Last Thursday, October 13, took place the second session of the cycle "My experience managing people", where the students of Master's Degree in Personnel Management Service received Alfonso Jiménez, PhD in Psychology. With more than 30 years of professional experience in the field of consultancy service, he has hired and helped more than 500 human capital consultants to grow.
After founding the consulting firm, PeopleMatters (2003) and the digital platform, Recruiting Erasmus (2020), the pandemic led him to rethink his work life. He saw an opportunity in the world of boards of directors, and is currently part of committee advisor of Atrevia where he has been able to bring all his acquired experience.
During the session, he spoke about the major trends in the world of Human Resources (HR): digitalization; diversity and inclusion; competitiveness; and attracting and retaining talent (today focused on Employer Branding), etc. Among all the ideas he conveyed to us throughout his talk, there were three that those of us who signed this article found particularly striking.
The first is that, speaking of competencies, Alfonso Jiménez's view is that the market for work has changed much more on the supply side than on the demand side. Companies, in his view, are still looking for candidates who are competent workers, who create a good environment, who take advantage of opportunities, etc. It is true that, in the new digital and diverse environment, aspects such as flexibility and adaptability become more important. For example, the internationalization (specifically living abroad for a while) or doing volunteer activities, are aspects especially valued today in a candidate, not only for the knowledge of languages, but also because they allow to develop the ability to learn from new situations, empathy or the ability to welcome.
But, for the professional, the real changes and challenges are a consequence of supply. The new generations of workers have very different scales of values, in which elements such as the environment of work, flexibility, work-life balance staff, corporate purpose , etc. occupy a very prominent place, even above the traditional aspirations focused on economic remuneration or access to new professional opportunities, and in which it is more difficult to gain the commitment of employees. This is making all companies rethink their proposal value proposition at employee and customize their offer to the needs of candidates.
For the manager, the choice of first jobs is also important, as they determine where one's professional life will take him or her. As he explains in his book: "The right HR management ", there is no single model to follow; rather, HR policies depend on the context and circumstances. Of course, in the field of Personnel Management Service, as in many others, it is possible to talk about good practices, but the most important aspect is to align HR policies with the culture, business models and strategies of the companies. For this reason, you learn more about some things than others depending on where you are: labor relations, for example, are not the same and do not have the same importance in an industrial business as in a technology business or in a professional services business .
In his opinion, there is a universal need to take care of some aspects that in his opinion are essential for the long-term professional development deadline . Firstly, to be ethical and consistent with oneself ("don't make any compromises"); to be clear that learning never ends and that it is necessary to dedicate time to it ("those who do not keep up to date will soon be out of the market"); to foster personal relationships and work on networking ("to generate and maintain close ties with colleagues, teachers, collaborators.... is not only core topic in the field staff but also in the labor and business world"); Finally, he encouraged us to have a positive sense of work ("we must avoid toxic professional relationships and learn to see what comes to us as an opportunity").
