HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE RESEARCH:
Today's organizations generally expect their HR professionals to be well educated. Many (70%) look for prospects with a bachelor's degree in HR or for those with a degree in business with an HR concentration (59%).
When participants were asked to rate their own levels of HR proficiency, about 26% described themselves as expert and another 46% referred to themselves as proficient. Although the ratings are based on self-reports, they did tend to correlate with more measurable data, such as level of education and years of experience.
Every skill listed in the survey was rated "very important" by at least half of the respondents. One skill stood out: just shy of 90% of respondents rated communicating effectively as very important. These findings were similar irrespective of organizational size.
Most HR professionals invest their personal time in self-education, but some interesting distinctions show up when one compares the most proficient HR professionals to the rest. Across the board, HR experts were more likely to invest in development activities than their less skilled peers. One major difference was in getting HR certifications. These were sought out by 53% of experts but only 36% of those rated competent or less.
To learn more about The State of HR Skills and Education 2018 research and to get 9 key strategic takeaways from the research, please read the report here:
