"… ALL PROFESSIONS ARE IMPORTANT"

On the third Wednesday of September, the 21st, the world celebrated the day of the HR manager, the Human Resources specialist. Today, the acronym HR is not well known in wider circles - many are more familiar with the term of a personnel manager or a personnel officer. For Azerbaijan, the HR concept is relatively new, but the need for developing this area has long been felt on the market. For example, any HR-manager vacancy these days includes a whole list of requirements and responsibilities: the search for future employees, determination of the company's personnel policies and corporate culture in general. But what is the current level of human capacity in the country, how can the search be conducted in the circumstances of a lack of qualified personnel and why are there unclaimed and unpopular professions in Azerbaijan? Almost everyone wants to be a doctor, a lawyer, a designer, an interpreter, and no-one wants to be a teacher in a rural school, a tailor, a nurse, a veterinarian, a gas welders, etc.

This problem subsequently affects the country's well-being in terms of human resources. And it begins at schools and universities, when parents, without determining their children's preferences and talents, choose a popular profession for them, says an expert in HR management, Camila Omarova. "Let's take Germany as an example. Specialists start working with the child in school in order to determine his character and the preferred career. This is absolutely normal. Someone may be good at sciences, someone else may play the piano well. Everyone is different, and it would be silly to force a musician to be a chemist. All of us should realize that in choosing a profession, parents should not focus on fashion or on which school the son of a wealthy neighbor entered last year. The choice should only be based on a system of adequate assessment of skills that is not so developed in Azerbaijan. The lack of objectivity has led to the fact that higher education in the country has become somewhat arbitrary."

This is how half-faced personnel emerges, which affects the country's human resource capacity. So the problem has been identified, but what we do to resolve it? We blame the state, laws, ministries. However, according to Omarova, it is wrong to shift the entire responsibility onto the state. Every member of society - teachers, parents and students alike - should treat the issue of personnel training very seriously. The potential of young people is great, our land produces a lot of talented people - all we need is the right direction and a systematic process.

Everyone should have a profession that will feed and make him useful to society. Of course, reforms in the education system are necessary. For example, to raise qualified medical workers, it would be good to introduce the requirement of studying at college for a couple of years before entering the university. This will allow the applicant to find out whether he is apt to become a doctor or not. "One can often see a talented financier, but it turns out that he studied to be a medic for seven years. And one can't help feeling disappointed with the healthcare system and the state, which have invested in his training. I want to highlight the role of the state in restoring the vocational and specialized technical schools. The country does need professional locksmiths, mechanics, turners, but not the infinite number of mediocre foreign affairs and political scientists. By choosing a profession, we choose what our lives will be like. And if we do not like what we do, then life will be devoid of harmony and happiness. But what do we live, work and make money for? Not to be happy?", Omarova asks.

The HR specialist appreciates the state policy of sending students abroad to study. "It's great. If we look at professionals aged 40-50 years now, most of them were sent to the best universities of the former Soviet Union on the initiative of nationwide leader Heydar Aliyev. And now there are many qualified professionals who were trained abroad under government-sponsored programs. This is very important. To become a good specialist, it is important to expand your horizons beyond the boundaries of the society in which you grew up, to see the experience of other countries and best universities, and to apply the best practices in your own country and society. There is always room for development and progress," Omarova says.

What happens in reality? Quite often the issues of unemployment among young specialists arise because they start looking for any job after graduation. Applicants do not understand the nature of the enterprise and do not care about the employer. This happens because people do not always understand what they want. Meanwhile, most enterprises and companies are looking for experienced personnel because training of employees takes a lot of time and money. Not all companies are ready to invest in inexperienced newcomers though. In addition, it is likely that a nurtured specialist may be lured by another company offering better benefits and salary. So, before taking the risk, the company will carefully weigh all the pros and cons.

And the job of an HR manager is to manage human resources, human capital, personnel. There are numerous translations of this English term. The main idea is the management of people. Currently, all companies are trying to minimize the role of man by automating the process. They buy expensive equipment and software in order to optimize production. But machines also need people to manage and renovate them if there is a problem. Not to mention the service sector. So man continues to be a "precious" resource. HR is one of the most complex spheres in any company. People are different, they have different characters, human and professional qualities. Therefore, it is more difficult to work with them than with machines. The HR manager is the face of a company. It is hard to determine the image of an ideal HR manager, as it is hard to determine the line behind which this ideality begins or ends. So this is more of a collective concept. Since the HR specialist is the face of a company, it should be attractive both externally and by nature, so that the view of a company is just as positive. Such a specialist should have a good understanding of people and their psychology. And, of course, the image of an HR manager depends on the system he builds and on how well employees fit into it. At present, HR management is present only in private companies in Azerbaijan, whereas this specialization should be introduced to public organizations. It is important not only to conduct exams on the profession, but perform additional selection among those who have passed the exam. Only then will the country have good specialists in all areas, Omarova added.

Camila Omarova has studied banking and management. When she graduated, she did not think that she would specialize in recruitment. But after trying herself in HR management she realized that working with different people, sectors, companies and corporate cultures is what makes a successful HR manager. "To make a successful career, one should first ask himself: 'What do I want? Where do I see myself in 10 years?'. Then one must understand that to make a career is not the same as to become a director. One may make a brilliant horizontal career, and sometimes such specialists have much higher salaries than the senior staff or supervisors. Once the answers to these questions are found, there comes the most crucial period when it is necessary to gather strength and work hard. Life is extremely dynamic. So a person who stops developing and working on himself is doomed to fail. But the main thing is to find a balance between personal life and work because there is no happiness in disharmony," Omarova said.