Hey readers!

Its been awhile, more than 5 months since my last post. I missed my blogs so much and so are you.

I know most of you hated me now for promising a free reviewer and not receiving any reply on your queries about the licensure exam.

So, before anything else I'd like to apologize for not being able to send you copies of my reviewer and not answering your comments and emails. I really am sorry for keeping you wait for nothing. I know what you think of me now, a blogger who doesn't keep her promises. I'm sorry. I haven't put up with what my blog is for. I had a very busy career the past few months and so blogging went down to the bottom of my priorities. I hope you guys understand.

This post is just an update about my busy life nowadays. I know you're not interested with any of these but I thought it's worth sharing.

What happened lately?

March 2015 I was hired as an HR Assistant, responsible for recruitment. Actually, I am a generalist in a sense that I am handling all employee concerns, from compensations and benefits to records and timekeeping to recruitment. I was under a distribution company, assigned as the sole HR officer on one its branch in Bulacan supervising and assisting more than 70 employees.

Being an HR staff for more than 6 months now made me realize how hard it was to handle and assist different types of people. Let me share these:

The Negative side of being a Human Resource Staff

1. An HR should be firm and strict - As a Clinical Psychology graduate, it was my nature to be open-minded and understanding, so, I had a hard time being strict. An HR officer should be strict in order to ensure that every employee is following the company policies, but it's hard to be strict if you understood the difficult life an employee is going through. Sometimes, it is really against my will to give disciplinary actions to small mistakes committed by employees but an HR should be abiding with the rules, a mistake is a mistake that is punishable by disciplinary actions.

2. Employees saw you as the company's pet - As an HR officer people inside the company often talk behind your back, that you are the boss's pet. That couldn't be avoided. My manager always reminded me that at work there is always politics. You cannot please everyone so people will give negative comments about you. I don't mind them, but being labeled as the pet of the company is really heartbreaking especially if you're the type of HR who ensures equality between the superiors and the employees. HR officers should be fair with the employees and at the same time think about the good of the company.

3. HR officers would not be able to make real friends inside the company premises - HR officers should put a barrier from the other employees. We could make friends and bond with our co-workers but it would be very difficult to give disciplinary actions with someone you're very close with right? So, I always need to put up this space between me and my co-employees (which is kinda sad especially if you're the only HR in the company, it seemed that you don't have someone to talk to).

4. Keep your mouth shut - HR officers always meet with the bosses. So, what was discussed inside the conference room should be kept within yourself. Whether it's a good news (you would be itching to share) or a bad news (you couldn't take) you have to zip your lips.

5. It is very hard to assist or cater all the needs of each employee - I have been an HR for a few months only  but I already found it very hard to answer all the concerns of the 78 people I am working with in the office. So, I realized I have to look-up to those Human Resource Officers who had been in this career for so long. Scenarios wherein your boss made a new policy and the employees wouldn't agree is the most stressing problem you'll have. You have to explain the side of the boss to the employees and at the same time make the boss understand the state of the employees-that is really hard to do.

6. Recruiting and keeping employees for a long time is the most challenging part - For an HR-recruitment officer the hardest part is looking for applicants and be able to keep them within the company for a long time. In my case, I was assigned in a rural area wherein most college grad left for Manila, and what was left was the undergraduates whose priority is to look for work instead of finishing school is challenging for recruitment of qualified applicants. So, most of the time we hired people who are not qualified but willing to be trained (which could be negative since they would be working in our company only for trial). But the willingness to be trained is a positive sign, sometimes they stay longer too than those who already gained necessary experiences for the job. Another challenge, is the word of mouth being passed from person to person about the background of your company. This word of mouth is very powerful that it can brainwash people. But as an HR officer you should be very determined and patient. People come and go, if someone resigned, for sure there would be a new one to replace the post.

Perks of being an HR Officer

1. You can act like a boss - yeah, you can definitely act like a boss if you are an HR officer, employees look up to you so, you should also be a role model to them.

2. People will treat you positively (most of the time) - may it be a pretend or not you'll notice that when employees saw you walking on the isle they'll smile and nod at you like you're all in good terms.

3. You control your job and the job of other employees - you can do anything you want since you 're the one whose checking the jobs of other employees and your boss wouldn't dare to check up your work for the day. Cool? haha! Most of the time that's not the case.

4. You decide whose In or Out - you are the one who can judge the applicants whether they pass or fail. Which is also a negative thing right?

5. You get to meet different companies during Job Fairs - aside from getting applicants and loads of resumes during job fairs you'll also get to meet different companies within the vicinity and make friends with the other HRs. Aside from, going out on the field you'll also get loads of freebies, hehe!

Those are my realizations having entered the industrial field as Human Resource Staff. Being an HR staff is really stressing but by just being able to answer a question from a naughty employee, or being able to update each employees 201 file on time, or by hiring an applicant for a post that's vacant for a month is really rewarding. You get the learn different things from the company to the different recruitment techniques to meeting and earning contacts from municipalities and other firms is what kept me on the job for 7 months now. Plus, as an HR you'll never be stocked with just on job, you'll be having a very dynamic experience.

That was only based on my experience and I'm not sure if other HR officers saw it the way I saw my job. Let me know please. Leave a comment below.