Hiring an HR Consultant: 5 Things You Need to Consider

Guest Postse-Learning, Training and DevelopmentEmployee Engagement

By Kelly Barcelos Last updated Feb 4, 2020

There comes a time in every successful company’s lifetime, when the business owner thinks –do I need to hire an HR consultant?

HR management, including hiring employees, is one of the top challenges for organizations, but a few choose to delegate the work to HR consulting services.

In this article, let’s find out what responsibilities an HR consultant should carry out and what you should really be looking for while considering one.

The duties of an HR consultant

Here are some of the main duties of an HR consultant:

Develop HR policies and procedures
Recruit
Employee training and development

So, what are the things to consider while hiring an HR consultant?

If you are hiring from big HR consulting firms, you are assured that the professionals have been vetted. But, if you plan to hire independent HR management consultants, you should consider these 5 factors to ensure you’re getting your money’s worth.

Experience matters

An experienced consultant knows what they are expected to do and also what they are getting into. Select a consultant who has a strong track of success in HR consulting and niche experience in your industry.

Find out details of their previous projects

Consider what type of projects the HR consultant has done with previous clients like you. And more importantly, what were the results. Also, get previous client project references, the one who can vouch for the quality of the consultant’s past work. It’s always a good idea to ask the consultant to provide you with a work sample with which you can gauge the capability.

Focus on their area of expertise

Each consultant has his/her own area of expertise. You’ll hardly find an HR consultant who is an expert in all aspects of HR. Figure out what kind of an expert consultant you need and hire the one that’s closest to your expectations.

Assess how connected they are with the latest updates

The HR consultant should be well-acquainted with the latest trends, good HR practices, technology and development within their area of expertise. The consultant should be well-connected with what’s happening in their industry and should be able to use their knowledge to stay on top of their game.

Set expectations to gauge their level of commitment

Successful consultants will always be in demand. So, they may be handling multiple projects of various clients. In such a case, their level of commitment is what you need to judge before hiring them. Set up your expectations with the HR consultant quite early on to ensure the successful and timely completion of your project.

What else? Check for some of these top skills in your HR consultant

Time Management Skills: An HR consultant may have to juggle between various HR tasks; effective management of time is vital to complete the tasks timely and efficiently.
Outstanding Communication Skills: He/she communicates with people across seniorities and across designations. So, make sure the communication skills are on point.
Human Resources Management Skills: Needs to have skills required to manage, retain and train employees in the organization.
Motivational And Mentoring Skills: Needs to have motivational and mentoring skills as the role demands them to interact with people and help them out with their concerns from time to time.