In this article we will talk about the field of HR. These two letters of the English alphabet can often be found with the word "manager", and most often we associate them with the personnel department. But what does the realm really mean HR, how does the work of an HR manager differ from the work of an ordinary employee in the personnel department? Where to learn how to work with people and how to understand if you have the ability to do this kind of work?
What does HR mean?
Before we start talking about work in the field of HR, let's decipher this abbreviation. Translated into Russian words human resources, namely they constitute the abbreviation HR, mean “human resources”. Our economy, so historically, refuses to consider a person as a resource. For an enterprise, a resource can be capital, securities, movable and immovable property, and other values. People in the eyes of the director of the enterprise most often act simply as a driving force, easily replaceable if necessary.
We have no irreplaceable
Remember the sayings that have been around for decades: “there are no irreplaceable people,” “there is no holy place” ... We are used to the fact that we are not pros in the sense that we cannot be replaced at the enterprise. 
"Cadres decide everything"? Not in Russian reality! And our bosses continue to convince us of this in response to any objection to the quality of labor. However, this does not reflect the real situation. Just self-doubt as a valuable employee allows the employer to manipulate us, keep salaries low or keep employees at work with not very favorable conditions.
HR management: people above all
HR's scope of activity revolves around the fact that people are a valuable resource and must be attracted and retained to achieve the company's mission. Even the most conservative bosses, who grew up in Soviet times, understand this truth, even if they do not recognize it openly. The HR manager must do everything to ensure that the company employs the most suitable people for his position. Let us turn our eyes to the East and see how representatives of other cultural traditions relate to personnel.
Japanese approach to people
In eastern culture, historically, a different attitude to human resources in enterprises has developed. It is a person who a leader puts at the head of his company, because an employee can make a profit, increase the company's recognition in the market, make a product or service in demand. 
Imagine the opposite situation. For example, you own a small diner with an excellent assortment and delicious home-made food, but put on the cash register a very unpleasant and unfriendly person. Even if your buns are the most delicious in the city, so as not to talk to the grouchy cashier, your customers will prefer to have a snack from competitors.
The Japanese approach to people is the most faithful, and in the modern world more and more large corporations accept it. In this regard, the company, in which more than twenty people, more than ever needs an HR manager.
What does an HR specialist need to do?
What is this position, we figured out, but what exactly does the HR manager do, what is its difference from the ordinary employee of the personnel department? We clarify the situation below.
The personnel department is engaged in paper work. This is hiring, vacation and time off, illness, reprimands and dismissals. Yes, surely one of the personnel department employees conducts an initial interview with a candidate for a vacant position before sending him to the director of the service. But the personnel department is not dealing with any other issues.
Manager HR It works in a more subtle sphere; it is precisely on it that the qualifications and quality of work of the company's employees depend. Does such a manager do paperwork? Perhaps if this is a small enterprise, but first of all he is a psychologist who sees the right people, defends them in the eyes of the leader, if there is such a need, and is able to find an adequate replacement for them in time.
Pros and cons of HR
Do you have the opinion that HR is just some kind of holiday? No need to bother with documents, just know yourself to conduct interviews and choose the best candidates for vacant positions ... But you are mistaken! To this day, the most difficult is considered to be working with people. Attracting the right person, captivating him with work, motivating, engaging in the process so that he becomes the most needed screw in place in the machine of the enterprise - this is the work of the HR manager.
Where to learn how to work with human resources?
Features of work and building a career in the HR sphere depend little on your initial education. Having learned to be a personnel officer, a person may not work for a given position and month, but, as practice shows, philologists and psychologists do an excellent job of this. It’s very good if you have experience working with people, but HR manager, rather, need to be born. So, do you understand the specifics of HR education? What can it be a waste of time in obtaining an unnecessary diploma, while a lawyer or psychologist can become an excellent HR manager?
Can a man be an HR manager?
Men can be met much less often in this position.than women. Meanwhile, practice shows that men can prove to be very successful specialists in working with people. The male sex is less prone to emotions, to a greater extent - mind, logic, and prudence. On the other hand, very often it is female intuition that can prompt a decision about the admission of a particular candidate.
A small test: are you suitable for work in the field of HR?
What is it - to be a recruitment manager? Review the questions below, and if you answer most of them positively, then maybe you should try your luck in this area.
1. Do you see a person as a person behind a suit and appearance, the impression he wants to make? After all, people come for an interview prepared, dressed with a needle and behaving impeccably. Now you can find a lot of articles about how to like at the interview. HR manager must not miss the wrong person. To do this, you need to be a psychologist who knows how to ask the right questions. By the way: “correct” often means “inconvenient”. Make a person nervous - and you will see what he is like, struggling with stress.
2. Do you like people? In fact, people may not be loved, but if you are an introvert, then this work is definitely not for you. An HR manager is not only an employee attracting new people, it is someone with whom the employee can already speak heart to heart already "old". Few are sincerely satisfied with their work. Imagine that you don’t want to communicate with people at all, and the workers of the enterprise go to your office one after another and complain about unfair working conditions! Are you ready to be such a “vest”? Or are you and your own friends sometimes reluctant to listen?
3. Do you have the ability to develop motivational programs, training for team building? Team Building is an American English word that translates to “team building.” It is easy to guess that if the people in the company are divided, then the mood will be appropriate. There will be no team - a person will go to work, just to fulfill his duties, and not in order to, in addition, enjoy chatting, gossiping, drinking coffee at lunch with his good friends.Practice shows that the more united the team, the more successful its activities, and in addition, people really love their work.
4. Are you ready to put the interests of the company above your own views? An HR manager is a person who not only sees people through, but also knows which employees will make the enterprise successful. You may not like the chief accountant because of his bad temper, but if you see that as an employee he is in his place, makes all the calculations with the accuracy of a pedant, then it is you who must uphold and defend in your current position. The situation is the opposite. An employee can be a very good person, with a great sense of humor, but at the same time be completely unsuitable for his position. In this case, your job is to indicate inconsistency with the leader.
The main mission of the HR manager
In Russia, the situation on the labor market is such that few are sincerely satisfied with their salaries. But salary is not the only way to keep a person in the enterprise. People go to work because they have comrades there, there is a boss whom they respect and do not want to let down, there are corporate parties, collective meetings, as well as bonuses or honor boards. Imagine that work is a chain, and each link represents something. There is a link representing a monthly payment in the form of a salary, there is a collective link, a link that emphasizes in each person his abilities as a high specialist ... The more links and the thicker they are, the less is the probability that the chain will break. A good employee will never leave the company, even if the salary is far from his ideal. It is the HR manager who is responsible for all the other links in the chain, except for salary. This specialist has an important mission: to create an employee a comfortable place of work.
Instead of a conclusion
So, we figured out what constitutes work in the field of HR. What is this profession, you have already formed a general idea. Even if you have all the makings to work successfully as an HR manager, it is not necessary that your career will turn out well. In the CIS countries to this day there is a perception that even a very good employee can be replaced. For this reason, often the manager prefers to dismiss a valuable employee in the event of even minor disagreements. 
At the same time, enterprise directors are happy to hire HR managers, because, looking at the trends of the West and East, they see a sense in their work. Thus, the HR manager is between two fires. The first side is the leader, who often does not want to make even minor concessions, and the second is really qualified employees, whose interests must be followed. In addition, being an HR manager is not easy for other reasons. Working with people requires you to be a good psychologist, regardless of your personal preferences. The HR manager should be able to involve an employee in the work and make his place attractive, even if the salary in this position is lower and the working conditions are worse than that of competitors.