HR state of mind

A common first question in meeting someone for the first time is asking where they work or what they do. How someone responds may situate them for us from a socio-economic perspective, but also gives us a quick read on how to relate to them. Working in Human Resources, I am particularly interested in how people choose work, and how work shapes people.

Sometimes people come to embody their role or work function. In the workplace, I am often referred to by my function rather than my name, i.e. "HR says," or "According to HR," or "I checked with HR." I don't mind, because I take it to be a reflection of authority and influence.

I think there are other subtle ways that working in HR has changed my outlook:

-I am always interested in how people end up in the work they are doing. There is preparation for some jobs, but there is always some element of chance or opportunity that results in someone getting a job.
-I may be more thankful than most for my own work, as I continually interact with job-seekers.
-I may be less impressed by aggressively self-promoting candidates, again because I am aware of the larger context of similarly qualified candidates in a competitive labour market.
-I may be less tied to retaining individuals in particular positions or even with the organization, because if the organization is well-structured (and properly funded), it can recruit others to fill the roles. In my view, departures create opportunities.
-I have become accustomed to dealing with confidential information about individuals, such that I forget that others hear rumours, deal with ambiguity, or resort to various methods to seek out information. So much is given to me or confided to me that I seek to do the opposite, to suppress what I know to maintain professional workplace interactions with everyone.
-I consider organizational impact of individual requests or actions, probably because I deal with the fallout of precedent-setting behaviour. Policies are meant to cover everyone, but often individuals seek to be the exception.
-I think about organizational culture and workplace morale, at my own and others' workplaces. Most people just live with it, but it's within the scope of HR to act on, implement, and better the workplace.