Career pathways for students keep evolving, requiring them to make mindful decisions to secure their professional future. The HR field needs professionals who can easily adapt and work with diverse cultural requirements. South America is among the fast-growing regions with the growing need for skilled talent to help companies face global competition effectively. Thus, the demand for professionals familiar with global trends is increasing. In this article, we reveal insights into the trends, skills, opportunities, challenges, and adaptation strategies for students in HR-related majors. Read ahead to learn more.
Global Human Resource Management Trends and Regional Nuances
According to a brazilian specialist, Ana: “Dominar setores como o RH é um desafio para a sociedade atual, marcada por mudanças voláteis. O volume de tarefas é apenas uma das preocupações dos estudantes, que também precisam se destacar como profissionais o quanto antes. Felizmente, existem ferramentas online que auxiliam em tarefas acadêmicas e portfólios, além de permitir que você descubra quanto custa comprar artigo científico para usá-lo como referência, agregando valor ao seu currículo com conteúdo bem escrito e formatado, com garantia de boa nota e cumprimento de prazo.” Ana emphasizes that HR is a challenging field where students not only face a high workload but also need to stay ahead professionally in a hypercompetitive era. Online tools that offer help with tasks, portfolios, and purchasing references like scientific articles can enhance your resume with quality work.
In fact, global human resource trends are changing the entire global landscape, with organizations adjusting and adapting to the rapid changes. The sector saw a rapid adoption of modern technologies like digitalization of services, the use of AI technology for hiring processes, introduction of remote and flexible work.
A country like Brazil has startups focused on human resources and currently, it has about 373 active ones that focus on HR. Argentina and Colombia have also witnessed massive growth as a result of adapting to HR technology.
In these countries, the changes and trends in human resources came about as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It led to digital onboarding solutions, which have ensured the rapid processing of digital documents. About 11,000 people have been employed by HR startups in Brazil.
Students taking an HR-related major can still pair it with additional courses to enhance their skill set and marketability. These options include business management, organizational behavior, and employment law. In addition, any course related to computer technology is an added advantage to navigate the modern technology challenges.
Skills and Strategies for Aspiring Global HR Professionals
Aspiring global HR professionals need to have a set of skills to cover an extensive range of competencies. The trends and markets keep changing and the ability to gain new skills for students and professionals is an inevitable need.
Below are some of the skills and strategies that aspiring global HR professionals should currently have to compete globally:
- Specialized skills: A strategy here could be to focus on specialized skills that keep you ahead of the rest. These skills include relationship management that contributes to good employee relations, effective communication and ability to address employee issues.
- Common skills: The common skills enable HR professionals to stay on top of their game. Such skills include time management, excellent communication, leadership and operations.
- Software skills: HR professionals aiming for global careers need to keep an eye on technological advancements and industry updates. The landscape is moving from dependency on paper to software. Refining skills in software like Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS), Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Office is crucial to excel in the modern HR world. Additionally, online conferencing tools, assessment and feedback analysis tools are becoming a part of the standard package.
- Strategic learning is crucial to help students get knowledge on regional HR practices such as exerting intercultural assertiveness and investing in company culture. In a country like Brazil, some of the HR practices include performance-based rewards and innovation performance.
Opportunities and Challenges Students Need to Know About
The HR world is evolving, presenting both opportunities and challenges that students need to know about. Companies have adopted the remote and hybrid working models, ensuring diversity of employees across the globe.
Check out some of the opportunities of a diverse workforce below:
- Remote work evolution and skills development: The quick change that came after the COVID-19 pandemic has seen work transition. According to the BBC, most companies adopted some form of the hybrid working model, where employees have an option to work in the office or remotely.
Surveys show workers favor this setup, yet it doesn’t apply equally to everyone. For instance, younger employees often have more in-office days, potentially limiting their access to experienced mentors who work remotely. Students need to build remote work skills, including knowing how to use the right software and proper time-management. This way they can adapt efficiently to technological trends while navigating this evolving workspace.
Once students have above mentioned skills, access to global opportunities becomes easier. In addition, they benefit from flexibility.
- Embracing diversity and equity fostering competitiveness: Students need to know that the modern global HR exposes them to many opportunities outside their country. With the remote work options, they have the advantage of working with different cultures across the globe.
Through these interactions, they gain a global mindset which enables them to manage diverse talents and contribute to the company’s culture development.
Apart from the opportunities highlighted, students must know that certain challenges to which they will need to adapt to succeed also exist. These challenges include language barriers and cultural differences that could potentially lead to conflicts.
Adapting Global HRM Practices Locally
Adapting to international labor laws is one of the challenges in the Global HRM sphere. Usually, even though HR approaches differ depending on each company’s structure and strategy, one would need to embrace the global standards while respecting the local customs and specific restrictions.
Here are some of the localization strategies and practices.
- Customized recruitment and onboarding: This involves devising strategies that factor in local customs, preferences, and language to attract local talent.
- Policy adaptation: This involves aligning the human resource policies to local laws that show respect to the existing cultural practices.
- Benefits and rewards: Employees should feel that their needs are accommodated, and the benefits and rewards system needs to consider local culture and approach to business relationships to be effective.
According to Goglobal, some of the companies that have successfully adopted and implemented HR tasks in LATAM include the U.S. fintech firm, a Canadian health-tech company, and a U.K. e-commerce brand. They tailored their employment strategies by implementing performance-based bonuses and culturally sensitive hiring practices in Brazil, offering supplemental benefits like transportation and healthcare allowances in multiple LATAM countries, and establishing profit-sharing models linked to performance metrics in Mexico.
Conclusion
The human resource landscape and practices are impacted by evolving technology. The global hiring trends have also changed since COVID-19. Students need to adapt quickly to such developments to ensure they succeed in the global market.
For a successful career students need to acquire a combo of tech skills, specialized relationship management skills, and communication and management skills. It is also advisable to get familiar with both opportunities and challenges professionals in HR can expect to deal with.
Have you considered getting new skills to thrive in the South American HR field? Let us know the opportunities and challenges you’ve encountered.
Short references list
source name, year, title, links:
- BBC.com, 2023, The permanently imperfect reality of hybrid work, https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20231207-the-permanently-imperfect-reality-of-hybrid-work
- Forbes.com, 2020, Startups Focused On Human Resources Take Off In Brazil, https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelicamarideoliveira/2020/06/22/startups-focused-on-human-resources-take-off-in-brazil/
- GoGlobal, 2024, Thriving in the Employee-Centric Landscape of Latin America: 12 Considerations, https://goglobal.com/blog/thriving-in-the-employee-centric-landscape-of-latin-america/
Also Read: Major Human Resource Challenges And How To Overcome Them
