Two HR execs with no formal qualifications in the field say this has given them an advantage in their careers.
“It is more about passion and love for people, than your background,” said Sthembiso Phakathi, head: organisational effectiveness for the Absa group at the HR Indaba on 4 October. Speaking at the “Careers – why your qualification might not matter” breakout session, Sthembiso explained that he qualified as an engineer but found it boring after just a few years on the job.
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Realising that he had a passion for seeing others grow and develop, he has built a successful career as an HR practitioner, something he never saw himself doing initially. “As an engineer, I used to hate HR people. I found their processes cumbersome.” He believes being a “non-HR person” has given him an understanding of other aspects of the business and made him think about HR challenges differently.
Sharing the stage with him was Heather Harington, human capital executive at IQBusiness. Heather studied IT and within weeks of starting a graduate programme she went to her HR director and ask to be moved to a different programme that would allow her to interact with people – so she joined the HR team. For Heather, the most important aspect of the HR function is not just the people, it’s having an understanding of the business. “We need to be strategic partners in the business and we have to play different roles.” She added that her knowledge of areas outside of HR allowed her to head up other projects within the organisations where she was working.
Heather and Sthembiso agree that an HR professional can never stop learning. To be effective in their roles, they relied on colleagues who often did hold HR qualifications and also made it their mission to learn as much about their organisations, industries and global trends as possible. “Educate yourself. Learning and relearning is important. You can’t come out of varsity and think that you won’t do any more studying. You’ve got to have a thirst for knowledge,” said Heather.
Sthembiso said:
“There is nothing wrong with studying HR as a profession, but you don’t have to an HR qualification to do well. The successful HR people of the future will know how to reshape culture and influence business strategy. Future skills are not reliant on traditional training."
