How to Find & Hire an HR Consultant

Companies have reported their highest employment levels since before the pandemic, underscoring the strength of the labour market even as the broader economy slows.

A human resources executive looks after every aspect of HR management. It usually starts with acquisition, retention, departure, forming policies, planning, and exit strategies. If you think that the people working behind a company are the key driving force of its success, then you must not compromise with your HR policies.

However, for many firms, it is not necessary to have an in-house HR consultant. This applies to many small and medium-sized organizations, where every dollar you spend on paychecks matters. In such a scenario, hiring an HR Consultant is a far better idea.

Contrary to popular belief, there are many skilled HR professionals in the market. Unlike before, you can even hire them online via a marketplace.

But why should you hire a freelance HR consultant? Well, the answer is pretty simple. A freelance HR consultant is self-motivated. When you have an internal team of HR professionals you might have to motivate them from time to time. It can mean rolling out bonuses every year, providing increments, giving a dedicated desk and computers to the team, etc. You can imagine the overhead cost increasing many times when you have an in-house HR team.

Duties of an HR consultant

An HR consultant has the same job responsibilities as a traditional HR professional. The first role of an HR professional is to participate in resource planning and development. Most big corporations employ HR professionals as strategic partners. They play a key role in identifying, developing, and executing corporate goals. This helps the HR professional align his strategies that help to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives.

Many people think to ensure positive growth in a company, they must always please HR. But that is in contradiction to what HR is responsible for. An HR is a key player when it comes to career development for all the employees within an organization.

In the earlier days, senior executives would make the HR professional grade all the employees of the organization based on their overall performance. But that is not the case in a modern workplace. Today, an HR professional takes an active role in helping all employees figure out areas of improvement. They do not stop there. They also help the HR professionals figure out how they can improve those areas.

Then comes the most obvious responsibility of HR recruitment. In the earlier days, an HR executive was only responsible for posting ads about a job opening, assessing the candidates, arranging the interview, and finally making a hiring decision.

But today, the shift has focused on finding the best job-personality fit. Companies have realized that to grow, they need to appoint the right people at the right positions. Otherwise, the whole organization will suffer from poor performance.

An HR is also responsible for making his company appear as the best workplace. Unless a company has a friendly workplace, it cannot make any progress, and even worse, may fail to attract the right candidates.

When an employee fails to meet sales quotas, an HR professional should take an active role in advocating for the employee. But an HR professional will not blindly do that. He will assess the employee’s past job performance and only then try to rationalize why this employee failed to meet a certain quota.

Things to Consider While Hiring an HR Consultant

Before you decide on hiring an HR consultant, here are a few things that you should always keep in mind.

First, always prioritize past job experience. When a candidate has experience working as an HR Consultant, he can easily learn the ins and outs of your organization. Also, you might not have to train him that much too. Pick someone who has a valid track record of providing successful HR consultation.

Just like any business graduate, an HR Executive might have some area of expertise. To put it into perspective, an organization operating in the mining industry might have completely different HR policies than what a modern IT firm might have. You can expect an HR professional to be an expert in all the related fields.

Always try to find out what industry the candidate has experience working for. This might seem like an unnecessary thing to do, but it will benefit you in the long run.

Another important aspect of hiring an HR consultant is always to make sure they have a habit of learning. A candidate might have a college degree from a reputable university, but they must actively study every day to stay up to date with the latest trends and HR practices.

Hire a candidate that knows how to prioritize work. If you want your HR Consultant to stick to deadlines, you must ensure they have good time management skills. If the candidate completes a task within time and efficiently, you will save the trouble of work piling up due to missing deadlines.</p>

As an HR, a candidate must be a good communicator. Think of an HR executive as the middleman between higher officials and the front-line employees of an organization. You should hire someone who has the skills and leadership qualities required for successfully executing different training programs for the employees.

How to Reach Out to Candidates

But how do you actively seek out candidates? You can, of course, follow the traditional method of hiring an HR, which starts with posting a job opening ad. But how about taking a proactive approach?

Many online tools let you curate your prospects’ contact details. Start by finding the best candidates from LinkedIn. Install SignalHire Mozilla extension, and click on the icon when you visit the LinkedIn page of your prospect. Then, you will see all the valid contact details of the candidates, starting from emails and phone numbers to even their past employment history.</p>

So, there you go. Now you know all about hiring an HR consultant, the qualities an HR should possess, and where you can start with your search. Do leave a comment below if you have any further questions.