Busy senior HR professionals have a lot on their plates.
With teams to lead, deliverables to meet and metrics to
measure, it’s not surprising that there isn’t a lot of time
to step back and consider the future of human resources
as a profession. But, like many other industries that are facing
the same reality, today’s HR professionals need to think about
who will fill their shoes in the future, and how they will pass
along a lifetime of accumulated industry knowledge to the next
generation.
Good, full-time HR jobs are hard to come by these days. People
aren’t retiring at age 65 as they used to, and the economy isn’t generating
many new jobs in the field. It can be difficult for recent
graduates to get their careers rolling. That makes it a good time for
those who have enjoyed successful careers in human resources to
think about giving the next generation a hand.
“We have to figure out a way to fill the experience gap,” explained
Sandra Smith, vice president, Our People and chief HR
officer at Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, Ont.
“We need to think differently about ways of involving new grads in
the industry, even when they don’t yet have a job.”
In her current role, Smith oversees policies that affect the hospital’s
3,000 staff members, 600 physicians and 1,000 volunteers.
During her 15-year HR career, she has always tried to look at the
big picture. She believes that applying creative talent management
and workforce planning solutions to help the next gen can be relatively
inexpensive.
strategy
Growing the Next Gen
IT’S TIME TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT FILLING THE HR EXPERIENCE GAP
By Lisa Gordon
Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock
HRPATODAY.CA ❚ MARCH/APRIL 2015 ❚ 29