to HR professionals who use the system. They become a part of an independent department at enterprises, generally referred to as HRIS.
HCM tools store a large amount of employee and workforce-related data. Enterprises realized that studying this data can reveal hidden insights for them. Earlier enterprises were merely interested in reporting and descriptive analytics. However, with a large amount of data at their disposal enterprises perform advanced analytics, pattern recognition, and even predictive or forecasting analytics.
Skills required to pursue a career in HR tech
The skills required to pursue a fulfilling HR tech career can be categorized into-
1. Technical skills
2. Data skills
3. Communication skills
4. Negotiation skills
Let’s discuss each skill one by one.
1. Technical skills – In the implementation consultant role, you will dabble with Microsoft suite. You should have strong hands-on experience with Excel and Outlook. Further, you will be required to know SQL as you will frequently pull out data from HCM and manipulate it. A few times you might be required to create presentations for the management team. Therefore, knowledge of Powerpoint is essential to advance HR tech roles.
2. Data skills – You will need an understanding of data flow across the organization. A good understanding of how an HCM tool takes data inputs, spreads, and delivers output across the organization is critical to do well in HR tech roles. Similarly, who are the stakeholders of the data stored and how can data be extracted from the system is crucial to the role.
3. Communication skills – In an HR tech role, people spend a lot of time interacting with other people across an organization. An implementation consultant frequently communicates with stakeholders, support teams, management teams, and other colleagues as and when required.
4. Writing skills – Documentation is an essential part of the creation, implementation, and support of an HR system. As part of the whole process, people in HR tech roles are expected to explain each step of the project to others. Thus, proficiency in writing is important.
5.Negotiation – Adding a new system in place always meets with objections. Anyone in the HR tech role should be ready to convince end-users of an HCM tool and find a way to meet in the middle. So both parties are happy.
Conclusion
HR professionals from all HR functions – payroll, learning and development, talent management, employer brand—can move to HR tech. Given the skills required are a little difficult, it will be bumpy. Nonetheless, everyone can join the league of HR tech professionals. All that’s required is hard work and determination.
