Executive Summary
The strategic plan is essential in outlining effective tactics that will help get a new job after getting laid down from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial weeks and months of the pandemic involved various strategies by countries towards providing unprecedented support aimed at protecting jobs and preventing the collapse of the economy (Buettner, 2017). The effects of COVID-19 result in a recession for various businesses. It made leaders and employers lay off employees. Therefore, strategy has the overall aim to get an employment opportunity having worked in human resource management as a professional. The process has great value due to the weight learned from a survey on the job market and various organizations’ current state. Therefore, the opportunity of scrutinizing and evaluating the market for employment opportunities. The plan also provides an effective way of making decisions on organizations that offer services that match the available expertise (Buettner, 2017). The desire has always wanted to continue working within the human resource management department, and the passion remains to contribute to ensuring its effectiveness and transparency. It is essential to have a sense of professionalism in the workplace and understand the career field. The SWOT analysis is also effective in identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and Threats to getting a new job. The analysis is influential in determining the career path and creating an adequate evaluation of performance.
Strategic Plan for a Human Resource Management Job
Introduction
Human resource management is an exciting field that involves several concepts. It explains the reasons for increased interest in working in the area to maximize organizational efficiency. Therefore, having a strategy for getting a human resource job is vital in creating an effective plan to penetrate the competitive market. For instance, the goal is important in understanding the story and priorities by identifying accomplishments and strengths from previous experiences (Ono, 2018). The strategy is also fundamental in targeting specific organizations for job opportunities by considering several factors. The approach is crucial in developing effective relationships with individuals from places of interest, thus gaining valuable insights that will help understand the skills and experience required for the job opportunities (Buettner, 2017). Having a strategic plan through networking is a comfortable tactic in the job search. Being strategic is necessary for focusing on target organizations for the purposes of concentrating on the networking program. Therefore, job searching, like any other project, demands an effective strategic plan.
Background
The economic performance due to the effects of the pandemic left companies with no alternative other than to lay off some of their staff. The reasons are attributed to downsizing, cutting budgets, and poor performance of business organizations. The situation was familiar to many organizations, making it difficult to secure an employment opportunity after a short period. Immediately after losing the previous job, the focus shifted toward getting a promising and well-paying job. I have more than eight years in Human resources, and I was laid off from my previous job because of COVID-19. I made a decision to go back to school to pursue a master’s while looking for a new job for the past one and half years. Looking for a new job is accompanied by various challenges. Still, the desire to succeed in the job market is vital considering the level of skills and experiences contributing to self-management skills (Buettner, 2017). It is also essential to consider the areas of improvement and ensure continuous development and change to realize the ultimate dream.
The short-term goal for the strategic plan includes establishing a stable employment opportunity in a well-established and structured organization. It is also necessary to ensure increased marketability as future employees by being less assertive, more agreeable, and overall a better leader. The university and former organization’s real-world tools and skills will be fundamental in succeeding in interviews, creating proper relationships, and adequate time management. Human resource management’s (HRM) afforded opportunities will have an inevitable upper hand towards success in interviews and the upper hand in the competitive job market. In the long run, the aspiration is to attain job security accompanied by a moderate payment within a large organization (Jerman, Pejić Bach & Aleksić, 2020). This is because gratification and self-actualization are unrealistic in life. After further studies in the field, the overall expectation is to occupy prominent organizational positions that demand making tough managerial choices.
The plan is also helpful in providing clear targets within around five years. For instance, after attaining job security, the other goal is to participate in organizational decision-making and form part of integral staff members. The field of HRM involves a variety of practices. The focus includes providing equal opportunities in employment and diversity by ensuring that no formal strategy is necessary for flexible working arrangements (Jerman, Pejić Bach & Aleksić, 2020). The other areas that demand high levels of skills are human resource information systems, job analysis, design, performance management, professional development, and recruitment and selection. Therefore, applying for a job requires a plan that matches the requirements in selecting new employees of an organization.
Current Thinking
The mitigation strategies against COVID-19 have rendered a good number of workforce unable to commute to work. Therefore, most employers and employees have resulted in seeking alternative work arrangements, such as working from home. This is a disruption to the normal work-life, considering that most people lack the technical know-how necessary to work from home. The pandemic has resulted in the use of virtual interviews and Zoom for online communications and video conferring to discuss organizational matters. According to Khalid et al. (2017), getting a job in human resource management involves several strategies that form the process. Therefore, anyone interested in a position is required to have relevant information and practical job-searching skills that allow for strategic search. The searching tips are designed to guide the overall process of identifying the targets for human resource management jobs and specific steps for applying for the positions (Delery & Roumpi, 2017). Further, Delery and Roumpi (2017) state that adapting the job titles to industries is important when looking for a new job because it is considering not universal. It is important to note several jobs requiring the same levels of skills are identified separately in the industry depending on their location, geography, and work culture.
