Mind the skills gap, HR recruitment specialist warns

Restructuring and reshaping of HR could create a skills gap that may deplete the industry of future talent, an HR recruitment specialist has warned.



Joanne Sellwood, Managing Director of Strategi Search & Selection, says an increasing number of companies are adopting the íthree-or four-box modelí that uses business partners to drive the HR function and broker HR solutions between the business, its transaction HR and centres of excellence.

However whilst this may deliver clear business benefits and enable HR to operate at a more defined strategic level, all too often this model can provide only the HR business partners with the interface to the line. This means that supporting areas do not often have the opportunity to develop the all round vital key skills that go alongside their technical expertise, she warns.

There is a potential skills gap between the role of HR business partner and the rest of the HR team and it is difficult to bridge because they are not always getting the opportunity to develop their skills, says Ms Sellwood. The role of HR business partner requires broader business knowledge and strong people skills - such as the ability to influence, motivate, facilitate discussion and resolve problems face to face.

A lot of HR business partners also do not have direct line management responsibility so have to achieve objectives through project managing people they are not directly responsible for, which in turn develops their skills more in project management.

Traditionally people have come into the industry at a junior level and moved up but always had a lot of exposure to business managers. The way things are structured now in a lot of organisations means many HR people often have only limited face to face contact. The communication they have tends to be with the HR business partner and not with the business.

My concern is that they do not gain more regular exposure in dealing with line managers on a day to day basis. How will people develop their social, facilitation and influencing skills if often they are only providing reactive advice over the telephone? This is something the industry needs to address. Unless we foster new talent, there may be a lack of able HR business partner candidates coming through in the years to come.

Ms Sellwood says some organisations have recognised the problem and started to act on it by taking different innovative approaches to address this need for the future.

Sellwood says that in future HR recruitment specialists searching for talent may turn to smaller businesses that do not use the three-box model. For HR candidates seeking to bridge the gap she has this advice: Engineer your own career to be involved in other projects, volunteer for activities and spend time with line managers and HR business partners. Develop a wider exposure to the business as a whole.