SHRM Blog

Every company has outstanding managers. These are the people who lead happy, productive teams, who easily motivate others and inspire innovation. They wear leadership like a comfortable sweater.

If you take a moment, you can probably name a few of these excellent managers in your organization.

And that’s the problem. There are only a few, and they are so rare, you can easily remember their names.

Study[1] after study[2] point to managers as the most influential factors in employee satisfaction and engagement. Managers have the power to inspire excellence or to...

HR Professionals Day is September 26, 2020; it recognizes and celebrates HR professionals around the world for their contributions to organizational success. 

Many will be sharing stories about their careers in HR and what they enjoy most.

We also wanted to hear from SHRM's student members, so we asked, "Why are you pursuing a career in HR?" 

Check out their inspiring answers below.

Amanda Nelson - University of Texas at San Antonio (Student Chapter President)

I am pursing a career in HR because growing up in a military family, I had to learn how...

Too often, I’ve heard job seekers talk about obstacles that prevent them from applying for jobs with a company they’re genuinely interested in because they don’t feel like that company’s job postings speak to them. As HR professionals we struggle with candidate connection, but less-than-inclusive job postings might just be the reason it’s so difficult. Companies have a diversity problem – not just racial diversity but also for other minority groups including women, veterans, and people with disabilities. 

I spend a lot of time working with both candidates and recruiters who...

A few years ago, when I was a manager in a large company, I found myself in the middle of the debate between the VP of HR and other executives in the company about an employee request to work from home. It sounded like science fiction, and a strongly opinionated debate developed culminating in the stance that it was a question of trust. For this reason, some people would deserve this opportunity, whereas others wouldn’t. No decisions were made, resulting in the frozen status quo. 

Looking back and reflecting on...