It is also necessary to take note of the respective employees that are hiring for the positions. The other tip involves identifying and prioritizing the targets (Delery & Roumpi, 2017). This entails taking time to develop various targets in the same line of work through the use of a robust strategy that cannot be affected by changes in priorities and plans. The job search targets are supposed to be ranked in the order of the level of interest and likelihood to ensure an easy way of moving through the entire process. The strategy helps to manage efforts and time in the job search.
Keeping an open mind in the search process for new information helps in reprioritizing targets by focusing on ways of adapting to the current changes in the job market (Delery & Roumpi, 2017). Many people engage in efforts to gain experience. Gaining experience involves substitutes ways to get a feel for a field or profession before taking the job on a long-term basis. The first one is a professional job organization that involves many professionals dedicated to promoting the benefits, philosophy, and opportunities available to those in the field (Khalid et al., 2017). Therefore, taking the opportunity to join an organization will provide a deeper understanding of the realities of human resource management and general practices. Many organizations are known to offer discounted memberships for young professionals and students (Khalid et al., 2017). It may also provide an excellent opportunity for sponsoring job posting boards that allow for further research of the possible targets.
Volunteer strategy involves a great way to confirm that one has skills that fit the job market or human resource management field (Khalid et al., 2017). Engaging in service opportunities is also effective in gaining experience in the area of interest. Local non-profit making organizations and charities often request volunteers that help in staging their activities. Gaining direct knowledge from work performed daily also helps add the level of skills and build meaningful professional and organizational relationships (Khalid et al., 2017). It also contributes to gaining valuable work experience that is useful when writing a resume. Job shadowing is also a strategy used to see first-hand what the professional does during typical everyday work. It is described as a short-term informational and unpaid opportunity that involves observing people as they go through their day-to-day work (Khalid et al., 2017). Watching the individuals performing their job helps to gain insights into the work setting and routine tasks.
Many people do not understand that creating and maintaining a professional image contributes to their chances of getting a job (Khalid et al., 2017). The strategy involves adding professional content to a personal online presence. It also entails supplementing information to the existing accounts or creating new accounts that observe a high level of professionalism. Personal branding is critical when getting a new job. It is important to brainstorm the unique qualities, talents, knowledge, and accomplishments that brand one as an essential asset to the organization.
The plan is similar to the marketing of a new product. It is crucial to develop an effective strategy to promote the brand to a professional audience (Khalid et al., 2017). The standard techniques for branding encompass establishing a presence on websites where it is essential to understand that experienced in the human resource field are social media users. Therefore, it is necessary to create a good profile on the sites that involves interacting with other members. The second technique entails sharing a professional blog of an individual that allows for sharing professional aspirations, highlighting extraordinary accomplishments, and tracking job search progress. It is crucial to include professional profiles on the resume and relevant materials such as business cards and email signatures.
The other technique is to understand the recruitment cycles and hiring cycles in target organizations. Peak seasons during recruitment present successful opportunities when applying for the job compared to low seasons, where the business is characterized by financial difficulties that lead to employee layoffs (Khalid et al., 2017). Managing the job search entails certain practices that are mandatory for an organization. Some of the common ones include the preparation of professional documents and constant applications for human resource management to the targeted organizations (Khalid et al., 2017). Preparation of the professional documents involves ensuring that the documents are relevant to the job, sharp, and ready to reach potential employers whenever opportunities arise.
Like other job descriptions, human resource management involves uploading a resume, commonly referred to as Curriculum Vitae, a list of references, and a cover letter. Some organizations also ask to include letters of reference and personal statements as well. Therefore, a clear strategy for having a good resume and cover letter entails checking relevant sources for complete guidance on ways that can help craft the materials (Khalid et al., 2017). Some resume-building tools and seeking consultation services from a career coach for relevant questions are also practical. Once the documents are ready, the following technique is simply applied for human resource management. This is done after a clear comparison of the professional documents to ensure that it matches the human resource job descriptions (Khalid et al., 2017). While making the application to potential organizations, it is vital to note the unique materials such as a letter of reference and portfolio required for the job. The other important aspect of searching for a human resource management job in the resources involves searching for a job.
For instance, researching companies will involve Glassdoor.com, which provides an online resource for finding a job. It includes information such as salaries, work conditions, and candidate interview questions, among others. A long-distance job search involves the use of Buzzfile.com, which involves searching for employers and the company based on demographic information for thousands of companies. Some people also get job searches by networking through social media (Ono, 2018). First, LinkedIn provides a personalized and interactive portfolio that facilitates proper interaction and engagement with the professional network and establishes new relationships within human resource management.
Facebook also provides the ‘friend of friends’ feature that performs extension of the personal network and search for new job opportunities. For instance, the companies that one is interested in and hence staying active on their professional pages. Twitter is the chance to tweet for the ‘my jobs’ industry, and the people aspire to work with it (Ono, 2018). Upon review of the tweets, it is necessary to retweet the posts and articles that seem relevant. Instagram also provides a platform that helps in demonstrating creativity (Ono, 2018). Therefore, it is required to follow the companies of interest and comment on their photos while observing professionalism.
