I had to answer a prompt for something work-related this evening on what I would write in a letter to myself as I was first getting into HR. I thought I’d share my response here today:
Dear HR Mini-Me,
Ask more questions. All the time. Ask about our revenue goals and product engagement. Ask about what that acronym meant in the team meeting that you didn’t understand. Ask why. Ask why. Ask why. Know that there is no “HR lane” for you to stay in, not really. You are the voice of both the employer and the employees and that means you need to understand both. Get in the rooms where decisions are made and team meetings you don’t think you can’t contribute to right away. Be able to recite the company sales pitch backward and forwards. Say so when you don’t know. Ask for help.
Know that there is going to be conflict. Some hard stuff. You will hire the wrong person. You will say the wrong thing. You will give bad advice. You will cry after the first time you let someone go. And the second. And the third. You will not know what to do every time someone comes to you for help. You will learn that compassion and empathy are not the blockers, but the tools to communicating openly. You will learn that there is always a place for kindness alongside productivity and performance and that you and the team are all stronger for it.
Human Resources will never be boring because humans are never boring. They will surprise you. HR can be painted as a black and white role, but the reality is that it is mostly grey, or preferably, mostly rainbow. It requires not a reading of the rules, but interpretation and judgment and connection. You’re going to have a lot of fun.
And this bears repeating: Say when you don’t know. Ask for help.
With Love,
Natalie