Relationship with other Organizations
The situation in a healthcare organization is contrary to the human resource management organization. Instead, the healthcare sector professionals focus on strategies for attracting, hiring, and retaining qualified staff in the organization. The first strategy involves developing a reputation by providing excellent organizational culture and a clear mission. Most job seekers in the sector search for employers with a good reputation before applying for a vacancy, especially during this pandemic. Therefore, healthcare talent management staff have embarked on building an online reputation to attract more candidates. The provision of a comprehensive wellness program is another opportunity for healthcare organizations (Jerman, Pejić Bach & Aleksić, 2020). They help in stress management, thus attracting candidates that, in turn, get the opportunity to understand the healthcare environment’s pressures. The other strategy involves creating a talent pool that helps source and track exciting talents and creating an official retention plan.
Finding skilled healthcare workers is a challenge that pushes the organization to provide opportunities such as the provision of regular feedback, formulation of clear policies, and providing a good onboarding process. Therefore, it is essential to formulate and document the approach periodically by ensuring that the leadership team members understand the organizational policies. Some employers have gone to the extent of assigning mentors by enabling staff the chance to learn from others and advance their medical careers by making use of the assigned mentor (Jerman, Pejić Bach & Aleksić, 2020). The pairs are encouraged to meet regularly, and proper monitoring is necessary to reassign employees’ new mentors where previous relationships fail to work. From the healthcare organization’s analysis, it is clear that the strategic plan is intended to attract more talent to take the existing opportunities in the sector. On the other hand, getting the job requires the formulation of strategies with well-formulated goals.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis provides a powerful tool in strategic planning for getting a new job in human resource management. The device will help a future career by offering benefits from the already gathered insights that enable developing actionable insights in developing a career plan. The first step involves analyzing the strengths and weaknesses before exploring the external environment, such as opportunities and threats (Khalid et al., 2017). Strengths form the first part of the tool, and it involves creating the lists of resilience concerning the human resource job. The first consideration is the knowledge, skills, and abilities that make one indispensable to the employer. Making a list of strengths involves those that the employers desire and those that one enjoys.
Some of the strengths available in applying for human resource management include work experience, level of education, and pieces of training and certifications. Therefore, it is recommended to consider further strengths such as relocating and the availability of professional network connections. Listing of the powers helps in creating a cover letter and a resume that demonstrate the relevant qualifications. Weaknesses are also an important aspect when searching for a new job opportunity in human resource management. Creating a list of weaknesses is helpful for practical analysis (Khalid et al., 2017). Therefore, the areas require improvements, such as additional experience necessary for the human resource management job—most organizations also require necessary information and computer technology skills due to the digitization of the company’s operations. The weaknesses also include limited work hours while attending master’s classes.
The review of the weaknesses will help understand areas that require more learning and adjust the schedule to improve. The opportunities involve considering the areas of the surrounding. The business areas help gain a better position and improve the overall situation. Therefore, it is crucial to evaluate resources and marketing trends considered necessary (Khalid et al., 2017). The last part of SWOT analysis is understanding the potential threats. Making the list of threats involves a consideration of the external factors that put one at a disadvantage. The common hazards include potential competitors, a small job market, and new restrictions in the human resource industry. Therefore, understanding the potential threats helps form plans that can minimize risks and turn them into opportunities.
Conclusion
The strategic plan provides an effective tool that offers the procedure for getting a new job in human resource management. The strategic approach is crucial for developing influential relationships within the organization. Some of the short-term goals include attempts to get a stable employment opportunity in a well-established and structured organization. The tips are designed to identify the targets for human resource management jobs and specific steps for applying for the positions. The other importance accrued from the strategic plan includes managing efforts and time in the job search. Some of the strategies to acquire the job include volunteering, job shadowing, and sharing professional blogs. The SWOT analysis is also a powerful tool that is useful in providing benefits from insights.
References
Buettner, R. (2017). Getting a job via career-oriented social networking markets. Electronic Markets, 27(4), 371-385. Web.
Delery, J. E., & Roumpi, D. (2017). Strategic human resource management, human capital, and competitive advantage: is the field going in circles?. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(1), 1-21. Web.
Jerman, A., Pejić Bach, M., & Aleksić, A. (2020). Transformation towards smart factory system: Examining new job profiles and competencies. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 37(2), 388-402. Web.
Khalid, J., Ali, A. J., Khaleel, M., & Islam, M. S. (2017). Towards Global Knowledge Society; A SWOT Analysis of Higher Education of Pakistan in Context of Internationalization. Journal of Business, 2(2), 08-15. Web.
Ono, S. J. (2018). Building a Strategic Plan for UBC. Web.